And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Don't waste your money on Lee Dies, just when you need them the most, they will break or let you down in some fasion. Go with RCBS or nothing. Lee is cheap for a reason.
Never had an issue with my Lee, press or dies and I've run thousands of .45 and .223 through it. My .223 sizing die was a little snug but that polished up, easy enough. All in all, I see Lee as a great inexpensive way to get started.
I agree with you. I started out loading many decades ago and used RCBS dies. When carbide straight wall sizing dies came out I switched to Lee because of the price. Never had one bit of trouble in all these years and many thousands of rounds. The only set of dies that I ever had a problem with was the .300 Savage that I got from Lyman..........
Off topic, but..., I shared your post/pic about the Sanders stamp on the backside of the $10 bill with a closed group on FB (with no added personal comment.) Just got a notification from FB that the "post goes against our Community Standards," and they've blocked it from viewing by anyone but me. ...first time that's happened to me, and I would not have expected it to be related to a DTW post! I'm not going to dig into what the objection was -- I don't care. I just think it's kind of funny. facebook [dot] com/communitystandards/
For simpler reloading tasks, Lee products work OK. Some of the parts in their more articulated machines are prone to breakage under hard and/or long term use. They use a lot of plastic and aluminum. That's why their warranty is conditional after two years. They are aiming at a certain market price point. No problem, I get that.
What has always griped me about LEE is 1) beyond two years, often as not their response to a warranty claim is "customer abuse", and 2) Their literature just drips with attitude--WE are the pros, and anyone who doesn't do it our way is an idiot.
I started reloading in '77 with an RCBS Junior press. Some time around 2005, the threads on the priming arm where the primer seater screws in gave out. As we lived in Chico, CA it was but a 25 minute drive the front door of RCBS in Oroville. At the counter, I said "This is not a warranty issue. I have put two and a half million miles on this part and worn it out. I wish to purchase a replacement". The guy behind the counter handed me a new one and said "Have a nice day". No charge.
My last place of employment (2012) was working the retail floor at Huntington's in Oroville. As in Fred Huntington, founder of RCBS.
Trivia question--anybody here know what RCBS stands for? (Without using Google).
Don't waste your money on Lee Dies, just when you need them the most, they will break or let you down in some fasion. Go with RCBS or nothing. Lee is cheap for a reason.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI buy RCBS, Dillon, and inherited some Redding.
Never had an issue with my Lee, press or dies and I've run thousands of .45 and .223 through it. My .223 sizing die was a little snug but that polished up, easy enough. All in all, I see Lee as a great inexpensive way to get started.
DeleteMy experience is completely opposite of your statement. I've been using Lee dies for more than 10 years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I started out loading many decades ago and used RCBS dies. When carbide straight wall sizing dies came out I switched to Lee because of the price. Never had one bit of trouble in all these years and many thousands of rounds. The only set of dies that I ever had a problem with was the .300 Savage that I got from Lyman..........
DeleteI use RCBS.
ReplyDeleteI have two sets of all my dies, two is one ,one is none at the wrong moment.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but..., I shared your post/pic about the Sanders stamp on the backside of the $10 bill with a closed group on FB (with no added personal comment.) Just got a notification from FB that the "post goes against our Community Standards," and they've blocked it from viewing by anyone but me. ...first time that's happened to me, and I would not have expected it to be related to a DTW post!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to dig into what the objection was -- I don't care. I just think it's kind of funny.
facebook [dot] com/communitystandards/
For simpler reloading tasks, Lee products work OK. Some of the parts in their more articulated machines are prone to breakage under hard and/or long term use. They use a lot of plastic and aluminum. That's why their warranty is conditional after two years. They are aiming at a certain market price point. No problem, I get that.
ReplyDeleteWhat has always griped me about LEE is 1) beyond two years, often as not their response to a warranty claim is "customer abuse", and 2) Their literature just drips with attitude--WE are the pros, and anyone who doesn't do it our way is an idiot.
I started reloading in '77 with an RCBS Junior press. Some time around 2005, the threads on the priming arm where the primer seater screws in gave out. As we lived in Chico, CA it was but a 25 minute drive the front door of RCBS in Oroville. At the counter, I said "This is not a warranty issue. I have put two and a half million miles on this part and worn it out. I wish to purchase a replacement". The guy behind the counter handed me a new one and said "Have a nice day". No charge.
My last place of employment (2012) was working the retail floor at Huntington's in Oroville. As in Fred Huntington, founder of RCBS.
Trivia question--anybody here know what RCBS stands for? (Without using Google).
My experience with Dillon is similar to yours:
Delete"I need this part"
"We will send it to you"
"How much will it cost?"
"We will send it to you"
"This isn't what I would consider a warrantied part because of the reason it broke"
"We will send it to you anyway...Thanks for buying Dillon"
"But I bought the press used"
"We don't care. What is your address?"
And then they followed up with an email wanting to know if I had had any issues fixing the press....
I own 3 Dillon presses now.
Rock Chuck Bullet Swage
DeleteBeen using them for 35 years now.
You sir, are correct.
Delete