The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I'm using 223, 243 and 308. Why do they fail? I keep the chamfer blades clean and oil them and can't really see why they would fail if you look after them.

tbh, i have no idea why, i can't see anything wrong with mine, but it chews cases like nobodies business

I don't use any of those sizes

That's not an issue which has effected me! Have you tried adjusting it?

yep, up down, spacer, no spacer.

blades spring in and out freely. both straight. cutter itself sharp and straight. not a clue whats wrong.

if i do 303 brass, it will turn the top of the neck razor sharp so I could use it as a holepunch. plus it cuts it about 1.5mm too short. either that or it seems to catch, bite and judder.

i decided to go to a 3 jaw chuck and adapter from lee, and use the arbour type cutter with the ball cutter head attached. drill makes trimming a joy

Lets' not forget if it wasn't for Lee alot of people wouldn't be able to reload/shoot. To some £35 for a set of Lee dies is alot of money so let's not get snotty about reloading gear. I use alot of Lee stuff and if you look after it, it looks after you.

The issue with Lee isn't their products a such but their total lack of any quality control.

It is a pig in a poke as to whether any particular item will work as advertised or need serious fettling or returning.

When they work they are good tools and their designs are very innovative but it is let down by the IKEA business model of let the customer do the QC.

I suppose I have been fortunate in that all of my Lee equipment works well and has been hassle free.

As I said in my original post, I reload 15 calibres all with Lee kit, except for one RCBS bullet mould.

I bought 7 Quick Trim die bodies in 6.5x55, .308 Win, 30-06, .303, 7.92x57, 7.62x54R and 7.5x55. (Lee don't produce any other `off the shelf` die bodies to suit my needs.)

I also utilise the .308 die to trim 7.5x54 brass.

The Quick Trim dies have produced the best finished brass to date, so I am more than pleased with the results.

ukrifleman.

I'll add to what ukrifleman has said. I started with a second hand Lee Challenger press about 18 months ago and have just supplemented this with a Lee Classic Cast press after a LOT of research. Friends have Redding, Forster, etc. and they can't fault the Lee kit, they just use something different as that's what they bought into.

Lee make affordable kit that turns out pretty accurate ammunition. If you want bench rest quality, you'll have to pay benchrest die prices, but I can get MOA groups with Lee kit under the right shooting conditions.

Regards

Mark