There's another thread here about Hornady dies. One of the people who posted to that thread writes, "If I was to order another set of dies for a new gun.....they would be Hornady."

If I were to order another set of dies for a new caliber for which I do not have dies, they would be LEE dies. I've compared them with RCBS, and I think the LEE are at least as good and possibly better. I compared them with Lyman dies, and both RCBS and LEE were better than the Lyman ones.

I admit that I haven't used Redding, Forster, or Hornady dies, so I can't compare the LEE dies with those.

I have and use RCBS in 6mm Rem., .300 Weatherby, and .375 H&H, and I've used them in .223, .308, 30-06, 25-06, 260 Rem., .338 Win. mag, and possibly a few others.

I have and use Lee in 22-250, .257 Roberts, .270 Winchester, 7x57, and 30-06.

So, from what I've seen, LEE dies are at least as good as RCBS. But they cost less and LEE supplies the special Lee Crimp Die as well as a shellholder -- all for less than one pays for just a RCBS 2-die set. What's not to like about LEE, except for prejudice?

I'm on Lees dies as well. They're cheap and they work fine.

Whenever, (not if), I buy a new set of dies they sure won't be Hornady's. Also, RCBS dies have that cheesy brass set screw in the lockring. I do have a set of Lee dies in .500 S&W, they work fine and are a great value, less than $20 for set with a carbide sizer in a less than common caliber.

I have some lee dies in 7.5 swiss and 8x56R--mil surplus rifles. They're not too bad. I have the ones with the new tapered expander.
I haven't tinkered with them alot yet but haven't quite got the runnout down to what I get with the hornady.

Since my last post I was using my hornady dies on some new Graff 308 brass. This brass is strange stuff. It comes with headspace that is about .006 longer than your normal win/rem brass and it is real thick. I decided to full length size them in my hornady dies. Out of 20 rounds sized and trimmed I just spot checked 5 of them and not a one has more than .001" runnout. I just can't get myself "unsold" on the hornady dies...especially the eliptical expander and the admittedly cheap "knock off" of the forester seating die. They just plain work and produce great ammo.

i've used the lee carbide speed dies for yrs... i reload .38 spl an .357 mag an 9mm..... they have served me very well for yrs.....

I'm quickly falling in love with my Lee collet dies. Almost as nice a finished cartridge as my Redding S type bushing dies produce.

Well I have to agree, Lee Dies are a best buy. I do not use the crimper that comes with the rifle dies, it will "coke bottle" match bullets. Which are about all I shoot in rifles.

Most of the dies that I use for pistol ammo in my Dillion 550B are Lee Dies. The carbide dies work well, and the decapping pin does not unscrew. I have had RCBS and Lyman decapping pins unscrew after thousands of reloads. And of course, the pins or the rods were broken.

My major compliant is that I cannot buy small base sizing dies from Lee. I use them for my match .223, 308 and 30-06 cases. Small base dies allow me better interchangeability between match rifles of the same caliber.

Lee Dies in exotic screwball calibers, such as 32 S&W Long, 7.5 Swiss, 7.65 Arg, 7.62 Russian, 43 Mauser, etc, are the best buy around. I have too many of these calibers.

I have one Lee Sizing Die in 30-06 that provides horrible run out and I have never figured how to remove it. My Lee Dies in .223 and 308 gave case neck run outs close to one thousand. Not that really makes a difference in a hand held rifle.

RCBS, Lyman dies are fine in their own right. Have not used Hornady. Bonanza and Redding dies cost too much. I had Bonanza match dies in 308 and 30-06. Cost way too much and the blasted decapping spindles broke too frequently. I gave away the 308 die to someone who needed it. Actually I was being evil : they have probably spent a bundle in replacing decapping spindles. Bonanza seating dies are really great though and I use them on my Match rifle ammo.

I really can't say anyone makes a dud set, just that Lee are a best buy for the money.

I have one set for my 223AI and they are great. I bought a set for my 7-08, and they scratch the bullet. I broke it down and cleaned it real well, but it is still scratching a ring all the way around the bullet towards the tip. So I am split 50/50 on whether they are good or not. RCBS are great if you swap out the lock ring with a Lyman clamp style.

I have a set for my Hornet . Love the collet neck sizing die . The seater die is rubbish and won't give consistent depth due to poor machining . It's about to be replaced with a Redding .

I'm very impressed with my lee 303 brit die set ,I put a berdan case through by mistake and the decaping pin punched out the primer complete with the anvil with no damage to the pin, unfortunatly boxer primers dont fit that size hole

I have many different manufaturer's dies. After 48 years I just retired a set of Black and White 30-06 dies.

Presently the RCBS & the Lees are what I use.The Lee pricing is great and I only have one source of iritation from them; The way the primer knock out pin holder is held allows it to be driven back at times .If any of you have tried to reset this as compared to resetting that of the RCBS you'll understand my complaint. roger

I love the Lee Neck sizer! I still use the Hornady for FLR and bullet seating (more because I already have those dies set than anything else).

Kind of funny. When I first signed up here, everyone was down on anything Lee. Now, at least for some things, many will admit that Lee makes a decent product.

I second Bartsche. I have dies of numerous makes including but not limited to Hollywood, Dillon, RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Lyman, C-H, Wilson, Jones, Lachmiller, Redding, Bonanza, Ponsness-Warren, etc., etc.

Still, the ones I buy for a new-to-me cartridge are generally LEE. They work fine for most purposes. If I then determine the gun merits a better set of dies/more precision, I will buy or make something better.

What I will no longer buy are Hornady dies. The last set I bought there were in .45 Colt. Turns out that every time I try to seat a bullet larger than .4515" in the cases, the bullet is shoved completely down into the case with nothing sticking out of the case mouth. That happens regardless where the seating stem is set.

A bit of investigation showed that the "collar" or "bushing" that surrounds the bullet as it moves up to the seating punch has an inside diameter of .4518"-.452", depending on which aspect of the collar you measure across. That might assemble fine ammo for a modern .45 Colt bored for .452" bullets, but it is not useful for the sometimes correct older diameter .45 Colt bullets (.454").

I called Hornady. They told me I didn't know what I was talking about, that nobody EVER made .454" bullets for the .45 Colt and that no .45 Colt barrels were ever .454" groove diameter either. I asked them how many older Colt SAA barrels & cylinder throats they'd ever measured? Or why many commercial bullet casters sell .454" bullets specifically for the .45 Colt? Then they became downright insulting. Told me it wasn't their fault if I used the wrong size bullets (.454"), and worse.

So, I said to hell with them. I don't pay them money to talk with an ignoramus about a faulty dimensioned product. I now buy mostly Redding, RCBS, Bonanza as upgrades, and LEE as starters.

LEES are also cheap enough & soft enough that if I want to make my own dies for a cartridge like, say, the 6 m/m Donaldson Ace, I can just buy a Lee .22-250 sizer, shorten it a thread or three, ream a larger guide hole for my die reamer pilot, and run the die reamer in. Saves the time of making and threading the die body from scratch.

BTW, the same Lee dies work great for making shorty dies for setting case shoulders back...if the sizing die shoulder is the right angle and the bullet diameter is right for the project, all one generally has to do is chuck the die up, turn about 4 or 5 threads off the bottom, and Voila, you're there.

Viva LEE!

For the money you can’t beat the Lee Dies I did once get a set in 357 Mag that undersized and ruined every shell I ran through it. I sent a letter to Lee about and they told me they never made a die that would undersize a shell. No offer to replace the die set just a flat denial. Did it stop me from buying there product the answer is no. I tossed the offending die set in the trash it was not that expensive in the first place for all the hassle.

I will not buy another Lyman set of dies I do not like the way they are made just cheap in my opinion not cheap as inexpensive cheap as crappie made. My favorite is Redding but they cost up to 4 times as much as a Lee set.

For any caliber I don’t shoot much I go for a Lee die set first.

As long as Lee is less expensive they will always be a great deal.

If you can get over the plastic, most of LEEs stuff works well. Works great when you factor in the price. LEEs anniversary kit is a steal. An awesome way to get started reloading. All the basic tools priced right.

If LEE made their "Deluxe Collet Die Sets" in every chambering I reload for......I'd have all LEE die sets on the bench!! But they don't!! They'll make you a collet die set if you want one in a special chambering!!! But for those prices I'll just go ahead and stick with the Redding and RCBS neck dies! I've done side by side testing using the same lot of brass, same powder, primers, bullets and loaded with LEE vs ??? and then measured for runout and such and then the real test......shooting the darn stuff!!.....and the LEE loaded ammo won!!! GHD

I used to buy lee dies along with Redding, RCBS and Lyman. I have determined that everyone has a jerk working for them and everyone is going to have a bad run of product every now and then. I recently bought a set of Hornady dies in 7mm 08 and love em. I will buy hornady dies for every new caliber I get. I already have a good set of hornady shell holders anyway because I use their case trimmer which is also great. The dies are much smoother feeling that any other I have used and I noticed a difference in accuracy when I switched from lee to hornady in my 7mm08. Groups shrunk almost .5 an inch. AMAZING just from a die change.

Nuf sed...

For the money you can't beat lee dies, and I've used several sets over the years and still have a few. I'll also choose lee over RCBS or Hornady or CH4D or Lymann. That said, if I want a nice set of dies, I go for Redding.

In my very short rifle reloading experience, the Lee Classic press and Deluxe Collet Die Set in .25-06 helped make my Encore a shooter. The reloads, in addition to free floating the barrel, an OS hinge pin and trigger job took 1 5/8" 100 yd 3 shot groups with "premium" factory ammo to a current best of 7/16" at 100 yds and 1 1/8" at 200 yds with the reloads. 50gr of H4831-SC, 115gr NBT, Federal primers and Federal brass (see "premium" above).

I had an old Ohaus scale from my shotgun reloading days, purchased a dial caliper, watched this site for tips, read everything I could get my hands on and it was off to the races.