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Senior Member
To me, when dealing with equipment that needs to be precision based, quality is more important than price. I can save a few extra months and get what I want. If price is your only diving factor, you'll be left frustrated and disappointed.
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Senior Member
Other than my anecdote about the Load Master above I have no real experience with this particular Lee. But people apparently use the LM with good results.
It is hard to argue against something like this for the money. This is complete and ready to go. Only additional thing (other than a work area) is a powder scale.
http://www.titanreloading.com/lee-pr...ee-load-master
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“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Senior Member
Money is no object for me either when it comes to precision loading. And I still use several Lee Dies because there's nothing that gives better results.Originally Posted by ubet
"What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v
Member
This, exactly.
I have other dies in calibers that Lee doesn't make dies for (my .450 Bushmaster are .450 Marlin dies are Hornady, my .460 S&W dies are RCBS because that's what was in stock at the LGS) and I find the non-Lee dies unnecessarily complicated and I hate using any type of crimp die besides the Lee Factory Crimp die.
I have a Load Master setup for 9mm and I've had nothing but luck with it, my single stage is a Classic Cast.
My scale is a Dillon though, I've never used a Lee scale so I can't comment on them.
Senior Member
Anyone who blanket dismisses all Lee as junk lose credability with me fast.
I use the best from each mfg, and for certain things Lee products have no equal:
-collet dies
-crimp dies
-universal deprimer (and depriming function in general)
-Autoprimer (though I now have an upgraded stainless/brass version which uses the Lee trays and she'll holders)
But other mtgs for other things:
- Forster coax press
- Forster micrometer seating dies for some Calibers
- rcbs powder measure from the 70s, now with micrometer
- rcbs labeled ohous scale
- redding powder trickler
Mixture of Forster, hornady, Lee, and rcbs dies. With Lyman, Forster, or hornady lock rings.
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Senior Member
More info please.
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“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Senior Member
21st Century Shooting makes a CNC body, handle and ram that uses the Lee Autoprime trays. It's adjustable in throw, and replaces all the pot metal parts.
http://www.xxicsi.com/auto-feed-ss-p...rime-tray.html
Mine is an earlier model with Aluminum adonized body, but this is essentially the same, just in stainless and a bit more expensive.
I loaded thousands with the original Lee, and you'd ultimately wear out the knob on the end of the ram.
This one will last the rest of my lifetime.
My unit they made for either the old round trays or the new (safer) square trays. But the round trays are no longer available.
Last edited by pinzgauer; 05-26-17 at 08:44.
Senior Member
Wow that's pretty interesting.
How's the leverage on the tool? Does it require a different amount of effort over the Lee? Does it cause thumb fatique over the course of several hundred cases?
Makes my point that Lee products can be made to a higher standard but price will increase accordingly...
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Last edited by Tokarev; 05-26-17 at 10:55.
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Senior Member
Leverage is largely the same, but you can adjust the link length which changes the angle of the lever. So it does change the perceived torque depending on how you have it set.
The magic of the auto prime is that since it's fingertip you can tell exactly when the primer is bottomed out.add a bunch of leverage and the lever throw increases and you lose the feel.
As to quality, I loaded using my original Lee AutoPrime for over 20 years and was competing IHMSA during that period. My brother also used it quite a bit. So after 20 years of use, I wore out a $3 part, which Lee would have probably replaced for free.
Much of that period I was using a Lee turret press, which I bought used, and my brother is still using. I think he spent $6-7 in parts on it a few years ago, and it's still tight.
Point being, While I can be a material/construction snob, the reality is most getting started will not be limited by many of the Lee products.
I love my Bonanza/Forster press, would not use anything else. But if I had to buy one new to get started I'd never be reloading.
Lately I like hornady pistol dies, but used Lee prior. For Mausers I just buy the Lee dies that include the collet die. I'll never break a decapping pin like I have in Forster/hornady dies.
For anything but a turret press I don't like the Lee lock rings, so they get replaced. Found a dozen lock rings a buck a piece at a show, so I'm set for a while.
Member
I've torn up so much brass, but then just went a head and got a universal decapper, problem solved. Yeah I have to throw in another step to resize and make sure my brass is lubed but whatever.
I'm also new to reloading, and yes, the Lee stuff was a good entry, but everything works, I just didn't get their junk scale or powder throw, problem solved.
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