Lee reloading kit at Cheaper than dirt

Navy Moose

Navy Moose

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Hello All,

I saw a Lee reloading kit at Cheaper than dirt's website and it is for relatively short money. What is the quality of this setup? I want to reload 9mm, .30 Carbine, and .30-06.

I spoke with a number of people at the Pumpkin shoot and most use Dillon. I was hoping the Lee kit would be a good way to cut my teeth on reloading and not spend a ton of money.

Thank you.

Navy Moose
 
What kit is it?

I am a Dillon guy but I also have a Lee turret press (which was my first) and it still makes very reliable ammo, just a fair amount slower than with the dillon products.

Definitely not a bad starter setup even though I almost gaurantee you will upgrade to something blue at some point.
 
Run away from anything cheap made by lee.

The only things I like that they make are the FCD, their U-Die (which EGW sells, as a special product) and their bullet molds. They can keep the rest of the stuff, IMHO it's mostly junk. (unless you have masochistic tendencies.... )

-Mike
 
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drgrant said:
Run away from anything cheap made by lee.

The only things I like that they make are the FCD, their U-Die (which EGW sells, as a special product) and their bullet molds. They can keep the rest of the stuff, IMHO it's mostly junk. (unless you have masochistic tendencies.... )

-Mike
Click to expand...

Have you actually used some of thier presses?


As I would agree they do not even compare to a Dillon, they are also a long way from junk.
 
Navy Moose said:
I was hoping the Lee kit would be a good way to cut my teeth on reloading and not spend a ton of money.
Click to expand...

Lee is great for what you're thinking. If it turn out that you like reloading, you'll know it's worth spending the money on an expensive press. (And you'll still have the first press for odd use.) If you turn out not to like reloading... you haven't invested a lot of $$ to find out.

I started with a Lee single stage press, then upgraded to their Classic Turret Press (the one that holds 4 dies), which is built like a tank. The turret press makes one cartridge per four pulls of the handle. I load under 1500 rounds a year and it's perfect for my use. I have no experience with their progressive presses.
 
i have a Lee breech lock challenger press that i reload 45, .223 and .308 on. It's slow but it works and it won't cost a fortune. I don't shoot enough rifle and pistol to justify a loader that is faster.
 
Jay6 said:
Have you actually used some of thier presses?
.
Click to expand...

Honestly I haven't- However, I have numerous close friends who have not had fun with their Pro 1000s and Loadmasters. Enough to the point of convincing me never to buy one. [laugh]

Every person I know that has had a Lee Pro 1000 / Loadmaster or whatever has had to futz with it a lot to get it to work right. Even then most end up dumping it later on for (nearly anything) else, due to relative frustration with the things, especially WRT primer feeding. Jams and explosions are par for the course with those things. I know a few people that have kept the things (Pro 1000s) at least, and they still run them but they have to resort to tinkering and wallhacks to keep the presses running.

Some of their bigger single stages or turret presses are probably okay, but there isn't a whole hell of a lot to mess up there. Either of those are probably safe.

IMHO it's dumb to chinse out on reloading gear, considering that it quickly pays for itself anyways. Even those doing precision rifle cartridges on a single stage will save a ton of money in not much time, unless they don't shoot enough to even justify having the press around.

If one wants to cut their teeth, best thing to do is find a reloading class or use someone else's gear- then decide what you want- instead of just picking up the cheapest thing out there and hoping it will do what you want it to....

-Mike
 
Jay6 said:
What kit is it?

I am a Dillon guy but I also have a Lee turret press (which was my first) and it still makes very reliable ammo, just a fair amount slower than with the dillon products.

Definitely not a bad starter setup even though I almost gaurantee you will upgrade to something blue at some point.
Click to expand...

I'm at work and I can't get to the website from here, I can post the link when I get home.

I was looking at getting a used Dillon 550, but the price of the Lee caught my eye.
 
The Pro 1000 is garbage. I bought that as my first press from Cabelas and returned it within a week. I have a Lee single stage and like it very much, though.
 
ochmude said:
The Pro 1000 is garbage. I bought that as my first press from Cabelas and returned it within a week. I have a Lee single stage and like it very much, though.
Click to expand...

i have a pro 1000 and it is solely now used to size cases and that it. I had major issues with primers going in every which way but correct and squibs.
 
I have a couple of Pro1000's, they all run great. if you can't get one to run, then shooting guns might be too complicated for you also
 
Supermoto said:
I have a couple of Pro1000's, they all run great. if you can't get one to run, then shooting guns might be too complicated for you also
Click to expand...

I fly helicopters while wearing blinders (literally), but I can't get a Pro1000 to run right. If the Pro1000 is more complicated than an ILS approach into Logan, that's a serious design flaw [wink].
 
That setup, with the Lee turret press, would be fine for starting out. Sure, there's better stuff, but that press won't suffer from the learning curve caused by the primer system on the Lee 1000. You would need to purchase a primer tool, for maybe $10 or so, and some dies. When you upgrade to something better, you could always disable the indexing and use it for a single stage for utility work.
 
All Hail Supermoto

ochmude said:
I fly helicopters while wearing blinders (literally), but I can't get a Pro1000 to run right. If the Pro1000 is more complicated than an ILS approach into Logan, that's a serious design flaw [wink].
Click to expand...

Well, I reload while wearing blinders and flying a helicopter, (okay it's an AirHog) and I can't get the Lee to work right either. Never forget though - Supermoto has established himself as all that - an expert on most everything, so.....
 
ochmude said:
The Pro 1000 is garbage. I bought that as my first press from Cabelas and returned it within a week. I have a Lee single stage and like it very much, though.
Click to expand...

I have a Lee classic cast single stage press that I use for all of my sizing/decapping/trimming (with a dillon 1200RT)... Does the job and haven't had any problems with it so far....[thinking]
 
Lee

I have Lee challenger - works fine for me. I'll probably go for multistage press in the future, but for now I do 45 Long, .45 and .40 and it does what I want it to do.
 
My father uses a Dillon 550. I wanted to get started reloading but not spend a ton of money. I got the Lee turret press. The Dillon is a much better machine, but for the money I'm very happy with my setup.
 
I have two Lee 1000 and the 4 stage press.
I like them both and have done thousands of rounds but primer seating can be tricky
 
tele_mark said:
That setup, with the Lee turret press, would be fine for starting out. Sure, there's better stuff, but that press won't suffer from the learning curve caused by the primer system on the Lee 1000. You would need to purchase a primer tool, for maybe $10 or so, and some dies. When you upgrade to something better, you could always disable the indexing and use it for a single stage for utility work.
Click to expand...

That is the setup I was looking at. How essential is the brass tumbler I saw on the page? I'm thinking of buying this in a month or so once I have a space built for it.
 
Navy Moose said:
That is the setup I was looking at. How essential is the brass tumbler I saw on the page? I'm thinking of buying this in a month or so once I have a space built for it.
Click to expand...

The lee four turret is good enough for pistol (straight walled) rounds. A nice feature to them is that the turrets are pretty cheap and they pop on and off very simply. So you can grab a bunch of them and leave the dies all set up (as a note, they also made a three turret so make sure you get the right ones). For rifles (and/or shouldered rounds), the lee single (Challenger) press is a good one to start with. It's a lot stronger then the turret and if you want to fully resize the brass, you will want the extra strength. I have a bunch of lee products and the best deal are the dies. I would not recommend their kits though. I'd get, as separates, the turret, extra turrets, single press, primer seater, dies, case length gauge (caliber dependent), pocket cleaner, case trimmer with the ball grip, calpers and the volumetric (perfect powder) measure. The powder measure is a good start but from there I still weigh it using a RCBS electronic powder scale. I try and set the measure to a hair light and use a Redding powder trickler to top it off on the scale. You'll also need some lube if the dies are not carbide. Lee's modern reloading book is a good one to see what their products are all about and how to use them (I would suggest you get this and read it before you decide if you want to try reloading). I also like Lymans reloading book. I use both for the recipies. Besides this, you'll need a work area (some place where you won't cause a spark), a strong bench of some type, TWO shell holders, one on one side for un-powdered, one on the other for charged shells (this helps in preventing a double load using a single stage), primers (still hard to find without spending a lot), powders and corrosponding bullets. I say corrosponding because, if you look at the recipes, certain powders are better with certain bullet weights than others. They will be listed. Also, certian powders will give a better range in amounts thus allowing you to fine tune your recipe for a particular firearm. As for a tumbler, I have and use one. I don't care for the mixed (infused) media, it always leaves a mess. I roll with just straight crushed walnut (that you can get at pet stores) for the before prep tumbling and a bit of straight corn media with a squirt of mineral spirits and a used dryer sheet for the after clean-up (make sure to check the pockets for any stuck media). Here's my area with a lee single stage set-up ready to roll a couple:

reloading.jpg


Hope this helps.
 
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LEE Press

I have been using the challenger anniversary kits for 7 years have never had a problem with it. But just the other day the cam piece that is aluminum broke now have to call lee and get a new piece. I have loaded thousands of rounds with it 45, 223, 308, 7MM Mag. Never a problem
 
Taipan01 said:
The lee four turret is good enough for pistol (straight walled) rounds. A nice feature to them is that the turrets are pretty cheap and they pop on and off very simply. So you can grab a bunch of them and leave the dies all set up (as a note, they also made a three turret so make sure you get the right ones). For rifles (and/or shouldered rounds), the lee single (Challenger) press is a good one to start with. It's a lot stronger then the turret and if you want to fully resize the brass, you will want the extra strength. I have a bunch of lee products and the best deal are the dies. I would not recommend their kits though. I'd get, as separates, the turret, extra turrets, single press, primer seater, dies, case length gauge (caliber dependent), pocket cleaner, case trimmer with the ball grip, calpers and the volumetric (perfect powder) measure. The powder measure is a good start but from there I still weigh it using a RCBS electronic powder scale. I try and set the measure to a hair light and use a Redding powder trickler to top it off on the scale. You'll also need some lube if the dies are not carbide. Lee's modern reloading book is a good one to see what their products are all about and how to use them (I would suggest you get this and read it before you decide if you want to try reloading). I also like Lymans reloading book. I use both for the recipies. Besides this, you'll need a work area (some place where you won't cause a spark), a strong bench of some type, TWO shell holders, one on one side for un-powdered, one on the other for charged shells (this helps in preventing a double load using a single stage), primers (still hard to find without spending a lot), powders and corrosponding bullets. I say corrosponding because, if you look at the recipes, certain powders are better with certain bullet weights than others. They will be listed. Also, certian powders will give a better range in amounts thus allowing you to fine tune your recipe for a particular firearm. As for a tumbler, I have and use one. I don't care for the mixed (infused) media, it always leaves a mess. I roll with just straight crushed walnut (that you can get at pet stores) for the before prep tumbling and a bit of straight corn media with a squirt of mineral spirits and a used dryer sheet for the after clean-up (make sure to check the pockets for any stuck media). Here's my area with a lee single stage set-up ready to roll a couple:

reloading.jpg


Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Man, I wish I was that organized! [shocked]
 
I have the Lee turret press also and use it to load 9mm, .38, .45 and .45 colt. Not a bad setup but pretty slow going. I also did not want to spend a ton of money to find out I may not want to reload. I actually really enjoy the reloading process so I may end up at some point getting another setup down the road. But if you are not sure how much you will reload and if you will like it you may not want to drop a lot of $$ on a dillon.

That setup Taipan is incredible.
 
ochmude said:
I fly helicopters while wearing blinders (literally), but I can't get a Pro1000 to run right. If the Pro1000 is more complicated than an ILS approach into Logan, that's a serious design flaw [wink].
Click to expand...

that's awesome, I've never even been in a helicopter.

Never tried a Lee multistage but the single stage breech lock works as advertised, caveat being it's single stage. On the other hand doing only one thing at a time keeps life simple. For a multi I will go with the LnL.
 

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