Lee reloading equipment

I have 3 presses two are Lee presses a 4 Hole Classic Turret Press and an old 3 hole turret press the third is a R.C.B.S. Rockchucker. I have both lee and R.C.B.S. dies. I have no trouble with either one. However I don't like the Lee Safety Powder Scale or the Lee Safety Primer Feed. I would rather prime one at a time if I'm not loading pistol. I use the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure attached to the 4 Hole Classic Turret Press loading pistol cartridges. But with fine powders the powder escapes on the moving parts. I haven't tried flake base powder yet, maybe the thicker flakes like red dot or alike it wouldn't be as bad. For rifle cartridges I'm now set up with the Lee 4 or 3 hole turret press. I set up the dies then prepared ( cleaned,sized,trimmed,)the cases. I now prime 10 cases at a time. With a Lyman 1200 automatic triple beam grain scale I add powder to 10 rounds. With the seating die I seat the bullet. With the Lee factory crimp die I crimp the round. You can't go wrong.

Would suggest the Lee press yes I would. The 4 Hole Classic Turret Press. Would I suggest the lee dies. Yes I would. But get a good powder scale and a good hand primer.

TO NY

I started several years ago with Lee equipment (a Lee Loader in 1969). Lee presses, especially the Classic Cast are as good as any, and maybe better than some.. Since I've been reloading I've had 6 different single stage presses, from Lee to a Redding "Big Boss". (a divorce or two and one homeless stint cost me my reloading gear a couple times). I'm down to a Lee 4-hole turret, a Lee hand Press, and a C-H single stage monster. All worked like they were expected to do, just some a bit slicker than others. Of course I didn't try to swage any 50 BMG bullets or use a 6' cheater bar and broke nothing on any of them.

The Lee Safety Scale is as accurate as nearly any out there, just uses a vernier scale rather than notches and poise. Not better or worse than other scales, just different.One good feature is the lockable poise. Set the scale and lock the setting in place. (I have a Lyman/Ohaus that the small poise, 1/10th gr., is very easy to bump when replacing the pan).

BTW and jes my opinion, there is an "elitist" bunch that think "if it doesn't cost an arm and leg, it couldn't possibly be any good". I was a Heavy Equipment Mechanic/Electrician for over 25 years and saw the "tool snobs" quite a bit. The tools they bought are always the best (If it ain't Snap-On (or MAC, or Williams, etc.) it ain't no good) but also the most expensive...

Dollar for dollar (or Euro for Euro) Lee is as good as any. Lee put out some very innovative and "priced for the average guy" equipment.

Charlie98 said:

PJ will be along shortly to tell you about his Lee Turret press, more than likely... ;D

Click to expand...

I should have written this Lee response in a Word document and just stuck it in my Document files, I bet I've written it 50 times by now.

Okay, in a nutshell, here it is:

All reloading equipment is over built. Lee is LESS overbuilt than most. But it's also cheaper, because they use castings to save money. I've done some pretty extensive case-forming on my turret press, and it hasn't come unglued yet. I just re-mounted it to my bench, and I could probably hang 500 pounds from it without worry. If that's not overbuilt, I don't know what is.

Lee dies are usually cheaper, yet they come with shellholders the other guys make you pay $5-10 for. I think that's stupid.

I prefer Lee dies over most others. If I need benchrest precision, I might look elsewhere, but most of my dies are Lee's, and I've shot groups in a dozen calibers that would make benchresters proud. Or mad, if they were shooting against me. My Marlin 30-30 has put NUMEROUS bolt gunners to shame, and the ammo is made up using the Lee scoops, their standard dies, and decent bullets. The only bad dies I ever had were from RCBS. I'm not saying RCBS makes crummy stuff, I'm just saying that in the luck of the draw, that's how it worked out. But I have over two dozen sets of Lee dies, and they all serve me fire.

The Lee scale? Never had one, but people seem to either hate it or tolerate it. I have a Lyman, because I found it on sale.

What I like about Lee is that they understand that reloaders are a cheap bunch, which is why they started reloading in the first place. Lee makes good, solid products, often very innovative, and sells them at a fair price. I like Lyman's stuff, too, but every time I see their price list I start looking for the diamonds and gold bars used to make their equipment. It is almost always WAY overpriced, and I've never understood why. It's not radically different, or better, AFAICT.

And since some here would be disappointed if I didn't bring this up ( hello, Dennis!), my Lee Turret press has churned out several hundred thousand rounds of ammo, is still going strong, and shows no sign of wearing out. In fact, I just bought several more turrets for it, and some PVC pipe to hold the turrets. I have no doubt my kids will be using this press long after I'm gone.

See all the red stuff in this picture? It's about half of the Lee stuff I own, there isn't room to display it all.



If your buds brag on how strong their loading gear is, you can always brag about how much money you saved on gear that's just as good without being ridiculously overbuilt. ;D

I have the Lee Classic Cast 4 Hole Turret Press.....and I love it. The greatest thing I love about it, is I can either use it as single stag press and turn the turrets by hand, when I am loading 45-70 or use it with the square thingy and use it as semi progressive loader for the .45 ACP. I like the idea of setting my dies in the turret and not have to worry about adjusting them again and like the idea of when I am switching calibers, I just need to swap out the turrets.

I like the cast iron base versu the pop metal stuff.....but there are plenty of folks who have used the orginal just fine.

I would encourage you to got to the Midway site and look at what they have in lee's gear. The cool thing is, there are reviews for everything they sell.....the good and the bad for everything they sell. Beside PJ and others on MO...those reviews also help me to feel good about pruchasing a lee turret press.....I have not regret it at all. I actually have an RCBS 10-10 scale....so I do not have any experiences with lees. But I did picked up a number of acessories for the turrets, like the safety primer feed, the disc pro-powder measure and lee's 4 die carbide acp set.

If its a single stage you are after, I would look into the Challenger press with the removable bushings......I am actually thinking of picking one up for the odds and ends stuff, that seems to be always around.

as far as Lee bashing....i just ignor it.....knowing there are many who have been using lee's equipment for years.....

I you are not a gorillia, you should be fine with Lee.

Lonerider

Lee makes a good product for the money and I have some Lee die's. All my other equipment is mostly RCBS, Herters and Dillon, I have die's from about every maker. I do pistol on one bench and rifle on the other. I started with RCBS, would I do it differently if I did it again, NO. ;D