Lee Made in the USA

[Reload3006]

This thread like all others like it is basically saying See I'm smart for buying Cheap ****. .... Look I own a lot of Lee gear. I own a lot of Lyman gear. I own A lot of Hornady gear I own a lot of RCBS gear. and Now I own a Dillon 650 and I own a Square deal. You really do get what you pay for. Can you get there in a Volkswagen? sure you can. Can you get there in a Cadillac? you better believe it. and the older I get the nicer that Cadillac is. The Lee whack a mole die is how a lot of us started out loading I was one of them. Didn't take me long to see the value in a RockChucker. I still have the Lee Whack a mole sets too. And no I dont want to sell them. I fully understand buying what you can afford. Use it and quit making apologies for it. Quit trying to win *******s approval that you never will. Could I have bought a Lee ammo master and gotten the same job done for less money than my XL 650 sure I could have .. But I also would have had to put up with the quirks and tinkered. I am in my mid fifties I can afford to not do that now. When i was in my 20s and 30s the Lee gear was great but I just couldn't even afford that because I needed the money for the primers powder etc. I dont look down on anyone who chooses to use any thing they use. And nobody needs my approval for anything. Can I recommend Dillon Yep I can their customer support is second to none. So is RCBS ... I have not dealt with Hornady .......I still have a sour taste in my mouth from Lee and Lyman. will I still buy their gear.. If its something that I see a need for Yep I sure will.

[jimkim]

This thread like all others like it is basically saying See I'm smart for buying Cheap ****. .... Look I own a lot of Lee gear. I own a lot of Lyman gear. I own A lot of Hornady gear I own a lot of RCBS gear. and Now I own a Dillon 650 and I own a Square deal. You really do get what you pay for. Can you get there in a Volkswagen? sure you can. Can you get there in a Cadillac? you better believe it. and the older I get the nicer that Cadillac is. The Lee whack a mole die is how a lot of us started out loading I was one of them. Didn't take me long to see the value in a RockChucker. I still have the Lee Whack a mole sets too. And no I dont want to sell them. I fully understand buying what you can afford. Use it and quit making apologies for it. Quit trying to win *******s approval that you never will. Could I have bought a Lee ammo master and gotten the same job done for less money than my XL 650 sure I could have .. But I also would have had to put up with the quirks and tinkered. I am in my mid fifties I can afford to not do that now. When i was in my 20s and 30s the Lee gear was great but I just couldn't even afford that because I needed the money for the primers powder etc. I dont look down on anyone who chooses to use any thing they use. And nobody needs my approval for anything. Can I recommend Dillon Yep I can their customer support is second to none. So is RCBS ... I have not dealt with Hornady .......I still have a sour taste in my mouth from Lee and Lyman. will I still buy their gear.. If its something that I see a need for Yep I sure will.

Actually what this thread says is, Lee products are made in the USA. I didn't say I'm smarter, or better or anything for buying Lee products. I just said they're made in the USA because I got tired of reading and hearing the word "Chinese" from otherwise well informed people, just like I'm tired of otherwise well informed people putting words in my mouth or inferring something other than what was originally stated.

[r1kk1]

Well if the RCBS press or at least some of their presses are made in China, doing a knockoff wouldn't make much sense. In OKC there is a store here that use to carry Smart Reloader. What a ***! The ram wiggled on every one. Not a hint of quality or robustness. When I was in Denver, I stopped in at Bass Pro shops and there are two RCBS Supreme presses set up. One was ok from what I could tell but the other wiggled so bad in the ram area. Not good. So assembly slip by the QC inspector on that one.

Smart Reloader is not a reloading company. They manufacturer ****. Can't even do a descent Lee knockoff. Now waiting for Smart Reloader fan boys to chime in on this one.

I've got three Lee hand presses. The Challenger went down the road long ago from broke linkage and yet, the hand presses still keep going strong.

take care,

r1kk1

[1hole]

Press ram wiggle hurts reloaded ammo? Hummm... wonder why some top BR shooters use a conventional press with a few thou lathe turned off the ram specifically for a tad of side play to insure cases can enter FL dies with absolutely no side pressure? Maybe they need some QC inspectors to tell 'em they're not doing it right!

The supposed value of a tightly fitted ram is vastly over rated. I' m no fan of the Smart Loader press but it's not because of the loose fitted ram. Fact is, a tightly fitted press with even a slightly misaligned shell holder or die or ram or thread alignment simply has to force an error in the wall of every sized case but a ram, etc, with a bit of slack/slop will allow a tapered object (case) to enter a tapered hole (die) in perfect self alignment every time.

Bottom line, we can force a case to be crooked but we can't force a case to be straight, the best we can do is simply allow it to happen and tight rams don't contribute to that. From what I read on the net it seems most people are tossing their old press when it's finally worn free enough to actually provide better case resizing.

[Char-Gar]

I agree with most of you.....the Lee bashing is getting real old

Lee worship is getting real old as well.

[Marvin S]

I own almost a pickup load of various reloading gear from about every maker except smart reloader. I can afford about any brand I want these days but still buy some Lee products. I like Lee dies for cast boolits because it is very easy to make custom two step expanders for them.
I get most products at dealer cost, so $17.50 for a Lee mold with handles is sure hard to beat.

[DCM]

Still, Lee is a Chinese quality American manufacturer.

As I look around my reloading area I see a true heinz 57 variety here including Lee. I have tools from other companies because they suit my picky needs.
The Lee stuff I have Is as good of quality as any of the others.
Name a manufacturer and I can find something I don't like of theirs.
I have 5 brands of powder measures in my room, have tried others one of which was $200+ and found that with stick powder the $20 Leee perfect throws the most consistent charges.
Many top Benchrest shooters use Lee dies, I guess they work for them?!

Lee is made in Hartford Wisconsin U.S.A.!!!

[r1kk1]

Press ram wiggle hurts reloaded ammo? Hummm... wonder why some top BR shooters use a conventional press with a few thou lathe turned off the ram specifically for a tad of side play to insure cases can enter FL dies with absolutely no side pressure? Maybe they need some QC inspectors to tell 'em they're not doing it right!

Really? I wonder why I use an Arbor press with straight line seating dies. Works for my 6PPC. If you want to pay for fit and finish of ram play, linkage wobble that's you. I won't. Redding rams are hand fitted to each press. Don't own a Redding press but have played with a few and I was amazed at how silky smooth the ram was on a press years old. Although I shoot BR informally, the presses that are threaded that show up on the line have been Harrell, Sinclair, Hood, etc., I have seen a RCBS Jr. press of a sort but a lot of manufacturers that are not the big four reloading companies people think about. Threaded dies are great for bumping shoulders, base sizing (if need be), but in short, the Arbor press and hand dies are still it. I have noticed a trend towards less neck turning but here we go again turning the thread to another direction.

take care,

r1kk1

[Walt]

Lee worship is getting real old as well.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[old_haidouk]

I own Lee products too, a limited amount. That's because I don't have the time and patience to put up with them. I may also fall in the younger side of casters, the ones that just started families with little kids and need presses to work when they're supposed too, like my XL650

[jcwit]

Thank goodness there is enough manufactures out there to make most of us happy. Myself, I have every color on my bench that is currently manufactured in quanity here in the U.S.A.

I have no Smart Reloader products nor do I intend to get any. Smart Reloader headquartered in Italy, Copies from U.S. products, made in china, priced close to U.S. products, tell you anything.

Do I worship LEE, not hardly. Do I bash LEE, not hardly. These two remarks apply to all the other U.S. reloading manufactures.

[oldreloader]

Thank goodness there is enough manufactures out there to make most of us happy. Myself, I have every color on my bench that is currently manufactured in quanity here in the U.S.A.

I have no Smart Reloader products nor do I intend to get any. Smart Reloader headquartered in Italy, Copies from U.S. products, made in china, priced close to U.S. products, tell you anything.

Do I worship LEE, not hardly. Do I bash LEE, not hardly. These two remarks apply to all the other U.S. reloading manufactures.

I agree jc..All my different branded equipment works fine..Including the Lee.

[quasi]

Still, Lee is a Chinese quality American manufacturer.

yup, thats about right.

[jcwit]

yup, thats about right.

On what do you base that on, lets see some facts.

I see you even broke a Rockchucker.

I broke the frame of a Rockchucker in the early 80's.

[azrednek]

Also I wonder if RCBS having gone to China to build presses is part of what awakend the Chinese manufacturing giant to entering the US reloading market. RCBS could have just created a monster that could eventually run out some of the American companies presses and the jobs that go with them.

I wouldn't be suprised to see an exact copy of a Rock Chucker show up on the market soon.

sorry for the thread drift...

That was a lesson Leupold learned the hard way when they out sourced just a small portion of the manufacturing to China. It didn't take long for the counterfeit clones to show up on Ebay.

[1hole]

"Really? I wonder why I use an Arbor press with straight line seating dies. Works for my 6PPC."

I also wonder but have three questions:

* I'm sure your arbor press "works" for you, even a Smart Reloader press will work, but I wonder why you think BR guys use an arbor press and hand dies.

* Surely you noticed I said loose ram presses (and threaded dies) get used by BR guys for FL sizing and you did notice that I said nothing at all about BR neck sizing or seating, didn't you?

(And I wonder if you have ever considered that your hand die and arbor press are actually used to prevent any kind of mechanical connection except the down thrust - you can't get a 'looser' fitting ram than that. Meaning you prove my point that for best accuracy when reloading we need to 100% eliminate any side effect of a tight but out of line press/die/shell holder.)


* Since you mention you're a BR shooter to suggest you know what you're talking about, and just to get a clear idea of your actual experience, success record and skill level, I wonder how many nationally sanctioned BR matches have you shot and won with your 6 PPC so far?

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Ref. Lee tools, I find it amusing that those who defend Lee against foolish slamming are automatically supposed (by the Lee haters) to be Lee lovers. Fact is, fair is fair and stupid blanket judgements about reloading tools are not fair; paying for more abstract 'quality' than anyone needs is as silly as buying less than he needs. On average, I have no more trouble loading quality ammo with any equipment based on brand alone. And I'm too old, too mature, been successfully reloading for too long and with too many brands of equipment to have an emotional attachment or animus to inanimate objects.

I'm a hobbiest machinist and have some unusual and very good measuring tools as well as a couple of highly accurate rifles. I keep reloading tools that work and give away or sell what doesn't meet my criteria according to actual measurements of the results, not some gut reaction to what's purty or not so purty or what's costly or inexpensive or what's touted by some unknown guy with no data but stoutly posting as a web guru. And I sure don't try to establish my web guru credentials by bashing what I personally don't care for just to dispirit those who's choice is different from mine - it's likely his needs are also different from mine.

I have keeper tools of virtually all colors and have also disposed of stuff in virtually all colors; I've noticed that to be true of most knowledgable reloaders. In fact, it seems the most 'brand loyal' reloaders are somewhere between still green beginners and the truly knowledgable.

[Gunslinger1911]

OK, my 2 cents. To me, Lee equipment is about 95% engineered - a gotta like tinkering a little.

I have a boatload of Lee tools - I reload for something like 20 calibers, Lee dies are a lot less $ than others - the resulting ammo shoots better than me. Minor rant - the lock rings suck, I drill and tap for a set screw.

Other side, I had a Load Master - case feeder was simple and flawless. But - went out of time constantly, the plastic primer feed broke regularly. i ended up being faster with a turret press (with out the rotator assembly - it broke too). Dillon 550 all the way !!! Turret press for the calibers I can't afford to buy conversions for.

Pro Auto Disk ? supprise, I love it !! loose the disks, I use the adj charge bar, never had a problem in like 10 years !

4-20 melter you ask ? OK it drips - I made a weight that attaches to the top of the valve rod, added benefit spins rod with out reaching for screw driver !

Moulds - 2 bangers are VERY finicky !! 6 bangers - best deal in the biz !! i have MP and NOE moulds too - these things are art !!! - but for a third of the price and no year wait, duh !

Long post, hope you all stuck it out !

I'm not a fanboy, not a basher - if you can put up with a few under engineered facets and tinker with em - good deal to me.

[jmorris]

I have/had a bunch of Lee stuff over the years. The bullet feeder would be at the top of the list as worthless. Would have been better off just throwing the $25 into a fire, same end result with fewer bad words flowing out of my mouth.

[tnek13]

There are a lot of reloading companies out there that what to make us happy. Price, quality, service - that is the beauty of reloading most of the companies we deal with are NICE. You need to buy what makes you happy, or meats your need. In 50+ years of reloading I have dealt with most companies and they have all been nice. Last week I took delivery on a Lee press to use with a Consistent Crimp arm - I must say I was impressed with the fact that it seemed pretty solid, maybe not as heavy duty as my 40 year old Rockchucker, but nice for the intended purpose. Reloading / casting is a great hobby, enjoy the fact that we deal with nice people.

[Casper29]

Still, Lee is a Chinese quality American manufacturer.

I use RIBS, Lyman, Lee products for casting and reloading and I realtor have no complaints about any of my equipment. And you can not beat Lees prices