Buying Lee

[lightsareout]

I'm going to be purchasing for the first time some reloading equipment. I will load .308 to start and probably 30-06, possibly 9mm in the future. I am looking between these two Lee kits:

Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Kit
Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Anniversary Kit

Whats the big difference between the two? From what i can tell the anniversary kit doesn't come with shell holders and has the auto prime rather than the hand primer.

Also when looking at die sets, for .308 is a crimp die needed?

 

[High Binder]

Re: Buying Lee

I know it costs more but buy RCBS.

 

[Beef82]

Re: Buying Lee

Couple points, the challenger press is not near as heavy duty as the classic press, it is functional but go easy with it. The Lee safety scale sucks IMO, its not nearly as user friendly as other brands, got one free, bought a Redding.

The hand primer versus press priming system is personal preference both will work adequetly, hand primers are nice because you can go watch tv, I tend to prefer a bench mounted priming tool. Shell holders can add up, but if you're just loading two sizes not to much and they are included with some dies. Crimp dies are not needed for bottle neck cartridges, some people like to use them anyway, I use one in .223 for my AR, but its probably not neccesary.

 

[boltgunluvr]

Re: Buying Lee

just the facts, you can spend as much as you desire, BUT the Lee kits are so darn functional. I sold all my other stuff and went with Lee years ago. That accomplished everything I wanted to do including keeping my hard earned $$$ in my wallet. Every manufacturer makes great stuff. NOW, to answer your question, the anniversary kit has the Safety Prime performs on the press. The Auto Prime is by hand and the new kits include the newer XR series. I use both. The shellholder are only for the Auto Prime, not the press. Lee die sets come with the appropriate shellholder. And the Breechlock bushings are so sweet and it drives the competition nuts! So many kits from others include crap you'll never use. Hope this helps.

 

[boltgunluvr]

Re: Buying Lee

Don't be fooled by the price, Lee has always made great stuff.

 

[DanSavage]

Re: Buying Lee

Lee works great for me, although I had a shell holder for the case trimmer that was out of spec and I sent Lee a Email, explaining the problem and they sent me a new one first class mail, no questions asked. I am a big fan of the collet die also.

 

[Former0302]

Re: Buying Lee

Truthfully there are better presses and dies (except Lee Collet dies, which are great).

For me it's about how much you're willing to spend vs. what you get. FOR THE MONEY, I think Lee presses and dies are great deals.

I have a Lee Classic turret press and use the Collet dies. The combination makes ammo capable of matching FGMM results for me.

Some other things you may want to consider picking up to supplement the kit are:

- Lee's Universal 3 jaw chuck (makes case trimming a LOT easier and faster)
- Sinclair Universal Flashhole Deburring tool

 

[Roninwolf]

Re: Buying Lee

The Anniversary kit is a nice kit except for the scale ppl say it is junk but thats not quite true in most cases it is the most accurate out there but way to sensitive measuring to .001 of a gn so if you breathe, a/c turns on, door opens in another room etc it will move the scale so just get a electronic scale that measures top a tenth grain instead. The bushings are great order extras and never have to adjust dies again they work great. Order the deluxe die sets for pistols you get the factory crimp die and for rifles you get the collett die they are awsome. I have the anniversary kit I use for my rifles and all my priming and the loadmaster for my pistol and couldnt be happier.

 

[boltgunluvr]

Re: Buying Lee

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Roninwolf</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The Anniversary kit is a nice kit except for the scale ppl say it is junk but thats not quite true in most cases it is the most accurate out there but way to sensitive measuring to .001 of a gn so if you breathe, a/c turns on, door opens in another room etc it will move the scale so just get a electronic scale that measures top a tenth grain instead. The bushings are great order extras and never have to adjust dies again they work great. Order the deluxe die sets for pistols you get the factory crimp die and for rifles you get the collett die they are awsome. I have the anniversary kit I use for my rifles and all my priming and the loadmaster for my pistol and couldnt be happier. </div></div>

I agree. I don't understand why some say the scale is horrible. It's not. For me, it's one of the easiest to use.

 

[flashhole]

Re: Buying Lee

Good advice to go with the Classic Series press, Turret or Single Stage, both are excellent presses, both are excellent value. This place used to be Lee Factory Sales. They tweaked their name and site to this. https://fsreloading.com/ Excellent outfit to do business with. I have one of each Classic presses along with 2 Ultramag presses. I use all of them frequently and highly recommend both brands.

 

[BoilerUP]

Re: Buying Lee

I have a Challenger press that came in the kit, and it has worked great over the last 4 years for reloading 223 up through 30-06.

All I reload for now is 223 and 260. I've got Lee FL and Collet dies for both, and my reloads are accurate to at least a constant 0.5MOA (I think I'm the limiting factor there) out to a couple hundred yards, the farthest I've shot thus far. Over this past winter, my Pacesetter 260 FL die started scratching the hell out of brass. Bought some Forster BR 260 dies and they work great, but I'm not certain the quality of my reloads are any "better" than with the Lee equipment.

I replaced the scale that came in the kit with a MXX-123 scale and that did a LOT to improve the quality and consistency of my reloads.

If I were starting over, knowing what I know now, I'd probably have bought the Turret Press kit.

I don't doubt that a Rock Chucker is "better"...but for my purposes, the Lee has been more than "good enough".

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Buying Lee

The only thing I would question is the "breech lock" quick change die holder feature. Hand swapping screwed-in dies is quite fast IF we don't foolishly lock 'em in with a wrench. Die swapping time for a typical reloading session is only a couple of minutes or less for me, even if the breech locks allowed for instant changes that's not enough time saved to improve my life style!

The CC is the better press of its type regardless of price. I have a perfect condition RockChucker 2 - it doesn't do a thing my young friends Lee Classic Cast doesn't do. His press actually catches spent primers and does it without spreading primer grit all around his ram; if I had to replace my RC next week I would get a big red CC like his!

 

[boltgunluvr]

Re: Buying Lee

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fuzzball</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The only thing I would question is the "breech lock" quick change die holder feature. Hand swapping screwed-in dies is quite fast IF we don't foolishly lock 'em in with a wrench. Die swapping time for a typical reloading session is only a couple of minutes or less for me, even if the breech locks allowed for instant changes that's not enough time saved to improve my life style!

The CC is the better press of its type regardless of price. I have a perfect condition RockChucker 2 - it doesn't do a thing my young friends Lee Classic Cast doesn't do. His press actually catches spent primers and does it without spreading primer grit all around his ram; if I had to replace my RC next week I would get a big red CC like his! </div></div>

The breech lock system uses interrupted threads with a positive lock feature. Its sweet.