I currently have dies from Lee, RCBS, Redding, Lyman and Forester. If I were to rate them on any number of factors the Lees would come in last, other than cost, which is why I have a slew of them.
In case you are not aware of it, the only carbide die in a normal "carbide" set is the sizing die, which will usually have just a small carbide ring in the bottom. Lees carbide sizing die is just as good as most others, but their seat/crimp and expanding dies are about the worst I've ever seen.
When I start to load a new caliber I usually grab a cheap set of Lee dies, I don't bother with their pistol factory crimp dies because they are not needed and, in my case, not wanted, then if I decide to really do a lot of loading I buy a better set of dies, preferably RCBS if I can find them. And since I already have the Lee carbide sizing die, I don't have to buy the other brands carbide sizer, which is sometimes as much as the whole Lee set itself. Plus, if I run them on my Piggyback II progressive press, I can use the better brand seat/crimp die to seat the bullets and use the Lee seat /crimp die to crimp, which is about all it's good for.
I won't use the Lee powder through expanding dies on any progressive press and modify them for use on a single stage.
