Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lee Dies

What is the general consensus when it comes to Lee Dies for loading hunting ammo used < 500yds? If you say they're junk, please post the basis for your opinion.

They work. I have a couple sets. Edk

I don't own any Lee loading dies but I do own a number of Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Dies. The only thing I find cheesy about them is the cheap locking rings which I replaced. Other then that I have no problem with their dies, it's the other Lee equipment that turned me off to their products.

I use their collet neck sizing dies quite a bit. Before putting them into service I disassemble them and give them a careful examination. There can be a burr that needs removing, a wear surface that needs polishing, et cetera.

In my examples their regular FL sizing dies are on the tight side, particularly the neck section. They work the brass more than I'd prefer in most circumstances. They do have a nicely shaped expander mandrel in them, but IMO it needs better surface hardening or a harder base material.

Sometimes the little seating plug in the seating die needs work like heavy deburring to interface correctly with the bullet ogives. Sometimes they need to be replaced entirely because of poor machining. After all, we are trying to seat bullets straight.

My take is they're made with a heavy emphasis on economy, so tight QC, attention to detail and the best materials are not going to be found in their reloading gear as it will in gear from places like 21st Century, Harrell's and the like.

With Lee you'll sometimes need to be able to go under the hood and do a tune up.

I have collet dies in most popular cartridges, I really like them, they compete easily with Bonanza Forster dies for low runout ammo. Huge fan of the Lee Factory Crimp dies. Most Lee products come in at less than a third of the competitors price, if I have to do a little polishing or tweaking here or there occasionally, I'm happy with that.

After reading Mathman's post, there isn't much more that needs to be said, except to emphasize that their collet dies do work.

Been using them for over 20 years.

It's what everyone used when I was growing up, they never had issues so it's what I typically order. Have others because that's what was available when I bought whatever was available for a new cartridge.

Most of my dies are Lee and my turret press is an old Lee 3 hole press.

Their collet dies & crimp dies (both rifle & pistol) work for me; that really all the Lee dies that I use.

Interesting comment from mathman about the tighter sizing, especially in the necks.

MM

I don’t own any Lee dies so I can’t compare

Most of my dies are Lee. The belling/expander and factory crimp dies are top notch, but as mathman stated, the sizers and especially seaters are definitely not on par with the higher tier brands. If you are a real burr up the azz type stickler for seating depth consistency, Lee are not the dies for you.

Make sure you clean them out before you use them, because metal dust/shavings are fairly common. I've gotten a couple dud dies right out of the box over the years, but they've replaced them with no hassle both times.

I'm not a long range or match shooter, so they're fine for my purposes. 🤷‍♂️

Long time user of their collet dies. Love 'em.

I have almost every kind of sets of dies, including Herters and several custom dies. On cartridges I don't load much, many are Lee (too many). Most of my dies are RCBS. I like RCBS because their customer service is the best, IMO.

The set of Lee dies for 30-30 - I really do not like! I'll be replacing them with RCBS. The expander in these dies is over-sized and I size my cases with the expander in, set way below the body of the die, but do not touch the brass with the outside part of the die. Then I push the brass with the expander out and size the brass by pushing the brass into the die. I do it this way so the stretching is minimized. I seriously doubt I will ever by another set of Lee dies, I mostly bought them because they were cheap and I had little money. Now, it seems they are not so cheap.

Another thing I dislike about Lee dies is how the expander stem has to be firmly tightened or they often push up and when they do, the expander is into the compression portion of the body of the die. If I don't notice, (which I notice almost every time) the brass is ruined.

Mark me down as a Lee die disliker! If I bought a rifle in a new cartridge and Lee was the only die I could find. I would buy the Lee dies and use them until I could find a better set of dies.

I've at least had satisfactory results with Lee dies. In 35 Remington I had both Redding and Lee full length die sets. Just for giggles i loaded handloads with both sets and carefully examined the results. I was unable to discern any significant differences with dial calipers, and both performed equally well. Eventually I sold the Lee dies and kept the Redding brand. I have one other set of Lee dies that I use and I have no complaints with them. They've been good dies in my experience.

I've had good results with the collet dies for my Enfields and their less expensive RGB "really great buy" dies have worked fine for other open sighted milsurps.

I been shooting with some guys that used Lee dies. They made some really accurate ammo.
That being said I prefer Forster for rifles and Redding for handguns. Hasbeen

Lee dies are great!

For me, the VALUE box is smaller than the PRICE box for the "elite" devices.

I have had satisfactory results, but I find on the dies I have the expander plug is too short and you really have to crank down on the top nut of the FL die so the decapping rod stays in place. Plus if you bend the pin, you have to replace the entire rod.

I guess you get what you pay for though.

Could part of the problem be the expander is having to go back out of a neck that has been sized down a good bit more than necessary? Have you ever measured a neck sized without the expander in place so you can see how much work the expander is having to do?

I reload hunting rifles only and the collet die gives me better accuracy than standard RCBS and Lee dies.

I use them quite a bit. However, if I have a question, or problem, I just stop in and ask. I live 20 miles from Lee, Bartlein and Kreiger barrels. Kind of nice just stopping in .

I have some, and have no problem with them.

I've got 6-8 sets of Lee dies. Most are 3 die sets and some RGB 2 die sets.

I use Redding for the match rifles and Hornady, Lee and RCBS for general hunting rifles and handguns.

Two different problems. When setting up to size and deprime military brass that has a crimped primer, it takes little bit to get the collet that holds the deprimer rod tight enough to hold it with out slipping.

Different set of Lee dies.The diameter of the expander is not the problem. It does not expand deep enough so I had to make my own.Same diameter, twice as long. Problem solved

Dies are some of the cheapest products on your reload bench...nowadays they are the cost of a pound of powder, or a box of 20 bullets in most common calibers...

for most calibers I load for, I have both Lee and RCBS dies for the round...

If nothing else, if I am waiting for a part for one set to come in the mail, I'm not down until it gets here..

I just use the other die.. I prefer Lee Seating dies over RCBS...

My usual way of reloading a case, is to first deprime it with a Lee Universal depriming die..., the size the neck with a Lee Collet die...
then use either a Redding Body die, to bump back the shoulder if needed.. or either an RCBS or Lee F/L die, with the expander ball out, from a caliber size up die ( for example : use a 260 die to be a body die for the 243, to bump the shoulder back) then it gets annealed... and then primed...

Then load the rounds one at a time...

I've loaded bullets enough in several dies over the years, the dies have worn to where I don't even have to use the spindle in the die.. Like my Lee 223 dies....243 also...

I guess I’m the odd man out here. If there were a set of Lee dies and a set of RCBS dies on the shelf for the same price, I’d buy the Lee dies. I like the fact I can adjust them by hand without digging out tools. I’ve yet to break a recapping pin in a Lee die. That’s more than I can say for other brands I own.

Also, I’ve yet to find any rust or corrosion on my Lee dies. More than I can say for the competition.

I like the fact that their regular die sets come with a shell holder.

I use a lot of Lee dies.I like them,especially the seater die set up.The newer Lee dies have a better lock ring than the older one.I liked the older RCBS dies.They also had better lock rings too.RCBS lost me when they put those cheap ase brass set screws on their lock rings.Also the expander stems seem to bend.Comparing runout between those two dies,I can't say one is better than the other.I have one set of Redding dies.They are a step above the other two and I like them the best.

My handgun dies mainly consist of Lee dies

The factory crimp die insures feeding & function in any semi auto

I have been known too for using a Lyman 'M' series expander die instead of the Lee though

The collet die really works well to rifle rounds

People complain about the lock rings, but they are genius if you understand how they work. The rubber o ring in them provides enough resistance that you won’t move the lock ring by accident, yet you can easily adjust it by hand. If you don’t trust it, take a sharpie and make a witness mark on the die and lock ring and see if it ever moves.

I don’t like the set screw type locking rings. You adjust them, then when you tighten the set screw, it swells the ring out enough you’ll need a wrench to get the die out of the press. Next time you use the die, you’ll need to grab that wrench again to tighten it back to the place it was before.

Good advise.. I do the witness mark on the Lee Dies I use. always have a black sharpy on the reload bench for that...

When I tighten the set screw on the RCBS dies I'll remove it using a wrench.. but after that, I raise the ram and then just hand tighten until it makes contact...

I have a hook on the side of the reload bench, with it holding a couple of Harbor Freight Crescent Wrenches for things like this...

I actually prefer the older Lee lock-rings over the newer spline rings for the exact reason you stated and the little wrench used to tighten/loosen the lock-rings is horrible.

Amen brother.

I don’t reckon I’ve seen the new style. I know they didn’t improve their hand priming tool when they redesigned it. Lee once employed a great engineer, or several. Apparently they retired.

Exactly. Same here. I have Redding and RCBS

If I would never turn necks on bottleneck cartridges, my first choice for all reloading would be a Redding Body Die and Lee Collet Die - for everything.

More than a few years back curiosity got the best of me and I really wanted to research different loading tools and methods - and evaluate the differences. Purchased a half dozen different .308 die sets, a few tools to measure and shot my .308 a LOT.

First - I'll say there's not much of a detriment to the KISS principle. If you have good consistent reloading procedures, you should absolutely find your handloads are consistent from cartridge to cartridge. Example- if you are accomplishing 3-4 thou runout - you'll should see the same 3-4 thou runout on all 50 loads. Maybe 1 outlier. If you want your runout to be 1-2 thou - what you need to do is change the tools you are using. Get different dies. Your reloads are only as good as the tools you use to make them. If you know how good your reloads are - and you want them to be better - you need to use different tools. Even if it is the same brand of tool.

I had a set of dies that was consistently high run-out. I sold that set of dies. Purchased another set of dies the same exact brand and model - that replacement die set was among the best for creating straight ammo. The lesson here - I never buy used dies. I'm sure the person that purchased my used dies used thought they were the same as new - they weren't. Perhaps he will never know?

My loading procedures now are very close to what Seafire uses above - if I don't turn necks.

Given the opportunity, I turn necks, size with a Redding body die, and size necks with Wilson bushing hand die.

All seating is a Wilson Seater.

Several years ago, I came into possession of a sporterized 1903 A3 30-06, some factory ammo, bullets, brass and a set of Lee Pacesetter dies. It was gifted to my brother from a deceased relative's widow. He ran out of patience getting it to group under 3" at 100 yards.

After fiddling with it off and on over a summer, I could not do much better. Long story short, I recalled reading the Lee advertising of the Factory Crimp Die. Loaded some Nosler 150 gr spitzer solid base bullets and crimped them. 1.75" 5 shot group at 100 yards. 180 gr spitzer solid base bullets was even better at 1.5" 5 shot group at 100 yards.

The gun is back in the hands of my brother and killing Whitetail and Mule deer.

Lee dies are the only kind I use. Love them.

my only complaint is the locking rings

The tightening collets on both Lee an Hornady dies have only two cuts, no wonder they can slip. A couple of simple Dremel cuts should help.You should see the collet on my Elu/Dewalt router ! The dies are short, barely fitting their Classic Cast press. I like their new screw clamping lock rings.

In the "Ask Gunwriters forum" there is a thread on 338-06 necking up problems with a Redding die. I posted on that thread my numbers with a Lee die. You judge.

Lee service isn't as good as it once was. When I screw up, I don't mind paying for the parts .I stripped a collet dealing with some 338-06 Weatherby brass. I don't know what happened, I've already made lots of 338-06 out of Federal 30-06 with zero problems. They were a little tight lipped about the size of the collet thread, as I had to chase the remains of the collet out of the die. Enough pestering, I got an answer. They were much more forthcoming 30 years ago when started and had problem with the pot metal linkages on their press.