A little info: I have reloaded for years, and for consistency all of my dies are RCBS. But I wonder are their general opinions on who makes the best entry level dies? Or is that more of a ford chevy type debate.
Fairly new to reloading myself, having loaded my first rifle in 50 years back in April. Since then have loaded a few hundred rounds using Hornady, RCBS and Lee dies. In category of "Best Entry LeveL".....Lee wins that one hands down.
Lee sizing die also has decapping pin......which is a singe piece mandrel....including pin and a solid neck sizing mandrel. That mandrel is held in place by friction from a collet nut. If primer won't come out, pin doesn't break, it slides up out of the top. Also doubles as an extractor for removing stuck cases.....loosen nut and tap on end of that mandrel to drive case out bottom of the die. As for sizing, Lee dies are made to just barely get cases back to SAMMI specs......no more. A 270 Win I am loading for must have a tight chamber.....when I size fire formed cases, I only get 0.003 shoulder bump when setting up die as per instructions. A near perfect outcome.
Bullet seating die always seats to within 0.005.....and I suspect all that variation is from variation in the bullets more than the dies.
And as per Mr. Lee, purpose of factory crimp die is to hold bullets in place.....keep them from moving, until adequate and consistent start pressure is reached......which means you do not have to be loading to the lands. I'm loading to about 0.010 over COAL listed in load data....basically factory depth.
I recently reported here on some 270 Win loads.........printed 4 rounds on the target........3/4" MOA with 3 of 4 holes touching. Loaded with Lee dies.
Hornady and RCBS dies both 2 die sets, with typical taper crimp option built into seating die. Hornady dies came in clear plastic clam shell package (no case). Brief instructions printed on card packed inside. Also came with a spare extractor pin, which I view as both good that they sent a spare......and bad as they must have felt some compelling need to include a spare. But again, no hard case. I had to find one. Both Hornady and RCBS dies loaded good ammo.
Lee 3 die set sells for around $35, which is $10 less than I paid for either the Horny or RCBS. For that, you get the case, 3 die set, small sample of Lee case lube, appropriate sized Lee powder dipper and a complete set of instructions, with extensive load data for the caliber of the die set.
I have an ingrained bias against cheap crap. My first impression of all things Lee was that it had to be crap.....cause it was the cheapest stuff out there. Turns out this is one of the very few cases I have ever encountered where the least expensive option also happens to be one of the best.