Re: Lee Classic Cast press or RCBS ??
"I have a Lee press that I've used for 20 yrs just sitting collecting dust now."
Well, that old Lee Challanger is good but it's not in the same league as their newer steel bodied (NOT cheaper cast iron) is a whole different thing.
Often hear/see folks disparging Lee tools as "cheap"; perhaps if Lee just raised the prices they would be more acceptable to them? I mean "inexpensive" is NOT quite the same as "cheap", right? Yeah, we never get more than we pay for but it's really easy to get less. I've learned that Lee's tools give more VALUE than anyone else!
Pretty dies are a lot like pretty women; they always cost more but they really don't work any better. Ammo is made inside the dies so the pretty externals are nice to look at but it really means nothing.
Some say that brand "X" dies are made to "tighter tolerances" than brand "Y". It isn't true but even if it were it would be meaningless; tighter/closer to what, the large or small end of the allowable range? Fact is, ALL die makers seem to hold to SAAMI interior tolerance specs quite well, and that IS a range, not a specific point. (Ditto our chambers.) Thus, how well a given die fits our chamber is a matter of luck, not brand or price. Since there are two or three dies in most sets it is RARE that more than one of them is a close fit to any chamber.
Bottom line, while Lee's dies aren't my favorites it's easily provable that they work as well as any conventional types. Lee's Factory Crimp Dies and Collet Neck-sizer dies are easily the best of their types, period. In performance, Forster's BR and Redding's Competition dis are the best of the premimums. After that, pay what it takes to make you feel good but all of the rest are tied for second place.
