Lee or Rcbs

[25 Sharps]

I started off with Lee. Made extremely accurate ammo. Ok in small quantities and I still use lee hand primer on occasion, havent used collet dies for a while though.
I have an RCBS press, but use redding and forster dies exclusively. Also a redding press and a harrels.
If you shoot a lot, or want to reload for a long period of time Id say, buy REDDING. Quality is excellent. Buy once, cry once.

A quality beam scale is essential-RCBS is v good here. Id suggest you buy a TARGETMASTER for quick accurate powder measuring or a redding powder comp thrower, superbly accurate.

Yes redding dies are excellent, particularly their competition seaters. although the FL ones that came with my .280 have a lot of resistance from the expander ball, so much I was stretching the shoulder on the way out. Replaced with one of their carbide expanders and all good but £25 on top of a set of dies seems excessive. Have never had that problem with Lee!

Totally agree on the Targetmaster trickler, combined with a Lee thrower and a decent beam scale it allows very quick and additive reloads

 

[Steff]

Another vote for Redding dies, especially their Competition seating dies with the micrometre. It's not only the quality but also the ease of set-up and operation I like about them.
Having said this, I always replace the decapping rod with an RCBS one. How often has the decapping pin pulled itself out of the original rod. The RCBS pin has a retention head and is a much better design.

 

[cjm1066]

Lee auto prime in use for 40 years, I have 2 of them one for large primers the other small.

Lee 222 dies from friend will never be replaced.

RCBS, 375 fine similar to Lyman.

Hornady 308 & 7x57 I really like the floating bullet seater, they are my favourite dies.

Press RCBS and Wamadet.

 

[deeangeo]

Whatever equipment you buy, how your ammunition shoots will depend to a huge extent on the care you take to prepare your brass.
So a decent press, decent dies with the dies set up correctly and accurately in your press will determine the final result.
If you're reloading for hunting, you don't NEED very expensive dies that bench rest & target shooters use.
Lee will certainly do the job and I do have Lee dies and an old Lee press. But now & for years, I rarely use them because I prefer to use my RCBS & Redding press & dies.
As I said, setting everything up correctly is the key.

 

[icedog]

I have an RCBS press, but like many others here, have a real assotment of dies ... RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Redding, even an old set of "World Famous" Herter's dies which may be collector items by now. I use the Lee case length gauges and cutter with a cordless drill (I keep the guages in the boxes with the dies), and have gone from an RCBS balance scale to a small electronic scale for weighing powder. While everyone seems to have his own favorite brand of gear, it is almost impossible to make a clearly bad choice. Look after the equipment, use it according to directions, and it will likely last until you decide you want to try something different. Another mention of the incredible RCBS warranty ... they've bailed me out a few times with replacement parts and service, usually when I've been the direct cause of my own grief.

 

[Nathan80]

I have an RCBS press, but like many others here, have a real assotment of dies ... RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Redding, even an old set of "World Famous" Herter's dies which may be collector items by now. I use the Lee case length gauges and cutter with a cordless drill (I keep the guages in the boxes with the dies), and have gone from an RCBS balance scale to a small electronic scale for weighing powder. While everyone seems to have his own favorite brand of gear, it is almost impossible to make a clearly bad choice. Look after the equipment, use it according to directions, and it will likely last until you decide you want to try something different. Another mention of the incredible RCBS warranty ... they've bailed me out a few times with replacement parts and service, usually when I've been the direct cause of my own grief.

Thanks for the information,

 

[Pedro]

As far as presses go, you can spend under £100 up to 5+ that amount. If you don't need a progressive press (one that goes around and does different things each time you pull the lever) and arguably most people don't, then a middle price single press is going to be all you need and the best value for money out there is usually Lee. A Lee Classic Breech Lock press (as an example) is reliable, works well and makes changing dies easy. But there's always other options. When it comes to other accoutrements, such as brass cleaning, dies, priming and so on, there's often quite a few options and they are usually a matter of choice, so it's best to have a look around (YouTube is your friend) before deciding. But as a watchword, go for middle market stuff as a minimum. Even if you decide to splash out on a more upmarket press in the future, you can use the one you have dedicated to a specific function to save changing dies every 5 minutes. But be careful, buying more kit, like many hobbies can be tempting.

 

[Whitebeard]

I started reloading fir pistol with Lee dies and presses back in the 1980s simply because that was all that was available. Plenty of plastic on metal and aluminium on steel used in die construction, presses were a cheap zinc alloy tha broke very easily, yes they loaded good ammo but from an engineers point if view they were very cheap and nasty

 

[Eric1933]

Depends how much you want to spend,and maybe think about your future shooting.Lee will do the job,but you will want to upgrade because of lock ring issues,just get RCBS as most experienced reloaders do,it's cheaper in the long run. Lee fans will now damn me, let them!

 

[25 Sharps]

Depends how much you want to spend,and maybe think about your future shooting.Lee will do the job,but you will want to upgrade because of lock ring issues,just get RCBS as most experienced reloaders do,it's cheaper in the long run. Lee fans will now damn me, let them!

Lock ring issue??

I’ve never had an issue, and they have now updated the lock rings I believe.

I would take Redding dies over Lee, not hornady or RCBS

 

[Eric1933]

I agree if you can get Redding I tried to get a set of .222 and waited months this year and gave in for a set of Lyman from Spud, then ended up trading the rifle so have a set of dies spare?

 

[Eric1933]

I have replied to several other posts quoting I would not use Lee,however I use their factory crimp dies in .44mag,and really rate the hand primer over RCBS or Hornady versions

 

[Selous]

Lee produce reloading equipment to a price so make use of cheaper materials that do not stand up to heavy use in my experience. Almost all of my Lee equipment has been replaced. It’s a shame because the products are pretty decent otherwise.
I now refuse to buy Lee equipment with the exception of factory crimp dies for heavy calibres that no one else makes. I an happy with the quality of RCBS presses and scales, their dies are pretty good but I don’t think they are as good as Forster and Redding. I also have one 7/8 threaded die from Wilson that is lovely .

 

[NullMac]

You will not load more accurate ammo with RCBS than with Lee.

I use various and most people who say Lee kit is rubbish haven’t used the kit they are going on what they have heard from others.

I prefer Lee to RCBS…..

Well I am sorry but I just don't agree with that, with two provisos.

RCBS etc etc dies give much lower runout on brass and seated bullets than Lee. Consistently, on every calibre I have tried them on.

One: EXCEPT the Lee Collet die. Hugely underrated and gives runout as good as or better than anything. Cheapo as well.

Two: Ultimately the precision of a round is not necessarily determined by straightness. Getting the ES down and the seating depth right will have more of an effect on precision than runout. So there are people who get fantastic results with Lee dies when looking at the consistency of the built round you would expect it to be rubbish.

Personally I can't be bothered with huge amounts of rigorous load development so just use a better dies to build a straighter bullet which does give better results faster.

 

[25 Sharps]

Well I am sorry but I just don't agree with that, with two provisos.

RCBS etc etc dies give much lower runout on brass and seated bullets than Lee. Consistently, on every calibre I have tried them on.

One: EXCEPT the Lee Collet die. Hugely underrated and gives runout as good as or better than anything. Cheapo as well.

Two: Ultimately the precision of a round is not necessarily determined by straightness. Getting the ES down and the seating depth right will have more of an effect on precision than runout. So there are people who get fantastic results with Lee dies when looking at the consistency of the built round you would expect it to be rubbish.

Personally I can't be bothered with huge amounts of rigorous load development so just use a better dies to build a straighter bullet which does give better results faster.

Fair enough.

1/2 MOA from Lee with most rounds first time out is good enough for me, they kill stuff and hit the middle of targets far away.

 

[User00040]

RCBS etc etc dies give much lower runout on brass and seated bullets than Lee. Consistently, on every calibre I have tried them on.

How are you measuring 'runout'?

A poor workmanperson blames their tools...

 

[NullMac]

How are you measuring 'runout'?

A poor workmanperson blames their tools...

RCBS concentricity gauge on the brass neck and on the seated bullet flat. Divide by 2 as runout is defined as deviation from the geometric centreline and the gauge measures the variation between the low and high on the ellipse.

My tools are great thanks. S-type and collet dies mainly as that is what the good guys use. Why start off with the handicap of a squint bullet ?

Given the price point of Lee dies why would anybody pay many times more for something that was just as good? They wouldn't.

 

[paul o']

I used to be a die snob with dies that cost two arms and 2 fingers one that did this some that could make tea if you were to believe the hype ! then came Covid and stocks and shops were closed and i needed die's ,The only Dies i could get were Lee the 4 die set. they say a picture is worth more than words .
1/ 6.5 gaymoor .

2/ 270 rem.

Both with lee dies , Think the pictures prove the point that Lee dies are very good Paying over 2 or 4 times the rate won't make a diff IMO.

 

[25 Sharps]

RCBS concentricity gauge on the brass neck and on the seated bullet flat. Divide by 2 as runout is defined as deviation from the geometric centreline and the gauge measures the variation between the low and high on the ellipse.

My tools are great thanks. S-type and collet dies mainly as that is what the good guys use. Why start off with the handicap of a squint bullet ?

Given the price point of Lee dies why would anybody pay many times more for something that was just as good? They wouldn't.

In a word, snobbery

 

[Eric1933]

I use the Lee factory crimp die for .44 mag, it's brilliant,but don't feel any snobbery in using other makes for other purposes