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Author Topic: Dillon presses and Lee dies  (Read 793 times)

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Offline Holiday

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« on: February 27, 2005, 11:07:07 PM »
I know this might be sacrilege to the die hard Dillon fans, but will Lee dies work in a Dillon 550? I am thinking of ordering a Dillon very soon. But ALL my pistol dies are Lee. I really don't feel like buying four or five new sets of dies. So, will this combo work?
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Offline Haywire Haywood

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2005, 03:28:59 AM »
They work like a charm.  I use Lee 357, 45LC, 45-70, and 223 with my 550.

Ian
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Offline brasskeeper

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2005, 03:35:49 AM »
They should work fine. I use Rcbs dies with my dillon 650, and they work fine.
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Offline Holiday

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2005, 05:52:17 AM »
Well, good. Thanks for the information. It is good to know RCBS works as well, several of my rifle dies are RSBS! Again, thanks!
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Offline Questor

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #4 on: February 28, 2005, 05:53:38 AM »
Holiday:

Check this to see my grave dissatisfaction with a Lee taper crimp die.
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=51028&highlight=lee+taper+crimp

There were actually three guns in question, two target 45ACPs and one stock Kimber. The loads worked fine with the Kimber's looser chamber, but I had a lot of malfunctions with the target chambers. I even sent one of the guns back to the maker for testing.  Bottom line is that the problem was solved by replacing the Lee taper crimp die with a Dillon taper crimp die.  

My recommendation is that if you're not using tight chambers, the Lee dies ought to be OK.
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Offline smokey66

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #5 on: February 28, 2005, 09:00:38 AM »
brasskeeper mentioned that his rcbs dies worked well. that is true. BUT lee dies are NOT rcbs and they don't even deserve to be in the same catalog. the answer is definitely yes, you will be able to "get by" with lee dies in your dillon, but depending on caliber, you will likely be faced with locking ring problems. using lee dies on a dillon press is like smearing mud on your brand new cadillac, and then justifying it by saying that the mud was priced right....
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Offline Haywire Haywood

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« Reply #6 on: February 28, 2005, 09:45:01 AM »
I changed all my lock rings to the Dillon kind so I could use their tool.

Ian
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Offline Sgtshultzy1

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #7 on: February 28, 2005, 10:12:13 AM »
Theyre all I use for straight walled cartridges...otherwise I use Redding and RCBS...yes...in my 550.

If I had to do it again, I would get the Redding turret press since it conforms to my style of reloading better.
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Offline Holiday

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #8 on: February 28, 2005, 12:58:39 PM »
Funny, my "OK" Lee dies that I can "Get By"  with won me the Alabama State Championship in Frontier Cartridge Catagory in SASS. Guess I just got lucky.
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Offline myronman3

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #9 on: February 28, 2005, 04:31:02 PM »
i mainly have lee dies also.  many that have problems with them arent using them right.  others just think they're cheap.  others yet may have actually had legitamate problems.  
   my very close friend swears by dillon and rcbs dies.  to him, lee are total junk.  yet when we were chrono-ing some ammo, he was amazed with the consistant velocities and the accuracy i get.   if i were to point it out to him i use lee dies, he would still think they were junk.   my point is once folks get something stuck in their head, it is really hard to get it out.  i do intend to slowly change out my pistol dies to dillon brand.  but not because of any bad expereinces.  lee has been great.   matter of fact, i will never use any other die for my rifles.
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Offline Zcarp2

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« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2005, 05:35:21 PM »
I use 9mm Lee dies on my Dillon (got the dies in a bad trade) for cheap 9mm.  The lock rings have to be turned upside down and then only grip enough thread to hold.

The sizing die does not have a large enough cone to allow the case to slip in as easy as the Dillon dies.  I have to push, pull or wiggle the case to go into the sizer.  The 380 brass slips into the Dillon 223 die that I use to size them like a charm, so maybe I am spoiled, but I can crank out the 380's (and everything else) a whole lot faster than 9's.

They are also more involved to take apart to get clean when using lead bullets.  About the same as RCBS.  Again, comparing to Dillon.

Lots of people saying Lee works and they do, just slower for ME on my machine with my set of dies.  With enough patience, anything will work.  I must be short on patience, but I am too cheap to buy a set of Dillon 9mm for the amount that I load.

45 Fan Zcarp2
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Offline jh45gun

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« Reply #11 on: February 28, 2005, 07:23:40 PM »
Quote from: Holiday
Funny, my "OK" Lee dies that I can "Get By"  with won me the Alabama State Championship in Frontier Cartridge Catagory in SASS. Guess I just got lucky.


Don't worry about it the same kind of folks that have DIllon products and bash Lee stuff are also the kind of folks who drive expensive cars and look down on Chevy owners yet they will all get the job done. I like Lee stuff and I may be cutting my nose off to spite my face but I would not own a Dillon press just because of their and SOME not all of their users attitude towards Lee.
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Offline Badnews Bob

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« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2005, 04:37:15 AM »
I shoot alot of.38/.357 and I plan on buying a dillion SDB not because its any better than all the rest of my lee stuff( and everything else I own is Lee) but because its alot faster. I can turn out 100 to150 rnds an hour with my Lee turrent, the SDB will triple that. I like Lee and feel that snob appeal is why they get slammed alot. 8)
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Offline jh45gun

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« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2005, 05:33:33 AM »
Yea not all DIllon users are snobs I am sure but the ones that are sure get tiresome!  :roll:
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Offline Questor

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Dillon presses and Lee dies
« Reply #14 on: March 01, 2005, 07:06:42 AM »
I'm a Dillon user and I bash Lee stuff. There's no connection between the two however. The Dillon stuff has performed perfectly. The Lee stuff has been junk. It's that simple.  If somebodly else's personal experiences differ, then more power too them.
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Offline Catfish

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« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2005, 01:59:06 PM »
What Questor said!!!!!!!!!! I load on a 550 Dillon and have used Lee dies, but to do it you have to turn the locking ring upside down to get them to lock, the die body is to short. I will also say that if you are going to be loading alot of cast bullets get Dillon dies. They cost alot more $50, but if you loading cast bullets and you get that dreded lube build-up you can just pull a snap ring off and pop the inside of the die out and clean it without takeing it out of the press, maybe 2 min. till your back running ammo. I don`t think that their rifle dies are worth the extra money, but the Dillon handgun dies, if you load cast bullets, are the best value on the market.
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