How Many People Here Have Found Lee's Dies Defective?

[2ndAmendmentNut]

I have owned and used about 10-12 Lee dies only one I found that was defective was a FL sizer for a 35rem I probably would have gotten a free replacement save for I already had the same cal die in an RCBS. All in all I am happy with Lee's dies.

[singleshot]

Never had a problem with my Lee dies, the 45 acp FCD saved my use of heavy boolits in my 1911. On the other hand, I had an RCBS 7.62x54r that loved to crush shoulders if I had to move them back at all. My have been the handle to seat nut at fault, not discounting that!

[popper]

243 & 30-30 die sets. NS didn't work period (yes I know how to adjust em). Had to grind down shell holder to get HS set right for FL sizing. Just finished pulling, resizing and reloading another 400 rnds 243 that were sized improperly. I still use them but they are highly modified. And they cost just as much as Hornady or RCBS! Got a wrong part with new cast press, was sent the corrct one. Some stuff works, others doesn't.

[DeanWinchester]

Never had any issues with LEE. Love Lee.

I have more issues with Hornady's lousy "New Dimension" dies. What was wrong with the old dimensions? They suck.

[HangFireW8]

Out of a dozen or so Lee sets, one 222 sizer that always bent cases .004-5" eccentric. I indexed the die and indexed each case and tried to bend each one back straight. However what to do with a case that was already straight? I had to buy another die to handle the straight ones. The rifle is real accurate so I got Redding.

Finally all the necks started splitting (probably from all the sizing and resizing trying to get them straight) so I bought a bunch of new brass and said, do I really need the crooked die? So I got rid of it.

Did the eccentric die matter? I could blow out a group by putting in crooked cases randomly, or index the cases in the rifle with the eccentric side always up, and tighten up the group. Or, just shoot concentric ammo and not bother. The difference was 1/2MOA or more with j-words, I'm talking 1/3MOA groups with concentric ammo, 1/2MOA ammo with indexed eccentric and 1MOA+ with randomly oriented eccentric cases.

HF

[Cowboy T]

All my die sets are Lee, and I use nearly exclusively my own cast boolits. No problems so far.

Some folks seem to have challenges with setting them up. There are videos which explain this, both on the "sfliberal" YouTube channel, and on the http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/ Web site.

[Noffsinger]

I have been using Lee products since 1978 and have only encountered 2 problems.
The first one was my fault, because way back then, I didn't know about case neck turning so my collet neck sizer had difficulties with military .308 brass.
The second was a rough expander ball in a .223 die set. Drill spin polishing with 0000 steel wool solved that.
Other than that, 8 different calibers of Lee dies have always performed for me.

[old_haidouk]

All Lee expanders are poorly polished compared to other brands so they work your brass like a file.

[rollmyown]

Like DeanWinchester, I've had problems with a Hornady New Dimension die. (mine in 32/20)
I plan to replace them with Lee. My dies are mostly Lee with a couple of RCBS ones. Zero issues there.

[1hole]

"Lee expanders are poorly polished...so they work your brass like a file."

Interesting allegation. I have several of Lee's "poorly polished" expanders . I have never seen any signs of them doing "file" work in my case necks so I wonder if that's a fact or your guess. ??

[dragon813gt]

I think people think they're rough because of the grab on the down stroke. This is how Lee wants it. I don't necessarily think it's a good thing. And if you look at them they aren't highly polished. I've gotten used to the way they work and I don't think they over work the brass.


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[engineer401]

Just a guess here but was the die body a little short and you had to move the lock ring to the underside of the toolhead and ran out of adjustment?

Curious

r1kk1

I purchased the dies before I began casting. The dies include a 357 carbide, 40 carbide, 9mm carbide and a 223 factory crimp die. The carbide rings on the 357 and the 40 SW dies were too small to allow the case with the seated bullet through. The 9mm die worked flawlessly. I was suspicious the 223 die body was too short because I was required to set my RCBS dies lower in the 550 press than on the RC II press. I tried turning the lock ring up side down on the 223 die as it was it was described on a forum, perhaps this one. It didn't help. The important thing to note is Lee's refusal to help me with my problem. The customer service was awful. If they were willing to help resolve my problem or explain the die is not designed for the 550 press, I would've been satisfied. To remedy these issues, I drove the carbide ring out of the 357 die, I purchased a bulge buster for the 40 die I got rid of the other two including the 9mm die that worked. Please also note the carbide crimp dies were plenty long enough. I replaced them all with Dillon crimp dies. Dillon, RCBS and CH dies all work well for me. I've never had a problem any of them. RCBS and Dillon have been great to work with when I had questions. I will continue to use their products. Lee had an opportunity to have a customer for life and they blew it. I'm happy for others who are satisfied with Lee products and customer service. I am not unhappy with all Lee products. I have a drip o matic. It was cheap. Sure it has it's limitations. But I know it and work with it. It was a lot cheaper than the other brands. I got what I paid for. I have no complaints. When it dies I may buy another.

[r1kk1]

I have a drip o matic.

I had CH drill out a ram extension so I can use Lee's bullet sizing dies that I really like and be able to use any lock ring I like. It works well with the Lee universal decapper, another die I use quite a bit. This solution does not work with the 550. I use Dillon pistol dies on cartridges they offer and CH4D for pistol calibers not offered by Dillon, as well as RCBS, Hornady, Redding, and Lyman. I have one FCD for a 44-40 and this is mounted on my single stage as I'm currently experimenting with it.

I really wish they had longer die bodies from Lee and I would try more of them in the 550 but I'm pretty happy with manufacturers dies as a whole. It's nothing more than a pet peeve of mine to mount lock rings to the bottom of the shell plate. Yes I know, it's my OCD tendencies. I hate it. The bullet sizers do a great job as well as the universal decapper that on my Champion press, the reducer bushing is almost as long as the die itself! That's the reason for the 3/4" ram extension. This is a near 30 lb behemoth press that has be around for decades.

What is a drip o matic?

r1kk1

[legi0n]

not me
all mine (only 4 sets) work just fine

[engineer401]

What is a drip o matic?

r1kk1

The 10-pound bottom pour Lee Production Pot furnace sometimes develops a dripping problem. Judging from other posts on this forum it is not uncommon. Therefore, the name "drip-o-matic" was given to this furnace. I did not coin the term. It's something I picked up from other posts. I know it sounds odd I am so dissatisfied with Lee support and dies yet I own this furnace. This furnace is cheap. Real cheap. Money still talks.

[skeet1]

I have used many different brands of dies but in the last twenty years I have looked first for Lee dies and have used them without any problem whatsoever. They are less expensive, all American made and have unique designs that other companies tend to follow in their path. As of now I only buy Lee dies.

Ken

[r1kk1]

I know it sounds odd I am so dissatisfied with Lee support and dies yet I own this furnace. This furnace is cheap. Real cheap. Money still talks.

no it's not odd. You vote with your dollar brother, plain and simple. I have a love/hate relationship with some of Lee's stuff. I think during this political administration, QC is slipping and judging by posts over the last four years it is happening with other manufacturers too. The difference is customer support.

I've waited for up to six months for custom dies and things from everyone, not including Lee.

Thank you for indulging my curiosity engineer401. I never owned a .223, but I have owned and shot just about every wildcat based off this case.

Take care

r1kk1

[jethunter]

I've got Lee dies in 45acp, 455 webley, 9mm, 38/357, 44 russian, 38-55, 6.5x55, 8x57.
I've had some of them over 30 years and the 9mm in particular has loaded in the neighborhoof of 50,000 rounds. Can't say that I remember any problems, I am a fan of their dies. Some of their other stuff is not so favourite.

[GMT210]

If you had them open up the carbide it's no longer a FCD any way so why not just knock the ring out?

Based on the dimensions published by SAAMI, the dies were and still are within spec for the respective calibers. The dies were opened up 0.001 & 0.0015 and still fall well within the allowable SAAMI tolerance range. Lee steers their products to jacketed dimensions rather than SAAMI caliber limits.

[cwlongshot]

I have been reloading since the very early '70's. I have used nearly all brands available.
I have worked in the firearms industry in both retail and wholesale since the mid 80's.

I have over 100 sets of dies and reload nearly daily... The ONLY die set that has failed on me has been LEE and this has happened three times with three different sets. I will never buy another LEE die set.




Daily I have seen dissapointed amd dissatisfied customers who where looking to save hard earned $$ go LE and be disappointed.. disappointed with the product and the kick in the gut... the "service" trying to correct the problem. By and large the products are sub standard, poor quality materials that are poorly engineered.

I never recommend them, IMHO, Redding is tops in dies followed closely by nearly all other manufacturers offerings. I own mostly RCBS. But Lyman, Foster, Hornady (NEW version) Dillon are all excellent.

CW