- Thread Starter
- #21
The replies so far have been interesting.
One thing I've noted is that Lee seems to get a hard rap for being inexpensive and having issues with quality in regards to construction materials (ie rusting, etc)
I'm not sure I buy that. I've yet to see any die that doesn't get some rust on it IF you don't take care of it.
I keep mine pretty much bathed in wd40 or oils to both keep the dies clean and rust free and have no problems there.
Now one thing I did notice as being brought up was the screw locking rings that some die manufacturers use as opposed to the o-ring lock nut that Lee uses or the dual nutsother use. I totally get that. Those screw locked nuts are a great thing if you're swapping out dies a lot. Put it in, dial in the perfect depth and lock it down tight permanently and accurately. However I've not had a lick of trouble with the Lee when I use the quick change die bushings instead. I dial in the dept. Tighten the oring nut and leave the quick change bushing on the die permanently. Just saying... Seems to work fine for me.
As to breakages and tolerances Which dies are most notorious for breakages? Me and my brother used RCBS and Lee all the time when he was reloading... and I can't think of any breakages I've ever encountered if you use the tools correctly and use proper care. Sure you can blow a depriming pin if you sit there and try and ream on it, but if you need to put that much pressure on it chances are you're doing something wrong, and need to stop doing that.
Thing is... I've been looking closely and I can see that some dies appear to simply be better engineered. Redding and Forster especially seem to really take extra care to really think their dies out and demand extra precision. I'm just not sure that that extra precision really translates to a better die since the tolerance differences are so small
One thing I've noted is that Lee seems to get a hard rap for being inexpensive and having issues with quality in regards to construction materials (ie rusting, etc)
I'm not sure I buy that. I've yet to see any die that doesn't get some rust on it IF you don't take care of it.
I keep mine pretty much bathed in wd40 or oils to both keep the dies clean and rust free and have no problems there.
Now one thing I did notice as being brought up was the screw locking rings that some die manufacturers use as opposed to the o-ring lock nut that Lee uses or the dual nutsother use. I totally get that. Those screw locked nuts are a great thing if you're swapping out dies a lot. Put it in, dial in the perfect depth and lock it down tight permanently and accurately. However I've not had a lick of trouble with the Lee when I use the quick change die bushings instead. I dial in the dept. Tighten the oring nut and leave the quick change bushing on the die permanently. Just saying... Seems to work fine for me.
As to breakages and tolerances Which dies are most notorious for breakages? Me and my brother used RCBS and Lee all the time when he was reloading... and I can't think of any breakages I've ever encountered if you use the tools correctly and use proper care. Sure you can blow a depriming pin if you sit there and try and ream on it, but if you need to put that much pressure on it chances are you're doing something wrong, and need to stop doing that.
Thing is... I've been looking closely and I can see that some dies appear to simply be better engineered. Redding and Forster especially seem to really take extra care to really think their dies out and demand extra precision. I'm just not sure that that extra precision really translates to a better die since the tolerance differences are so small