Lee carbide sizing dies are as good as anyone's, except for their useless lock rings that don't lock in place on the die.
I've not had good luck with Lee seating dies; they have too much play in the seating plug. They share the same seating plug for multiple calibers of bullets.
Lee powder through expanders only work with Lee powder measures. I've seen some with pretty rough finishes on the internal parts.
I've also had bad luck with the one and only carbide FCD I have, in 45 colt (roll crimp). It is roughly finished, and the crimp ring is too large in ID, letting the case mouth slip by underneath it, rather that finishing the roll crimp. I have no experience with their CFCD for taper crimped pistol cartridges.
Lee FCD for rifle and bottleneck pistol cartridges are great. Ditto for the Collet neck sizing (rifle) dies.
The only Lyman dies I've tried are the M-type expander dies, and they are great. Very nice fit and finish too.
In general I like Hornady pistol dies, particularly the seating dies and their lock rings are great. The seating dies include a floating alignment sleeve, optional micrometer adjuster, and they dis/re-assemble for cleaning without affecting the settings.
The Hornady TiN sizing dies work great too, and the zip spindle gives the best compromise between adjustability of a screw adjustment, and centering of a collet.
The Hornady expander dies are ok, but they are one piece, making it impossible to adjust the profile/diameter of the expander without some specialized turning equipment.
Andy
