Broken handle on Lee auto prime

[abunaitoo]

A friend has broken three handles on his Lee hand auto prime.
I watched him prime some cases to make sure it wasn't just "operator error", and everything looked fine.
I've heard of others having the same problem.
I use a RCBS strip primer.
Anyone else have this problem????
Anyone repair the handle????

[arjacobson]

I never had much of a problem with mine. I usually lube where it pivots though.

[462]

Never had a problem, even when seating the larger Wolf primers.

[jcwit]

Never a problem here either, keep it lubed. I've primed 10's of thousands of cases.

[zuke]

As above.
Gotta lube'em.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Been year since I broke a Lee hand primer, and that is one of the reasons, along with a handfull of others, that I shy away from many Lee products.

Some good ideas, but a bit short on product quality.

Please don't throw stones, this is just IMHO and also one of the reasons we have so many good products to choose from.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[btroj]

I have broken two handles. Will order 2 or 3 next time.

[1hole]

I had heard of Lee handles snapping off so I bought two when I got my first - they are inexpensive. So, I set up one for large and one for small primers. That was 21 years ago, both are still doing quite well. But, maybe part of it is lubing the toggle link knuckle from time to time and also stopping to see why something's not going together properly rather than just pushing harder. ??

[Swede44mag]

I have broken at least 3 off I keep buying them because they work great and are cheap. Mabey someone could make a replacement and we could get into a group buy. Probably not though because of patten problems.

[Kraschenbirn]

Took, maybe, 15 years for me to (literally) wear out my first Autoprime. Handle on my the one I bought as a replacement broke in less than 3000 rounds...but all it took was a short e-mail to Lee Customer Service describing the failure and I had a replacement in hand within 3 days at no charge.

Bill

[jimkim]

Took, maybe, 15 years for me to (literally) wear out my first Autoprime. Handle on my the one I bought as a replacement broke in less than 3000 rounds...but all it took was a short e-mail to Lee Customer Service describing the failure and I had a replacement in hand within 3 days at no charge.

Bill

I bought mine used and finally broke one last year. It lasted me twenty years. The new model is supposed to have an unbreakable handle. IMHO all they needed to do has make either a steel or ribbed handle for the old one.

[AZ-JIM]

My dad just had one replaced. I think the first one was no charge and he got a second one for a spare. The handle + shipping was less than $10 I think.

az-jim

[fatelk]

I've broken several of them over the years. I threw one away years ago and got an RCBS unit that is way better.

I got another Lee a year or two ago as a spare because I read how you're supposed to keep them lubed; broke it. Lee sent me another handle but it was too tight to fit. I had to ream the handle a bit just to make it work. A few hundred primers later it broke too. I hesitate to call them garbage because they obviously work for some people, but to me they are garbage. I have kept the broken parts because I intended to machine a replacement handle (one that's not pot metal).

I'm sure it's because I'm using too much force. I hate high primers. If a primer is anything but slightly below flush, it's just not right. I don't even know how many times I've looked at other people's reloads and felt slightly high primers. I've even seen it on commercial reloads. I just can't seem to get consistently perfect seating depth on all calibers I load with the Lee tool without using too much force, at least on some range mix or surplus brass (yes I properly swage out the primer crimp).

[1hole]

"...Lee tool without using too much force, at least on some range mix or surplus brass (yes I properly swage out the primer crimp). "

A primer pocket difference of only one thou makes a huge difference in seating effort. I wonder about the performance of your swagger. ??

I don't care for the ergonomics or difficuly of swapping shellholders of the RCBS tool.

Since Lee HAS redesigned their's, the old ones like mine are a moot point.

[Jon K]

+1 swage or ream primer pocket.

That's the only way I've broke a handle.

Jon

[bbs70]

I've broken several handles on the Lee hand primer.
Probably excess pressure on it from me.

I got one of the new Lee hand primers and have had no problems after several thousand rounds primed.

[DCM]

I broke 2 of them years ago then I bought a different brand.
I noticed that they have improved the design of the new ones, reinforcing the "paddle".
Although I will never own another Lee hand priming tool they do make other products that are extremely good especially for the price.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well not being big on a company who has products which need a touch more thought and/or quality, it only took one broken handle for me to get away from Lee.

They could have put just a tiny bit more money in the quality, passed the cost on to me and I'd still be happy as the product work great , untill --------------

I went back to the RCBS press mounted primer system which worked, but did throw out a primer evey so often.

Soooooooooo, started looking at other options and decided on a bench mount Forester. JUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!

It QUICKLY was boxed up and sent back to Cabela's, in trade for an RCBS bench top primer system.

This is not the type with "primer strips", I have never tried one of those, however, this is the best primer system I have ever used and I started loading back in the 60s.

Now, because I use an under bench "receiver" system for the mounting of all my loading tools, the primer tool and all other loading tools/presses etc.
DO NOT clutter up my bench top, plus there are NO holes/mounting rails or anything else breaking up the smooth surface of my bench top.

This is about as good as it gets.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[AZ-Stew]

AZ-Jim's right. I broke the one on my 15 or so year old one a couple of months ago on a Sunday afternoon when I was trying to prepare some ammo for a match the following weekend. I ran down to Sportsman's Warehouse and bought a replacement unit, then called Lee on Monday and ordered a couple of new handles. Now I have two of the Lee units, one set for large, the other set for small primers. Plus, I have a spare handle. If you keep them lubricated (I use moly grease) and don't over stress the handle, they can last a long time. I seat each primer with several strokes of the handle, rotating the case 1/4 turn between strokes. I seat it fully on the first stroke, using the others to make sure it's seated squarely. This technique reduces handle stress and essentially eliminates high primers.

Regards,

Stew

[jcwit]

I'll add that I'm still using Lee priming tools that date back to the screw in shell holders. I've got both cast aluminum and plastic bodies. These go back to the old Lee company before it was renamed Lee Precision.