chopps Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) now all my bullet C.O.A.L are withing 5 thousands of each other and I am happy. Before with the dillon die I was lucky to be within 10 to 15 thousands up or down on my 650. The $22 bucks its well worth that investment. Thanks to Calls Shots who suggested it in another thread. Edited May 24, 2013 by chopps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 parade... rain... call me little cloud. you will find that the seating dies are quite variable. the ogives of the bullets and seats if the dies can cause a lot of variation. I find the the PD bullets I have are good in a RCBS seating die and the plated ones were much happier with the Lee. keep the dillon seating die. The Lee ain't always the best. The precision target rifle guys have seating dies for each type of bullet they seat. ... well it is what they say... your mileage may vary. miranda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j0s3ph Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I love my lee dies.. im within .003" o.a.l. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopps Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 parade... rain... call me little cloud. you will find that the seating dies are quite variable. the ogives of the bullets and seats if the dies can cause a lot of variation. I find the the PD bullets I have are good in a RCBS seating die and the plated ones were much happier with the Lee. keep the dillon seating die. The Lee ain't always the best. The precision target rifle guys have seating dies for each type of bullet they seat. ... well it is what they say... your mileage may vary. miranda Agreed I will keep the Dilon dies incase they work better in other bullets. Just with these plated ones lee works best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowenbuilt Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 As much as I hate to compare Lee to Dillon I must admit I have found this to be true also. I get better consistency using the Lee seating die. To look at the Lee die with its plastic adjustment plug and the el cheapo rubber o-ring locking nut you would think it was junk compared to the Dillon stuff but the bullet seating die works better for me also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Plastic Adjustment Plug? Parts on the Lee seating die are Aluminum and steel. I find the Lee seating dies and sizing dies to be better then all the others I have tried. I do take the seating stem out, put it in the chuck of a drill and spin it while I polish it with some very fine wet dry paper. I also shoot lead so I had a friend put the stem in a Lath and drill a hole down the center so the wax has a place to go before it changes OAL. I also drilled a hole in the top adjuster so it also vents. That last bit is probably a total waste but who cares. The hole in the stem is totally worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopps Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 As much as I hate to compare Lee to Dillon I must admit I have found this to be true also. I get better consistency using the Lee seating die. To look at the Lee die with its plastic adjustment plug and the el cheapo rubber o-ring locking nut you would think it was junk compared to the Dillon stuff but the bullet seating die works better for me also. Don't see any plastic plug on mine all steel and aluminum. Plastic Adjustment Plug? Parts on the Lee seating die are Aluminum and steel. I find the Lee seating dies and sizing dies to be better then all the others I have tried. I do take the seating stem out, put it in the chuck of a drill and spin it while I polish it with some very fine wet dry paper. I also shoot lead so I had a friend put the stem in a Lath and drill a hole down the center so the wax has a place to go before it changes OAL. I also drilled a hole in the top adjuster so it also vents. That last bit is probably a total waste but who cares. The hole in the stem is totally worth it. Heck out of the box its good for me but I may polish it next time I readjust it for heck of it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L3324temp Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I run Lee dies for 9mm as well. I get a lot of 9 major brass and when using the Lee dies they all chamber properly. With the Dillon dies many will fail to chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowenbuilt Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) My Lee dies are old and yes the bullet seater adjustment is black plastic. My 9mm dies are 25 years or older and at that time the seater adjustment was black plastic. I can provide a picture for all non believers or young whipper snappers that are younger than these dies. Edited May 24, 2013 by bowenbuilt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I have used Lee U dies and Redding Competition Seating Dies for all of my pistol loading. I rarely have a round that will not case guage. I am 100 % Dillon with the exception of the Lee and Redding dies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopps Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) My Lee dies are old and yes the bullet seater adjustment is black plastic. My 9mm dies are 25 years or older and at that time the seater adjustment was black plastic. I can provide a picture for all non believers or young whipper snappers that are younger than these dies. Heck I believe ya just never saw one is all. I am a little more than twice as old as your dies Edited May 24, 2013 by chopps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 The Lee bullet seater dies work good and are easy to adjust, but I have been using the Hornady New dimension seater dies for pistol and .223 rifle. The Hornady's are very consistent and easy to adjust and the hornady microjust seating stem can be added (about 24 bucks) if you want vernier capability, and the seating die is only about 20 bucks or less. The best part about the Hornady seating dies is that they have a sleeve which floats up and centers the bullet....so you won't get your thumb smashed in the press when seating the bullet because the floating sleeve moves up and gives you warning that you are about to load your thumb with the bullet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I had no end of trouble with that sleeve on the Hornady dies. They would give me a 25% failure rate because the bullets are not going in straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thompsoncustom Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Redding Competition Seating Dies are probably the best dies or atleast that's what you would think as they range from 70 to 250 so they better be next to flawless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_Bird Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Well, I would buy one of the Udie's if I could find one. EGW is out of stock. Any ideas anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowenbuilt Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Plastic Adjustment Plug? Parts on the Lee seating die are Aluminum and steel. I find the Lee seating dies and sizing dies to be better then all the others I have tried. I do take the seating stem out, put it in the chuck of a drill and spin it while I polish it with some very fine wet dry paper. I also shoot lead so I had a friend put the stem in a Lath and drill a hole down the center so the wax has a place to go before it changes OAL. I also drilled a hole in the top adjuster so it also vents. That last bit is probably a total waste but who cares. The hole in the stem is totally worth it. Here is the plastic adjustment plug on my Lee seating die. I purchased this set of dies in the very early 80's. Still works great after all these years. Edited May 25, 2013 by bowenbuilt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlouie87 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Are you guys just replacing the seating dies? or the whole dillon set for the Lee's carbide dies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Its only 8:45 and I learned something new. Edited May 25, 2013 by 98sr20ve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopps Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 (edited) Are you guys just replacing the seating dies? or the whole dillon set for the Lee's carbide dies? I just replaced the seating die but bought the crimp die to so if I got a wild hair later I could replace it to. I like the adjustement knob on both whereas no tools needed to fine tune them. I bought mine direct from lee they have the seat die instock but not the others they said. ebay has them at a good price for those interested. Edited May 25, 2013 by chopps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunaman Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I do use Lee seating dies in addition to Dillon, depending on the round and projectile. I find that one or the other seems to work best for each combination, and since components have been so challenging I find myself having to load unfamiliar projectiles more often than not these days. Good to have a couple of options and try them out when working up a new round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 I'm a big believer in the Lee sizing and crimp dies, but when it comes to seating dies nothing beats the Redding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillR1 Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 I use Lee dies only for both 9mm and my .45 loading. They're consistent, and I've never had one fail a case gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishpinoy27 Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 (edited) I have Lee Seating die for my 40 and 9mm for my 550...the only drawback for Lee dies is the opening, not a progressive friendly. Not like Dillon dies, the opening is humongous not like the Lee, its almost straight. The thing I like Lee are for their adjustable seating stem. Edited May 27, 2013 by fishpinoy27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxerglocker Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 I have found that it really depends on the bullet ogive as to which one is more consistent. The 9mm BC RN 135g molys I use seat more consistently off the ogive with the Dillon dies but of course has a great OAL variance than using the Lees which have a more consistent OAL but greater variance when measuring off the ogive. The issue is whether they are pushing down on the tip or the actual ogive which is more consistent. I learned this through loading precision rifle that the preference for a more consistent inside the case area is always more desirable so always and check off the ogive when setting my dies. At that point +/- 0.005 OAL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH45 Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I'm a big believer in the Lee sizing and crimp dies, but when it comes to seating dies nothing beats the Redding. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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