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My own two penn'orth - I use a fair bit of Lee kit (press, dies, cutters and guides, powder thrower) and have found it all perfectly acceptable with one notable exception - the 'Safety Powder Scale', which is, not to put too fine a point on it, absolute kack. I replaced it with an RCBS 502 and all has been well ever since.

Doz wrote:My own two penn'orth - I use a fair bit of Lee kit (press, dies, cutters and guides, powder thrower) and have found it all perfectly acceptable with one notable exception - the 'Safety Powder Scale', which is, not to put too fine a point on it, absolute kack. I replaced it with an RCBS 502 and all has been well ever since.

I could have written that myself - I have a Lyman hand lathe length trimmer but often choose to use the Lee £7 jobby. I have an RCBS deburring tool (£25) but often use the Lee £5 tool. I have a Lee single stage cast iron press that I load all my rifle rounds with. I have a Lee perfect powder measure (also have a fancy Ohaus one) but as I weigh all my loads a measure is only a bulk dumper. If you get into pistol calibre reloading, say for a .357 lever action rifle I don't think you can use a better tool than a Lee turret press with an auto disc measure.
Lee carbide pistol calibre dies are excellent value and the Lee rifle dies also work well.

I also would avoid the Lee scale, it's accurate enough but very fiddly to set the weight and not very well damped, also avoid the RCBS R130 and later Lyman scales with the plastic bases.

The Lee perfect powder measure is as accurate as any measure but it only has a small powder hopper but not a problem with .223 size loads.

I have several set of Lee dies but use Redding dies for my long range shooting.

Amy youre more than welckme to come up to norfolk for a day and i can run through every thing you need to know. Thats goes for anybody else as well

plus ui have gear here to take home with you :cheers: :cheers:

Gentlemen
Thank you for so many informative replies. , but of course, the Lada is much cheaper
As is often the case when asking advice, so much is offered and some is slightly conflicting and Im not in an informed position to judge accordingly, so Im still in the dark a little.

I guess its like cars. All will get you from A to B, but the journey is preferable in a range rover than a Lada but of course, the Lada is much cheaper. Ya pays ya money..........choices.

My Mate Stephen is an RFD and occasionally comes across shooting gear thats handed in, disposed of, sold etc etc for various reasons. He can / will be able to get me some reloading gear, but we dont know when., It might be next week or next year.

To answer some of your questions.

Im a sad lonely old spinster whos only obsession is shooting, and as such, my time is all my own. I have all the time in the world to devote to loading and shooting and as a techie, engineery type (not geeky computery type though) I like machines, boys toys, accuracy etc so playing at making bullets appeals. I also wish to save money and have fun doing it.

I have enjoyed rough shooting, stalking, hunting and pitting my wits against nature, but its not always available, so targets play an increasing part of shooting, but Im also enjoying the science side of balistics and the skill of accuracy and consistency.
So, I want to load for fun, finance and skill.
I chose my AR because its able to handle 5.56 and .223 in the 1 in 8 barrel and that means most bullet weights too, so plenty of scope and options.

I do need tuition. Ive dabbled with distilation and the main rule there is, get a mentor/tutor. Reading books is one thing, but when your eyes, kidneys liver and buildings depend on getting it right, you cant afford to get it wrong. Same goes for home loading.

Im in west Worcestershire but have fast car and do travel. Obviously want to make my money go as far as possible, but would like to get set up for reloading 223 /556 at the moment with the kit adaptable enough to possibly handle other cals in the future with the addition of more dies etc.

I want to load for fun, finance and skill.

Scratch the finance bit!!! You are very unlikely to save any money one you have factored component and equipment costs.
But reloading is one of the most rewarding and absorbing aspects of shooting.
Trick is to be able to sort the 'bs' out of it and not get sidetracked with the latest must have gadgets.

Read this thread...


http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.ph ... rap#p56254