Glad to see LEE back!

[Freightman]

Glad to see them back as we need all the support we can get.

[Gunload Master]

I want to announce that there was some mis-communication that occured here. Lee precision is an outstanding company and they have always wanted to be a part of our sponsorship here. Due to some miscommunication their banner had been taken down, but they are a proud supporter of us.

[jmort]

As a Lee Precision Devotee I am well pleased.

[Pooch]

As the title says.
I never knew they left.

[PS Paul]

I just noticed that myself. Glad to see it. Despite what some folks feel, I guarantee there are a LOT of us out there who would not otherwise have been able to get into casting and reloading if it were not for Lee products. I still use their 6 CV molds all the time and every press I have eve owned has been a Lee press.

Good news!
Paul

[oneokie]

I never knew they left.

Their Banner Ad was missing for awhile.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

I'm glad that all is well between us and Lee, I am, and will always be a fan of Lee because I never would have been able to afford to start reloading or casting without Lee.

[454PB]

I started casting before Lee began selling casting gear, but I'm glad they did, and I own a BUNCH of their equipment.

Glad to see their banner again!

[hiram1]

I have a few LEE toys and i like them as well.Their 6 CV molds work well for me.

[cdet69]

I cab bet you a lot of us started with Lee Precision. I am one and I probably would have never tried if it was not for their entry level prices. I still have that mold and can blame them for the addiction to casting.

[1Shirt]

Most all of my Lee stuff works as advertized! That's all I ask for!
1Shirt!

[Fishman]

I can and do buy more expensive alternatives to Lee, but more than half of my reloading and casting "hoard" is Lee and that won't change. I look at Lee first and go elsewhere only if it is necessary.

[RED333]

I started with Lee reload dies, presses, and molds.
Still use them, PIF the stuff I dont need any more.

[palmettosunshine]

Yep, without LEE I wouldn't be here.

[kenyerian]

I loaded my first 16 guage shotshells and 22 hornets with the old Lee loader sets back in the mid 60's. Still have the 16 guage . Since then I've used a lot of Lee Products. I suspect many of us started loading and casting with Lee Products.

[jonas302]

I would have never started without them either even if you absolutely hate Lee you have to appreciate them holding the market price down on reloading gear

[possom813]

Sorry for the long rant, got carried away typing.

The jist of this post is that I use a mix of tools, but really enjoy the Lee stuff since I started buying it.





I started out with a 3rd hand JR2 press that I inherited from my dad. It'd been in an attic since the early 90's(when I was a tiny fella). I got the press in 2001, and didn't really mess with it until around 2005.

I got it, seized up, and wound up freeing it up and using it as my press. When I first started loading, I didn't have much, all I loaded was 9mm and .38. I had carbide Lee sets in both(miss that .38 set)

In the box of junk was a 'beyond repair' Lee Loadall 12ga reloader, some random brass and a bag of 7 1/2 shot.

I set up the JR2 and was content for what I was doing.

Fast forward to 2009, my wife and I bought a new house, and I ended up selling all of my reloading stuff, just because I didn't have time to load with all the overtime I was working(90+ hours a week, no sleep for me).

Just recently, I started buying up equipment and parts again. One thing I never sold was my lead, because I've always cast my own fishing weights. All of my lead is about 85-90% coww mix.

So, I bought a a 'lot' of stuff from a friend that he had in storage, and ended up with 2 JR3's and JR2. Along with a lot of brass that I've traded off. The great thing about that lot was the amount of shellholders and boxes.

The presses weren't seized up, but they weren't winning any beauty contests either. Instead of sandblasting down to bare metal and repainting, I used a brass brush in a drill motor to take off the nasty, and left the factory finish as much as I could. I then found a Krylon, "Field Green" that's a bit darker than the factory color, but looks good on them.

I gave one of the JR3's to a friend of mine(I didn't paint it up) just because he needed a good, stout press. He had been coming to the house to reload his 7 mag and 7.62x54r stuff because he was afraid of breaking his little press. Understandable, he'd already broken and older 'C' press and replaced it with the Lee 'C' press and didn't want to hurt it.

So back on topic. A few weeks ago, I ended up with an RCBS Rockchucker that I found, seized, at a garage sale for cheap. I was going to fix it up, but dinged the ram pretty good and lost the desire to make it pretty. I sold it to another fellow here and he's repairing it.

I did, however; pick up a lot of Lee stuff here in s&s. I'd never really bought anything from Lee, except dies.

When it came in, I had to figure out how to put it all back together. The seller disassembled it for shipping :?

I got it all together, after about 20 minutes of maneuvering. I really only bought the lot because it was cheap and I wanted the primer setup.

On my bench, I had another spot for the 2nd press, that was going to be the other JR. But, I now have the Lee there with the primer setup on it.

Also in that lot was a powder measure. I don't know how I loaded all the 9mm and .38 for so long without one of those. I check it every 5 rounds to verify accuracy, and so far, it's only been off 1/10 of a grain and that took about 30 rounds to do. I can't argue with that. I'm not a 'precision' reloader for the .38. As long as I get 3.1-3.3 grains in the case, the pistol likes it. It starts losing accuracy at 3.5 grains.

That was just a few weeks ago when I ended up with that press. It's impressed me a great deal running the seat die in it with the primer feeder and the crimp die in the JR next to it. I thoroughly enjoy this setup. And I've arranged it all so that it's virtually impossible to get a double charge or no charge in the case. It's not a streamlined affair by any means, but it's certainly safe.

Going back to the Loadall. Before we moved, I'd started reloading 12ga on a Mec 791 or 792, I don't recall which one it was. My dad found it at a garage sale with 2 bags of shot, 3lbs of Green Dot and a trash bag full of hulls for $50. I loaded all of the shells I could and still had some shot leftover when we moved. I kept it through the move. But with the remodeling and all that jazz, I ended up selling it off as well. Mainly because it had set for 6 months and was starting to get, literally, rusty.

About 4 weeks ago, I bought a used dryer off of another forum and had to drive to Ft Worth to pick it up. I told the gentleman I had to run to Cabela's first(they had my powder on hold) and pick up some stuff and I'd be at his house shortly after. After talking for a few minutes, he told me I should come by his house first because he had some discount coupons for Cabelas...So the trip got reworked a bit :mrgreen:

Getting to Cabelas, I had a coupon for $10 off $75 purchase. I bought my powder and some other random stuff, total was around $98 with the coupon. But, while inside I saw the Loadall ll on the shelf for $52 and change. I had it in my hand a couple of times and talked myself out of it.

We left the store and got in the truck. My wife told me several times to go back in and get it because I still have a lot of shot and powder laying around(I kept buying shot whenever I found it cheap). I was against it(I hate spending money to pay full price for anything). We were driving out of the parking lot and she said,

"Honey, this other coupon is for $10 off a $50 purchase".

So back to the store I went, got out the second time, with my Load All ll, for $46 and change.

Now my bench consists mostly of Lee products, with a Forster case trimmer, Load All ll, Hornady, Lyman, and soon to add Lee Scales, Lee powder measure, JR2, Lee 'O' press, and various other oddities and curios.

If you're just starting out, Lee makes a couple of good startup kits that are about 1/3 the price of their competitors.

It was force-fed to me on other forums that Lee is junk and that RCBS, Redding, Hornady and the like are all that work. So when I started loading, I believed it.

Now that I'm a bit older, and know more about how reloading works. I realize that the folks telling me this obviously had the same thing fed to them, but never saw the benefit of the lower cost products. 10 years ago, I never would have bought the Loadall, it would have been Mec or nothing.

But looking back, dad and my older brothers all used the Loadall when I was a little kid, as evidenced by the non-repairable one that was in the box with the other stuff. I vaguely remembering getting my rear end turned a nasty shade of red for sliding the bar over on it and spilling powder and lead all over dad's shop. Selective memory, I suppose.

Wow, ran off on a ramble there.



EDIT TO ADD: I, in no way, support 'cheap' products. 'Low-Cost' and 'Cheap' are two completely different animals.

[John Guedry]

Lee got me started casting. Their stuff was all I could afford. It works just like it should and it's still all I can afford.

[41 mag fan]

Like their dies and turret presses..about all I can say about it. Each to his own, some like their molds some dont, I myself am in the latter, just like vehicles, some like trucks some like cars, some like GMC Sierras as someone else will own nothing but Toyota Tundras, ect ect.
And some has to do with prices. Lots of people cant afford the higher priced molds which is where Lee does good, it helps those who cant afford higher costs to enjoy a fun hobby.

[bruce drake]

I never would have been able to afford to get into reloading and casting almost 20 years ago if it wasn't for LEE Products. I started out with their handpress kit and a single set of dies for 303 Brit and its been a great journey ever since. Can I afford more expensive kits now. I certainly can, but the first place I look is LEE and then to other companies if LEE doesn't carry it.

Bruce

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Only been loading for around 6 months but nearly every piece of reloading and casting equipment I have is Lee. I am currently composing my next order of Lee equipment.

[Moonie]

I've been reloading for over 20 years and currently every press I own, 2 different progressives a turret and a shotshell press is Lee. Most of my molds, dies, sizers and lead furnace is Lee.

I can afford any brand I want, I just haven't been able to justify paying so much more, at least not yet. I am looking forward to that Mark VI sizer if the GB ever runs.

[PS Paul]

Possum, that was a good post. So what type of work were you doing that required 90-hour workweeks? Man, I would sure hope they'd have paid you A LOT for those kind of hours!

So like I posted, if it were not for Lee, MANY of us, me included, would not have been able to get into reloading. I've said it before and will continue to sing their praises.

Further, I just went through this again with a set of RCBS dies. I bought the Lee powder thru expander to use with the Pro Auto Disk powder measure on the classic turret. In .45 Colt, I again found that I prefer the ezpander die shape to the spud used on the RCBS set, so I now have several sets of dies that are an amalgam of Lee and RCBS.

I am never going to suggest anyone stop bashing any company or product, IF IT IS WARRANTED, but just bashing them for no other reason than they are "cheap" is absolutely un-warranted and unfair!

I'm happy to see 'em back on the board!
Paul

[possom813]

I was working for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

I worked 4/4, 12 hour shifts, but was working 7/1, usually 14-16 hours.

It was nice while it lasted, but they killed the overtime not too long after we bought the house. That hurt a little bit, had to readjust finances when they said we couldn't work the overtime anymore.

[Harter66]

Like many others I wouldn't have started casting w/o them.

I had about 25 moulds 18-9 of them were Lee.

I had 17 die sets 3 were Lee's

I had a Lee press too.

I had 2 pots also.

The vast majority of the loading tools are RCBS ,I just didn't care for the Lee press. The dies seem to work as well as any of the Lyman or RCBS dies,except that 308 set w/the broken "unbreakable" decapping pin,as if I'd never broken pins in the others. I've a push through sizer that is quirky but 1 in 3 of 5 I can live with. Actually even w/as many 2C moulds as I've from Lee only have 1 that gives me any trouble an only had to really mess w/3 of the 18-19.

I prefer to think of Lee products as cost effective. Sure I'm not likely to wear out an RCBS mould but will I wear out 3 or 4 Lee moulds? Probably not. For that matter 2 6C moulds.

[PS Paul]

TX Dept. of Corrections, eh? I would think working in a prison would be a very tough thing to do. Not a lot of laughs, if you know what I mean? Naturally, when anyone hears that one works for DOC, prison guard comes to mind right away, but I suppose there are LOTS of other DOC jobs outside of guards.....

[JeffinNZ]

I started with a Lee hand press. Still have and use it. Actually, I am astounded in this day and age that Lee can still turn out products at such a competitive price on USA soil. Only yesterday I bought a factory crimp die in .303 Brit (but more on that to follow.....).

[possom813]

I was a prison guard/corrections officer.

That job just grinds at you day in and day out. Quite honestly, it's not really a job, it's more of a lifestyle for a lot of folks. I never took to the lifestyle and got tired of putting in 13 and 14 hours days and donating an hour a day to the state. Had to stay over to clear the entire shift's paperwork and everyone got stuck there 1/2-1 hour over every single day, without compensation, and if you took an extra 5 minutes on your 1 30 minute break during your shift, the supervisors would write you up a formal disciplinary.

I finally got tired of all the little b.s. I re-applied for college and start my ADN-RN program in January. I figure if I have to put with a bunch of whining crybabies, I might as well get properly compensated for it.

[xacex]

possom,
That load-All ll will treat you well. I have loaded to many rounds to count on mine, and the only complaint I have is how noisy that spring in there is. Don't try to load when the zombie's are on the other side of the door. Mine will wake the dead with every pull of the lever.

[possom813]

It's loaded about 400 so far. I still have a few thousand hulls to load and it's holding up well, so far.

[geargnasher]

Yep, without LEE I wouldn't be here.

I couldn't have put it any better.

Gear

[Iowa Fox]

Lee launched me into reloading in the early 60s with a hammer in 12ga and 222 which I still have. I'm glad they are here with the old men they started into reloading as kids.

[292]

I know I'm relatively new but almost all my stuff is made by Lee.

[357shooter]

It's good that Lee is back. The Lee equipment seems to keep increasing in my loading room. Lot's of Lee moulds, several of them are custom and cast the best shooting bullets that I have, lots of dies, several autodisk powder measures, and a very solid Breach Lock Challenger press. I almost forgot the bottom pour casting pot, which gets used every week.

Yep, glad Lee is back.