Recently I received a bunch of reloading equipment from an older gentleman who because of physical issues can no longer use it. All he asked in return was that I load some .357 shells for him from time to time. He supplied the brass, primers and powder. The other day he gave me a set of Lee molds for ,357 wadcutters. I have the melter and some lead. I don't have anything to size and lube bullets with. I don't want to be cheap but money is tight. So, has anyone used the Lee sizer dies to lube and size bullets? Or would I be better off trying to get some Lyman or RBCS equipment from say Ebay? Also I have used Lyman molds before, but not Lee. Is there a big difference in procedure?

Welcome to the forum. Rules are to join in and have fun and play nicely with the rest of us kids. Other rules are in the stickies in the General forum.

Golly, he's got you casting for him, too! That's rather a bit more work than just doing the loading.

Lee makes a design called a Tumble Lube bullet that does not normally need any sizing. You could try that. The Lee bullet sizing dies are inexpensive and just fit on a loading press. They work fine, but don't apply the lubricant the way a lubricator/sizer tool does. You can get around that by using it in conjunction with the Lee Liquid Alox lubricant intended for their tumble lube bullets. Apply the lube. Let it dry. Size the bullets, then make a second and final application of the lube and let it dry before loading. At wadcutter target velocities you will not need a lube that fills the lube grooves in the bullets.

White Label Lube (http://www.lsstuff.com/lube/) sells the exact same liquid Alox lube from the same OEM supplier Lee uses, but for a lot less money. $10 a quart. They call it Xlox.

Lee aluminum molds will heat faster and are less prone to warping if you try to heat them quickly, but are less rugged. Your timing with them will be a bit different and I find I need to run a little higher melt temperature with them, but you'll get the feel fast enough.

The Lee system (Lee Liquid Alox, followed by push-through sizing, followed by lubing again) works fine. I like to thin the LLA with a little mineral spirits, but the same effect can be gotten by heating the LLA briefly in a microwave or in hot water.

If the bullets do not fall too fat from the mold, don't size at all.

One can use the LLA system on ordinary grooved bullets.

White Lable is the cheapest source of LLA.

If you are going to use Aluminum molds, they have terrible problems with a high temperature adhesive wear phenomenon called "galling" if they are not lubed on top of the blocks. Rubbing with a really soft pencil sort of works, but the BullPlate Sprue Plate lube works better than anything I've ever seen. Microscopic quantities and all Galling and Lead buildup between the Sprue Plate and the tops of the Blocks is gone.
http://bullshop.gunloads.com/new%20bullshop__3_008.htm

CDD

I cut my teeth on Lyman casting equipment,and will always prefer them.
But Lee stuff is a lot less expensive,and some folks even prefer them.
Lee is your best choice for starting out.
Welcome aboard
Frank