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Honest opinion of a few standard 'bests'
jonk
Member Posts: 10,121
In the shooting and reloading world, there are a few products that for better or worse, are commonly used as the benchmark standard for others. I would like everyone's honest thought as to whether or not there are really no better products out there.
1. Kroil. Very good stuff; personally I find Seafoam Deep Creep beats the pants off of it up one side, down the other, and leaves it wondering 'what the heck happened?' for penetrating purposes. For cleaning, they're about even, and for rust prevention neither is my preference.
2. Imperial Sizing Wax. Also very good stuff, but slow to use, fairly expensive for what you're getting, and requires removal after use. While my favorite lube is still Lee, as it is water based, I do turn to the Imperial for massive case re-forming. So for some applications, I'd say it's best, for others, due to the cost and slowness of use, I'd go with another.
3. RCBS dies and presses. The dies? Nothing special. Good solid dies, but they have no reason to be the 'standard.' For presses? The Rockchucker is great, and I won't give mine up, but the Lee Classic Cast is even beefier and has some features the RC lacks. Again, why the standard?
4. Lyman molds. 20 years ago they were putting out fantastic products. Now the latest 2 molds had folds in the sprue cutter, produced out of round bullets, and I had to send them back for replacement (which to lyman's credit they did). I don't have a major manufacturer I think should 'set the standard' here, though several smaller groups such as NOE and CBE put them to shame.
Feel free to add to the list, those are just a few thoughts.
1. Kroil. Very good stuff; personally I find Seafoam Deep Creep beats the pants off of it up one side, down the other, and leaves it wondering 'what the heck happened?' for penetrating purposes. For cleaning, they're about even, and for rust prevention neither is my preference.
2. Imperial Sizing Wax. Also very good stuff, but slow to use, fairly expensive for what you're getting, and requires removal after use. While my favorite lube is still Lee, as it is water based, I do turn to the Imperial for massive case re-forming. So for some applications, I'd say it's best, for others, due to the cost and slowness of use, I'd go with another.
3. RCBS dies and presses. The dies? Nothing special. Good solid dies, but they have no reason to be the 'standard.' For presses? The Rockchucker is great, and I won't give mine up, but the Lee Classic Cast is even beefier and has some features the RC lacks. Again, why the standard?
4. Lyman molds. 20 years ago they were putting out fantastic products. Now the latest 2 molds had folds in the sprue cutter, produced out of round bullets, and I had to send them back for replacement (which to lyman's credit they did). I don't have a major manufacturer I think should 'set the standard' here, though several smaller groups such as NOE and CBE put them to shame.
Feel free to add to the list, those are just a few thoughts.
Comments
Luepold scopes are also made here in the Northwest. All quality scopes have a lifetime warrenty, but I can drive 1 1/2 hours to the factory and get my scopes fixed, if I have one fail during hunting season.
Oregon Trail Lazer Cast bullets, not as old as the other products, but in MHO the very best commercial cast bullets on the market.
W.D.