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Lee or Hornandy dies for 357 mag
- Thread starter gsparesa
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Hmmm, I dont have the Hornady dies so I cant compare them, but I love my Lee dies for the 357. I reload several calibers but the 357 dies are the easiest to use of all that I have. Some will criticize the Lee presses and to some extent Lee deserves it. But, Lee seems to follow the concept of "good enough" with the presses and they are - good enough. However, the dies they make are very high quality.
David LaPell
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I actually have a mixed set here. I bought a set of Lee .357 Mag dies and found out that the expander die does not screw down far enough for .38 special brass, so I have a Hornady expander die for that. I have loaded thousands of rounds of .38 Special and .357 Magnum with my Lee dies with no issues what so ever. Save your money and buy Lee, but make sure the expander die works if you want to do .38 Specials.
Smith357
US Veteran
I can't speak to the Hornady dies, but I have been using a set of the Lee .38/357 dies for about 18 years now with no problems.
jepp2
Member
I have the Hornady set in a cabinet and have never used them. I use the Lee dies several times a week. Lee dies offer features no other dies provide. And at a lower cost. Nuff said?
novalty
Member
Buy Dillon...oh come on someone had to suggest it. 
On a serious note though, either manufacturer will do the job, the only thing that might offset the extra cost of the Hornady dies is if they are still running a "Get Reloaded promotion" for 250 leads with the purchase of their dies.
On a serious note though, either manufacturer will do the job, the only thing that might offset the extra cost of the Hornady dies is if they are still running a "Get Reloaded promotion" for 250 leads with the purchase of their dies.I have had several really poor experiences with LEE, and they are banished for life. I buy Hornady handgun dies, and Redding rifle dies. The last LEE handgun dies I had were too short to use in my Dillon. One of the ways they were cutting cost at the time was to make the dies shorter than anybody elses.
11e40
Member
i've had some problems with lee & hornady die's. will only buy rcbs lyman or redding. never had a problem with these brands. hth
trauma1
Member
Lee. As far as dies go. If you need an odd caliber or odd die (small base, etc) then RCBS. For general purpose reloading - Lee! Have loaded 1000's of rounds in multiple calibers with them and nary a problem.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
You do know Lee sells 2 different .357 dies, right? They have a set that will correctly load both the .38 Special and the .357 Magnum and they have a dedicated .357 Magnum set of dies. I own both so I know they have them.
ArchAngelCD
Moderator, SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
That's incorrect. The Lee dies WERE too short for use in Dillon progressive presses but were lengthened somewhere around the year 2003. When it was brought to their attention they addressed the problem. NO, I'm not a Lee fanboy. I do own a lot of Lee reloading equipment but I also own RCBS, Hornady and Forster equipment too.
I have Lee dies for .357, and purchased a Lee .38 Spl expander die to allow them to be used for both calibers. I have many other Lee dies for numerous handgun and rifle cartridges. I also have Hornady dies in several other calibers, including .44 Spl/Mag, .204 Ruger, .222 Rem, and a few others. The quality of the Hornady dies is very high, and they seem to be just "that much more" than the Lee's, and I really like their bullet seating guide, especially for rifle reloading. That being said, in practice, the Lee dies do just as good a job, at a lower cost (for some cartridges, such as .358 Winchester, the Lee dies are MUCH lower in price). Also, I highly recommend the Lee Factory Crimp Die, it just turns out such nice, consistent ammo. All in all, I highly recommend that you get a Lee 4-die set for .38 Special, it will allow you to load both .38 Spl and .357 Magnum with only minor differences in setup, and it includes the FCD, which you will, likely, come to believe is a must. It will be similar in price, or less than, a Hornady 3-die set. I do love my Hornady dies, but Lee offers the best bang for the buck in reloading dies. BTW, Lee's internal machining (where it really counts) is excellent, as is the machining on Hornady's dies. The major apparent quality difference is in the exterior finish, where the Hornady dies really stand out. Oh yes, as to use in a progressive reloader, all the Lee dies built in the last 7-8 years are longer than the old ones, and will work well in any brand progressive reloader (I use them in my Hornady).
With regard to your actual question, which is of higher quality, I have to give the edge to Hornady (actually, they are nice to just handle and appreciate the workmanship, almost like fondling a favorite S&W revolver). The cost-benefit race, however, goes to Lee. Either will allow you to turn out high quality ammunition, and will last just about forever.
With regard to your actual question, which is of higher quality, I have to give the edge to Hornady (actually, they are nice to just handle and appreciate the workmanship, almost like fondling a favorite S&W revolver). The cost-benefit race, however, goes to Lee. Either will allow you to turn out high quality ammunition, and will last just about forever.
I have a ton of Lee dies, but no Hornady, so I can't really say anything about that.
However, I do own a bunch of other brands of dies and my opinion on that is, if you want cheap, buy Lee, if you want quality, buy anything else. My preferred brand is RCBS.
However, I do own a bunch of other brands of dies and my opinion on that is, if you want cheap, buy Lee, if you want quality, buy anything else. My preferred brand is RCBS.
I have nothing but Lee Carbide 4 die sets for pretty much every caliber. The work and work well. Less money than Hornady or RCBS, Dillon. They are good and will do anything the others will.
But for a literal answer to your question the Hornady or RCBS are better "quality" .
BillyWayne
Member
I would go with the Lee dies myself. I have had no quality issues with them. A prettier die does not make it a more useful or better die. If all brands of dies can produce quality ammunition and all brands of dies last a lifetime the how does one brand have better quality? You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig. Making a die better looking and with luster does not make it better. What is important with dies selection is the function. I like the Lee dies because I can use the powder through function of the expander die. For handguns I like to use the Lee Auto Disk for dumping powder so I need the Lee die for this. I also like the Lee factory crimp die. I always crimp in a separate stage and the crimp die works great. I like the Lyman split lock die lock rings. So I use them on my dies so I do not have to adjust them once in. I find these lock rings work the best. I also have and use Redding body dies for rifle ammuntion. The body die is a great tool to have when you prefer to neck resize. So I would advise you save some money and get the Lee dies. Just my 2 shekels.
Some folks complain about the Lee locking system of a 0-ring. I have yet to have one come loose and need to use a wrench to get it started to loosen or remove on the turret plate.
I see Lee now makes lock rings also but the o rings work fine for me.
The adjusting knob o- rings do lose their ability to stay tight over time, but I called Lee and they sent me a bag of them.
I see Lee now makes lock rings also but the o rings work fine for me.
The adjusting knob o- rings do lose their ability to stay tight over time, but I called Lee and they sent me a bag of them.
BearBio
Member
I have probably 50+ sets of dies of all brands. I don't see any real differences (except for some really "funky" Hornady rifle dies with a weird decapping system they made for a while.). I do use the Lee full length factory sizing dies for my 38/357 and other straight wall pistol (except 41 long Colt-anybody know who makes some?).
Aticus
Member
Get the Hornady dies. They use Titanium Nitride instead of Carbide in the sizing die. This is much slicker and makes resizing much easier. They also have a lock ring that locks to the die body so that they don't have to be re-adjusted every time you use them.
Pecos
