Why I am a loyal Green User

[meaty-btz]

After struggling for months now with my 40 buck lee die set, I broke down and got the 150 buck specialty cal RCBS die kit.

Night and day.

The through powder expander die was nice but how it expanded the brass was excessively stressful on the brass on the lee.

The decapping and resizing die on the lee was functional and did it's job. The real POS of the story was the bullet seating die. It was inconsistent, inaccurate, and worst of all, it would always "cut" the jacket on the bullet it was seating besides being unable to seat the bullet straight. The dies felt cheap and poorly machined. But I lived with it as long as I could.

I bust out the RCBS and well machined, precise, consistent, always seats the bullet straight.

Yeah, you really get what you pay for. Next time I won't waste my money on Lee's dies. Their hand primer is nice though and I do use that tons.

[mjmagee67]

Humm I've loaded with Lee, RCBS, & Foster, never had an issue with any of them. SO the last 5 Die sets I've purchased have been Lee not one problem, not inconsistent, and no damaged bullets. Next time I won't waste my money either. YMMV

[Ferrum]

I am somewhat of a green whore on my equipment... Although on my dies, its a mixed bag.

[meaty-btz]

Humm I've loaded with Lee, RCBS, & Foster, never had an issue with any of them. SO the last 5 Die sets I've purchased have been Lee not one problem, not inconsistent, and no damaged bullets. Next time I won't waste my money either. YMMV

The set I have the seater die for lee cuts the jacket on bullets no matter how softly you seat it as the seater plug has a sharp, very sharp, edge to it.

The belling method on the die is poor.

Bullet seat crooked because the seater die plug is floating rather than fixed.

Mind you this is for a bottle necked cartridge that needs a straight seating or the bullet will be crooked.

I am sure something like 9mm is fine.

[ShadowX]

Wait till you bust out the real bucks for a Redding Competition Bushing Die set with the micrometer adjustments... then you're in hog heaven when you do the rifle bullet seating. I polished all the FL resizing dies with Flitz and it feels smooth as glass inside. It gets really expensive with the dies, but you get what you pay for with Redding.

The only Lee die I use is the universal de-priming die. It works great, but I had to chamfer the center pin shoulder area to make it easier to center the rifle cartridges when it is not in straight.

[mark501w]

My preference is RCBS although the Hornadys I have work fine & have more than one bullet seater.

[meaty-btz]

95% of Lee stuff is near perfect for what the intent is. My suggestion for you would be to hit that bullet seater plug with polish so that it does NOT cut bullets. Take away that sharp edge. The expander- Yeah I get that. I have that same issue with .45 cal, THEN I moved to a Powder Funnel upgrade for my LNL powder dropper and THOSE problems are gone, but before I did that I also hit the Lee expander with some emery cloth and then polished it up for a near mirror finish and I tell you what, that .45 ACP slid off like BUTTER. So rather then ***** about it, fix it. They must have missed that portion... Maybe you can have a look at the bullet seater that is floating and maybe adjust that as well. Rather than ***** about it, give them a call or an e-mail and send them a photo or two, Lee has GREAT customer service and they would be glad to keep you as a customer. That is one of the thigns that makes them cool. Even though they sell CHEAPLY priced items, they STILL give you that great customer service... If they fail that, well, they are usually up front about it. Lee Rules. I just wish they would make a carbide die for 50 AE...

Really only two things need to change on Lee dies: Seater plug Non-Floating, Expander Die needs to have a better radius and not leave a rough edge (my lee expander always leaves kind of a roughness on the expanded area that I never get with my RCBS).

That being said. I do like their through powder design on the die. Quite smart. I have also used their FCD to good effect on tight chambered guns.

So it isn't all bad. In this morning's light it is more about the frustration I have had with loading with the lee set then switching to an RCBS at 3x the price and having it go like perfection.


As for polishing the dies, I use the same compound that I use when polishing feed ramps and a felt. Though the interiors of my RCBS come usually like mirrors and I don't need to touch them. As they dirty up though I take the polishing felt through them.

[mark501w]

Cry once.

[Divernhunter]

You made a good chioce. Redding is even better but RCBS is what I have mostly and for good reason.

Some people think that a $40 set of Binos are every bit as good as a $900 set of Zeiss and will argue all day long. It is sad they cannot see the difference in quality and SERVICE. Same with dies and reloading equipment.

My expierences with lee would be I had to have a reciept, it could only be so old and I would have to send it in with a fee for them to look at it and decide if they would do anything about it. Firsts I do not keep any of my reloading reciepts. Thw rest of their conditions are no better. This has been my expierences with lee about several products over a number of years. If your's is different good for you. I can only speak for myself. NEVER had that trouble with RCBS, Lyman or Hornady when I had a problem(even if my fault) with their products.

[Dutch3]

I have an older RCBS die set for .38 SPL. It is old enough that the decapper is on the expander die. Very well made, as evidenced by the fit and finish.

There isn't much lead-in on the sizing die, though. If the case isn't fed absolutely perfectly, it becomes an accordion.

Idiosyncracies. All of my dies have them. You learn to work with them.

[klewan]

Thank god you're not one of those Windex Drinkers.Always screaming "buy blue". Is there some sort of deal with the mothership in Scottsdale; you don't get the email with the time and location of that week's circlejerk, if you don't diss somebody else's product???

[meaty-btz]

I have an older RCBS die set for .38 SPL. It is old enough that the decapper is on the expander die. Very well made, as evidenced by the fit and finish.

There isn't much lead-in on the sizing die, though. If the case isn't fed absolutely perfectly, it becomes an accordion.

Idiosyncracies. All of my dies have them. You learn to work with them.

My ancient .38 spcl dies from RCBS are the same. CERRRRRUNCH. I believe it is because of little to no radius on entry and I SWEAR there is a lip.. small, but it's there.

[Divernhunter]

Klewan---Like you diss the Dillon products and are afraid to use the name as it might cause you to implode.
I take it you do not own any Dillon stuff?
So you feel a need to put down those that do.
I will futher guess you use lee stuff.
On this site I find the lee users are so defensive and will shout down/put down anyone who suggests anything other than lee is the greatest. While they usually bury their head in the sand and try to avoid/overcome the short comings of the lee brand.
Yes I have Dillon/RCBS/Hornady/Lyman/Redding and god forbid a few lee products.
Yes I like my dillon products which include a couple of 650XL set ups with change overs, a beam scale and a super swager. Yes I have used other progressive units and I still like the Dillon. If others prefer another brand that is fine by me. If someone asks for a recommendation I will say Dillon and Dillon dies for it. If they choose another brand then fine. It is their money and choice.

So please get back on your meds before posting again.

[klewan]

Klewan---Like you diss the Dillon products and are afraid to use the name as it might cause you to implode.
I take it you do not own any Dillon stuff?
So you feel a need to put down those that do.
I will futher guess you use lee stuff.
On this site I find the lee users are so defensive and will shout down/put down anyone who suggests anything other than lee is the greatest. While they usually bury their head in the sand and try to avoid/overcome the short comings of the lee brand.
Yes I have Dillon/RCBS/Hornady/Lyman/Redding and god forbid a few lee products.
Yes I like my dillon products which include a couple of 650XL set ups with change overs, a beam scale and a super swager. Yes I have used other progressive units and I still like the Dillon. If others prefer another brand that is fine by me. If someone asks for a recommendation I will say Dillon and Dillon dies for it. If they choose another brand then fine. It is their money and choice.

So please get back on your meds before posting again.

It's just a response to blue always telling everyone else that they have to buy blue; nothing else will work. I'll knock it off it you and your kind keep your opinions to yourself; especially if someone has Lee equipment and needs some help due to the minimal instructions Lee provides.

The lack of instructions is the biggest short coming Lee has. I was looking at the instruction sheet for a Powder Measure I got 20 years ago. I was thinking how did I ever get this and the rest working? It sure wasn't the well drawn and clear, step by step, instructions. It was that "mechanical ability" and tinkering you see mentioned all the time. You need that to fill in the gaps Lee left. We don't need you and the rest with your comments that add nothing to helping the OP.


Spend an hour on a reloading forum and you'll see it constantly, why do you guys feel compelled???

[CalTeacher]

Thank god you're not one of those Windex Drinkers.Always screaming "buy blue". Is there some sort of deal with the mothership in Scottsdale; you don't get the email with the time and location of that week's circlejerk, if you don't diss somebody else's product???

I own lee, rcbs, and dillon reloading equipment. They all have their strengths, but dillon more so than the others. When someone recommends dillon equipment, it's likely they have experience with other brands and find dillon to work better.

So you call dillon users "windex drinkers" and then deride them for dissing other products? You might want to edit that post, lol.