Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Beware of Lee equipment

Just a quick note to let everyone know Lee has discontinued parts for the loadmaster even though it's still being sold at retailers they said that once they stop an item from being manufactured they almost immediately stop producing parts thought you should know in case anyone had something of least that they think they may need parts later on and you may want to send Lee a message and let him know what you think of their parts I'm not big on Lee by no means just thought I would pass it on

Good to know
Thanks for the heads up

They've been doing that for more years than I care to remember.

I could not be nice if I sent Lee a letter of assessment of their products.

The bad thing I see is there are a lot of retailers that are still selling them new in box...and I'm sure there not telling customers if they even know about it...so you go to a store and buy a new loadmaster that's under warranty 2 weeks later you need something and they say sorry we don't have or make parts...now that would really suck

Believe it or not (by their own account), Lee stopped making Load-Master presses 2 years ago. That leads me to believe all of the full-up press units still being sold are old new stock. They claim that they’ll still sell the parts and accessories.

I gotta be honest: I like Lee for anything that’s simplistic. I can’t outshoot their dies or single stage press and they make a number of things that are half the price and work better than what their competition provides. After having to tinker with their 4-hole turret to get it to function properly, however, I realized anything made by Lee that’s plastic or indexes isn’t “Plug-and-play” and/or long for this world without more attention than I’m willing to give. I can see it being a tinkerer’s dream, though.

Regarding Loading presses….

I know several people who own Lee presses and loading equipment…My Father in Law was one of them.
It is easy to tell just by tinkering with their Lee stuff that it is not quality made. They use a lot of plastic and aluminum in their equipment.

Come on! An RCBS press is a one time purchase and will last you a lifetime(and RCBS isn’t top shelf either but it is built solid and will last forever).
Save up the few extra dollars and buy a quality press to begin with…you will never regret it!

I own the following reloading brands: RCBS, Redding, Hornady, and now Dillon(inherited from my dad, he always wanted the best). Most of the good stuff is made from steel.

You might occasionally need a new accessory. But accessories are just that…and will always be available in one form or another. But with a press, buy something decent to begin with and you’ll be set for life.

It is extremely rare to ever need replacement parts for any of the above brands, in my experience over 40 yrs of handloading.

Good stuff rarely wears out…Lee is not good stuff.

Just my opinion.


Leftybolt

I bought My RockChucker in 1970, RCBS dies, keep them oiled up, and they are still as good as ''New''.By the way , I have
loaded 1000's of rounds with it.

Dirty Harry.

Just a note. there are more keys on your whatever you can use.
. , etc.

My first press was a Lyman Turret that I still have 50 years later. I bought some Lee single presses to use for sizing and wildcat cartridge forming and they BROKE...Never again ! I still have 3 Herter's Presses that are Cast Iron Beasts , A Texan Turret , and a bunch of MEC Shotshell presses.
On another note I called Lee about a product they made that didn't work and the Engineer said " We hate people that can read a Micrometer"...WTH ??? My Reply to him was "Well I hate
Engineers that can't program a CNC Machine properly or fail to do Quality Control !"
Lee presses are made in China ...enough said.

Lee collet dies and their hand primer tools are good. Nothing else.

Got mine about 74, loaded thousands of rounds with it. I bought a better looking used one, but still use ole Betsy. I have no Lee equipment, except crimping dies

Their crimp dies are outstanding.

I will Second that!

Dirty Harry