A long waffle about me and my old man ....


many years ago in another country on another continent, my Dad took up the very weird hobby of handloading.

Of course, he used the only brand available in that country - RCBS. I was really unconvinced about this really stupid and dangerous new hobby, but it wasn't all that difficult and his results were pretty fair, and .30-06 ammo was really difficult to get, and the old man was picking up any .30-06 case he found and reloading them all the same, glory be, his bullets were hitting pretty close to each other.

And no one died ... and his ammo / rifle / shooter combination really brought home the bacon.

So anyway, a few years later - I wasn't really a rifle guy, I loved my handguns, and I worked for a French company in RSA who had a policy that if they made more than a certain profit they HAD to pay everyone a 14th cheque (a 13th cheque was part of your salary package).

And it happened, so i went round to old Nicholas Yale and asked about reloading .45 ACP, and they had these really cheap and shitty reloading kits by Lee, and I stupidly bought a turret press, carbide dies and some other stuff.

At the time, my old man and I were doing "combat shooting" or whatever it's called now.

He was particularly scathing about my .45 ACP carbide dies from Lee that cost a whole R45 when his standard RCBS dies cost R140. My were obvious shite.

I wasn't really too sure of them myself, so I wondered what I'd been conned into ..

Anyway, I visited most weekends and we went shooting Saturday and then reloaded Sunday, so we decided to try my dies (only on my cases, in case they messed up the brass), and then I'd do his cases, and lube and clean and so on.

After about a month, he decided (graciously), I could use my dies on his cases as well.

Two years later, he sold his dies and bought a set of Lee carbide dies, and declared them the bargain of the year.

I still buy Lee if they're available, otherwise we see what's available ....

I have around 50 die sets there are more Lees then other brands

I have not had any problems with the Lee dies I have. Cant say the same for the crappy little presses though.

Lee like most companies back up their products. Here in the US it takes two weeks to get replacements. They also repolish dies if they get scratched. RCBS just call 'em and they replacements are on the way that quick and No Charge either. Don't matter if you messed 'em up.

Just two weeks ago I lost my balance n fell a bit, grabbed hold of the powder hopper on a Lil Dandy, it split. I called RCBS and had a new one in about three days No charge.

Yes, I have some Lee dies and a big bunch of their other products. I don't think anyone can beat their case trimmer set up. I have seven presses, four at Lee's. Shucks I even have a couple sets of OLD 1958 Herters dies that cost about five bucks a set back then and a C press yet I paid $25 for to get started with.

Treat your tools no matter what they cost or brand right and they'll nearly always last forever.

George