I lucked out as a kid, my Dad would stumble on deals here and there, when I was 13 or so he won a Mec 650 in 12 gauge in a card game.. I still have it..He also acquired a Rock Chucker press with three huge boxes all kinds of items, I reloaded for two years for my .222 with out having to buy anything!!
That said I don't have a Lee press, but I do know that a lot of people got started with Lee products, and the Company should be proud of that.
I do have a few Lee "do Dads" that are real handy, for instance I absolutely love my Lee crimp die in .223.
I also would not be without a Lee decapping die, when you have a five gallon pail of Mil brass with crimped primers to remove, the decapping die is the ticket. I leave it in my Rock Chucker and use for other calibers, and how can you beat the price of the crimp and decapping dies???

I respect everyone's opinion here, but I have to disagree. I have used Lee products for over 30 years. Their dies have never let me down. I have had some issues with a few of their products, but all in all they work fine for me. I'm no competition benchrest shooter. Just a hunter and recreational shooter. Obviously I'm not trying to say Lee is the best. That wouldn't be true. Their dies, presses, and other equipment can give good value for the money for the guy that can't afford the high end equipment. That's all. If other brands work better for your application, then more power to you.

Robert

If lee dies are so bad, then why is there so many people recommending the carbide pistol dies over rcbs nitrite dies. Why does so many recommend the lee crimp dies. I hear nothing but good about lee dies. I think your pole is a little bias, because so many think the least you can buy with the most money is always the best, and thats not always true. I do know I really like my hornady lock n load single stage press alot. With my rcbs nitride dies. And my lee factory crimp dies. Dave

Where has CatShooter been latley?

RCBS is a great company. Best customer service I've ever dealt with.

Wondering about why you might need a special die to decap case's, mil or other wise? I have nothing against Lee. Got a few dies from them and they work but could use a better lock ring; easy fix! Got my son a Lee starter kit years ago, didn't like the scale at all but just no big thing. Other's do like it! The thing about most Lee tools and the best from anyone else is they do the same job for a lot less money. My favorite dies are Redding. I like the way they look, hate the price. Most my dies are RCBS, few Lyman, few Lee and bunch of old Herter's. They all do what they were designed to do! Amazing!

you dont "need" a special die for decapping...

however a universal decapping die is great for just punching primers out before tumbling - especially for those of us who wet tumble. that way the pins and cleaning solution can scrub that carbon out of the primer pocket for you.


and since its just an open body die with a decap pin in there.... you can run dirty brass through it without worrying about scratching up your sizing die body with a piece of grit.

This is very helpful info for someone looking to get started in reloading! Great idea!

I have a few Lee collet dies, not enough to condemn them. And over the years I have seen lots of post's like this from people that love their Lee stuff and have had success with it. I think Lee's problem is they try to be different and then it's a matter of getting used to one thing or another they do. The lock rings on my Lee dies I hate but, simple to remove them and replace. /all my Lee die's, two or three set's, have very old Herter lock rings on them and no more problem. I have Lee sizing dies for my cast bullet's. Also have a Lyman 450. The 450 is better looking, good cool factor but the Lee set up does pretty much the same thing!

Most my dies are RCBS and I haven't one bad thing to say about them, they just work! My favorite are my Redding but they work the same as my other dies! Look better though. Speaking of looks, got a new set of Lyman dies and like the way they look. They work no worse or better than any of my other dies! Haven't used my old Herter dies in over 30 yrs but would bet they still work right! Something I think about different brands is a lot of us get caught up with a favorite maker for one reason or another and never realize they all do pretty much the same thing and if they are different in some way, like those junk lock rings on the Lee dies, easy fix but many of up prefer to talk them down, good bad or indifferent!

Lee is great for the price point. Some of the stuff they make is fantastic and several companies try to copy. Their dies may not look the best but they will load ammo just as accurate as Redding or Forster. Their Collet dies are awesome.
The classic presses are pretty good. I have 3 Lee presses along with 2 RCBS. I have a Pro 4000, a load master and the little cheap one I use for decappng.
I have several die brands. I have Lee, Forster, Redding, RCBS, Hornady and CH4D. Could be 1 or 2 I'm missing.
I use to be under the impression that I needed to upgrade my lee dies. Now I have several double and even triple die sets for calibers.

Eventually I realized my Lee dies shot just as accurate and sometimes more accurate than my more expensive dies so now I use them a lot. I seen where Johnny's Reloading bench used a bunch of different dies and lee's ended up being the most accurate.
Their scales and trimmers work, they are just slow. The perfect powder measure is more accurate the my Hornady or RCBS powder measures.

They have great customer service. I emailed them asking about converting a .223 seater to a 20 practical. They sent me the parts just for the cost of shipping.
I think the only people who knock them are people who haven't tried them or buy in To the Internet rumors.
The cost of lees stuff has gotten a lot of people in to reloading who wouldn't have otherwise started just because the price.