Part 5 Reloading Dies Compared - Lee Dies 

Most forum posts saying Lee Powder measures not working are because the did not set the mouth flare before setting the powder measure. So the crank down the powder measure to set the flare. The only way to explain the Lee FCD is by saying your chamber(s) must meet SAAMI soecifications. If your completed rounds that chamber in your chamber(s) do not pass thru a SAAMI case gauge do not use a Lee FCD. That is all the Lee FCD is, a case gauge for diameter. I do think Lee has put pressure on their competitors. I can cold blue my Lee Dies and they will shoot like Redding dies... All dies are SAAMI Spec so at some point it is cosmetic difference we are paying for. This series is really good !!

The majority of my dies are Lee.

Great review and explanation of the Lee die system. The very best value hands down. Love the modification for the rfn and wadcutter bullets. For my needs they've been all I need. Thanks FortuneCookie... praying for you guys out there in California.

Glad you are doing the rest! I love my lee dies

great informative video... love the whole series.. thanks.

Awsome videos Bud your very knowledgeable and relatively easy to understand keep it up 👍 Dave Australia

Excellent tutorial, I hope you get a reprieve from the smoke soon! Thank you for the great video series!

I just reloaded some 45 Colts the other day. I used Matt's Bullets 250 grain wad cutters. I am going to use them for self defense for black bear hunting during the muzzleloaders season. They hit fairly hard, I dug a few out of the berm and they don't break up upon impact. Lastly I like the idea of a wadcutter punching a very clean hole. I think the 45 Colt is under appreciated when it comes to its capabilities.

Very helpful videos friend, keep up the good work.

Thanks for making another very informative video showing us the great Lee reloading dies Cookie . Lee Reloading dies might be the cheapest of all dies out there , but Lee dies work and work well every time and last a life time , what more could we ask for ? Best value for money on the market .

Another great video, thank you. VernfromVancouver

Great tutorial

Thank you for continuing this series AND posting it on YT. LEE dies are great but I am not particularly fond of the PDX die. First of all, I don't own any Lee powder measures to insert. Second, the last time I used one, my cases tended to stick to the expander. Could have been my particular lot of brass. So I bought the Lyman powder-thru die that is threaded 7/8-14 at the top. I use my RCBS LTL Dandy for range ammo or I can use my Redding 10X. As for aluminum lock rings, why not? There is virtually no pressure put on it. It just keeps the die from working loose. If you need to tweak the setting, the o-ring lets you do that easily without tools and it will stay set. On turret and progressive presses, other dies might get in the way of accessing the locking setscrew found on other brands. FWIW, I replace other brands of lockrings with Lee. Thanks again and looking forward to Part 6.

Great video!

just catching up on this series - really enjoy your channel - I live in the San Gabriel Valley and it was an awful smoky summer

Good video. But I got to throw out a gripe, and I know your the one person who will understand. The Loose reloading press. I went to freinds house the other day. He is a new reloader. He was haveing issues. The first thing I noted was his press was flopping all over the place. I commented about it being the first thing to address. He came back with how most if not all reloading videos he watched, the presses are moving around. I told him he needs to read the manual that came with it and some reloading manuals as one of the first thing they say about your press is properly mount it so it has no movement or very little movement, mount it solid. He then got grumpy. But it was causing part if not most of his issues. My presses are so solid mounted that a gorilla could hang on them and they'll just barely move. A big necessity if you have to swage bullets or primer pockets which is what he was doing. I noted your press sliding back and forth in the Lee quick mount. Please explane to new reloaders about loose presses. I relize a quik video, changing out presses this may not be a major issue for a seasoned reloader, but on the norm, most manufacturers tell you you mount them solid for a reason. Thankyou again for the great content.

I think Lee has some of the best internally finished common dies, I think they are smoother than my RCBS and Lyman dies, but the Lyman M die expanders and the Redding copies are by far the best. Lee crimp dies, especially in rifle calibers have no equal. The elliptical expander button on the Hornady rifle dies are really slick and low drag. And the Redding S type bushing full length rifle dies are unbeatable for adjusting neck tension. Which is best? None of them overall, each have plus and minuses. Lee is my go to and then I change out the dies I don’t like, such as the expansion die with a better Lyman M die.

Excellent share your knowledge video! You make things sound clear and easy. Newbie reloader here. Will have to watch it a few more time though 😁

Great video anybody wanting to learn about cast reloading this is an excellent channel,FortuneCookie45LC has helped me a lot.Thanks FortuneCookie keep the videos coming.

I really love Lee die sets. You can't beat them for the price and they are somewhat precise. So I had to buy a bullet puller for 5.56 and I ordered a Forester universal body and a .224 and a .452 collets. I still have two kinetic pullers but they are a pain in the butt. I had a question about the 38 and 9mm collets so I left them a message. A representative called me back the next day and we talked about it. Turns out that they are around a hour away from my house so they said I could come in for a tour of the plant. I asked them if I could shoot video for my RU-vid channel and I explained about the Reloaders Network and he called someone while I was on hold and said that it would be great for me to do that. He asked me what other products of thiers that I used so I told him and I also said I wanted to buy a coaxle press when I can I just have to save for a M1 Garand and a Mauser K-98 for a few videos that my European subs wanted me to do. He asked me how many subs I have and I told him not many bit most of them are from all around the world. I told him the story about the WW2HISTORYHUNTER and how he helped me so I picked up 110 subs from him and they tell me what they want to see and I do the videos on it. I just have to buy the firearms first.plus I love to collect antique firearms. I hope they offer me a deal on a press. I'm going to make sure i bring some cash with me when I go. I can see myself buying at least a good set of .308 dies. Who knows I might have a new press to add to the table.

I have RCBS, Hornady and Lee dies and I like the Lee and Hornady better for seating adjustments than the RCBS. They all make good ammo, but the RCBS are just a pain to work with, needing wrenches and screwdrivers to adjust. I got so sick of the RCBS seater on their rifle set, that I bought Lee dies to replace them. The RCBS lock rings are the worst IMO also, as the set screw always seems to get boogered up and loose on me. Hornady has the best rings of the 3 IMO. I appreciate the reviews you're doing and look forward to seeing reviews of the Forster (as I want a micrometer rifle seating die from them) and the Dillon, because I've never even seen any outside the blue press pictures. Dillon people seem cultish, much like Tesla people. :P

I've bought several die sets over the years to that I use on my 40 year old RCBS Rock Chucker press so I just use the ones I like best for each operation. To reload 45 colt I use a Lee sizing die, a Lyman M expander die, and a RCBS seating crimp die. For 45 ACP reloading I use a RCBS sizing die, a Lyman M expander die, a Lee 45 Colt seating die and a RCBS taper crimp die.

For some reason a large number of Lee Die users do not know to set up the flaring die first before they add the powder measure on top. I am not sure why this eludes so many. Most Lee case activated powder measure problems are resolved by setting up the die correctly first.

Classic series Fortune Cookie 45LC!

Hi there, it's Ben. I'm new a subscriber and new to reloading as well. Thanks for the insight, this helped me

Lee Dies are often said to not be as smooth & finished inside as other brands. Oddly, in the Lee Published Catalog they guarantee to have the smoothest finish possible in the industry. Yet, no other manufacturer puts a similar guarantee with their dies for even 4-5X the cost. But, since everybody knows that Lee Dies are going to scratch your brass & boolits.

Don't like the standard lee or hornady expanders for my use. However I do use lee universal expander dies with the appropriate size expander button inserts from NOE for reloading 44 magnum and 444 marlin with cast bullets. I also use lee collet crimp dies for 338-06 and 444 and a lee universal decapper.

Subbed. Can't wait for the rcbs. I just got my first press and I'm still looking at what dies I should get. I'm definitely leaning rcbs since it comes with neck sizing inserts for both 308 and 310 bullets.

Reload for almost everything I shoot and rounds for friends too. I prefer Lee because they have given me far less grief that any other dies. Lee also makes excellent bullet moulds.

You have excellent videos

The ability to load powder through the Lee expander die is great when you have a turret press. My Hornady funnel fits perfect. Otherwise, I use Hornady or Forster because Lee sizers and seaters don’t seem to be the same quality.

Longtime viewer first time commenter. I use mainly Lee or Hornady dies but have a few Redding, RCBS, and Lyman. I recently purchased a Forster Coax press. I keep reading where I need to use die lock rings that squeeze the lock rings onto the die. Crosslock rings. You seem to be using regular lock rings with no issues. I conclude from this that they are rally not needed. Why would the corss lock rings be recommended? Is it just to remove miniscule slop out of the threads?

All my dies are lee except my .223 small base dies are rcbs. No problems ever with lee

What was Lee thinking with their storage box?

Gotta love the hot lead zone

FYI: Blue Bullets doesn't offer those SWCs any more.

I'm basically loading the same round 200 gswc blue in 45 acp with the same press and dies. I like the blue bullets for accuracy and economics but I'm having feed issues not so bad in a 1911 but terrible in a Glock clone with a Lone Wolf barrel. Any suggestions would be welcomed. I've polished the feed ramp and it helped but didn't eliminate the issue.

that powder measure will not work with a rcbs summit either,i wish I had a 6" nipple threaded 5/8-18

If the bullet seater die seats and crimps at same time. Then why use an extra crimp die? I’m trying to make a decision between the hornady dies and the lee

i found that lee dies do what they must do(and many handy solutions) .and thats all i want, also got lyman rcbs simplex redding. a mix of the brands works best on a progressive

i iuse a universal expander /flare tool from lee when bullets are shaving , its not always so

Lee is the only manufacturer to give an Accuracy Warranty for their dies to their Customers. This seems odd. Because everybody knows that the other brands shoot better ?!? Nobody else will put such a statement in their published catalog materials

10.2 grains of Herco or 5.0 grains of Red Dot? Which do you recommend?

My Lee's didn't come with those hex nuts.

To bad you can't keep your smoke where it originates, it is now covering the entire west coast.

"5.0 grains of Red-Dot." -- where do you get powder? You're not one of those Powder Hoarders, are you?

God bless president Trump and his family, we wish him a quick recovery so he may continue our fight against the the putrid evil that are demoncrats.

Anyone want to be my Boyfriend 😍💋 💝💖♥️❤️