Lee Safety Prime driving me nuts.

[jetinteriorguy]

First of all, I am a pretty satisfied customer when it comes to Lee products. But trying to make the Safety Prime work on my Value Turret is really driving me nuts. Now I'm pretty good at tweaking mechanical things and usually doing this doesn't bother me, but for the life of me the Safety Prime has me giving up on it. Can't really find anything on You Tube that helps and am fed up with primers falling out and so on and so on. First of all, I absolutely hate the new primer trays. I wish I could get a set of the original Safety Prime tool with the original tray design to try. There, I'm done ranting. Now I'm open to any suggestions or ideas or other people's experiences.

[MT Chambers]

The Lee Safety Prime is so safe that you can't use it to prime. Hey...nobody gets hurt.

[Mytmousemalibu]

The priming systems on most Lee presses are the bane of press. Aside from the priming systems they aren't too bad for the most part. The easiest solution and one with a pretty solid reputation is priming off the press and that isn't just aimed at Lee. I know it's another device to buy and another step in the process but it works. Pretty much all of us in my local USPSA club (and most other competitive shooters for that matter) are all reloaders. We go through a LOT of ammo in general and time fighting the press at home or dealing with problems at the range like high primers for example, not well tolerated by comp guys. All about efficiency and reliability. Stuff needs to work, period. Priming off the press is a solid step in that direction. Lot of our club members use Lee presses and many prime off the press. Some hand prime, some use bench primers. I have an RCBS bench prime and it's a very good machine. You can run through a bunch a brass pretty quick and move on with it. Hard to go wrong with a hand primer too.

[RogerDat]

I had to go down to the bench and check to make sure you were talking about the priming equipment I use. Only time I have had it dropping primers is when I have the wrong head (large/small) with the wrong primer cup (also large/small) I ended up putting a L and S on the primer cup piece and on the white dispenser head.

It did take some work tweaking the bracket to get alignment right, but that was only when first installed. The YouTube video on turret press operation by San Francisco Liberal with a Gun were most helpful. I think he made a point of mentioning not having the ram all the way at the top when setting the primer. Letting the ram move lower just a touch gave better alignment.

This video is how to set up the Lee Safety Prime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FrD2iZtcJA Like I said if you get it adjusted right and tighten, then you are good to go.

Big part of it is getting the head of the safety prime so it rides in right over the arm that sticks out from the primer cup.

I also found these videos that when I got a turret press I found really useful.

Well done videos for the most part has a series of 5 or 6 on setting up and using the Lee Turret press. https://www.youtube.com/user/sfliber...sort=dd&view=0 that should be a list of all of his, scroll down for the ones on turret press 1 through 5, number 6 is not really about setting up and operation.

This is the first one, should list the rest of the series on the right https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfjmKWFpSYo

[dikman]

Can't say that I'm a great fan of the new deign tray either. I'm assuming they changed it because a) it's probably cheaper to make and b) there's less "fiddly" bits on it to break.

I drop the occasional primer, but I found it's all in how you push the thing against the primer arm and click the slide to release one. Took me a little while get the hang of it, but it mostly works pretty well.

My new LoadMaster came with the old tray, fortunately.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have the Lee safety Primer feeder setup on both a older Lee 3 hole turret press and also on a Lee classic turret press. The kit comes with a 1/4" thick black spacer for use under the Primer feeder bracket for the Lee classic turret press and it is not used for the older Lee 3 hole turret press. If you have installed that spacer on your "Value" turret press, the primer feeder will sit 1/4" too high and throw primers.

[jcren]

I almost gave up too. The problem is poor mold finishing leaves flash in bad spots. Stick with it, my large primer is slick as butter now and works with one finger down to 2 primers left and my small is almost there.

[dikman]

JonB, you just reminded me - mine came with only the one bracket to mount on the press (I have the 4-turret value press) and it was too high and couldn't possibly work. I was about to start modifying it when I remembered that the press came with a spare bracket that, at the time, I couldn't figure out what it was for. I dug it out and lo and behold it was the correct bracket for the primer feed.

I would have thought that they'd ship both brackets with the primer kit......

[dromia]

Any company that has as much internet space taken up by videos, articles and dedicated web sites telling you how to get their products to actually work says something pretty damning about their product line to me.

[rondog]

This is why my Lee Safety Prime contraption is in the box and on a high shelf. I'd rather batch prime anyway, I keep several hundred cases of any given caliber polished and primed, ready to just fill 'em up when I want

[jetinteriorguy]

I've watched all the video's to no avail. I have gone to depriming and priming off the press which I don't mind too bad. I did notice in one of the vids there was the spacer used to mount the primer setup a little higher and have thought about finding one to give it a try. It seems as though the primers are sticking to the little part that pushes them into the cup so that they get slightly pulled out of the cup as the priming mechanism retracts, then they are either jacked in the cup or just fall out. I also noticed the end where it hangs on the mount hangs crooked almost as if it's off balance and won't sit level in the trough part. The small primer setup works right about 90% of the time but the large primer setup only worked right about 40% of the time. For now I'm just going to use it for my .41 Mag and for .223 loading since I load these in smaller batches and don't mind priming off the press so much. I'm getting my reloading space back this weekend and will just set the 9mm back up on my Loadmaster where I won't have problems with it, since I do load this in volume. My daughter and her hubby were living temporarily in our basement while apartment hunting so I had to downsize to the turret press temporarily, but they've moved out now so I get the mancave back and will have my full setup back this weekend.

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

I found that on my Classic Turret press, the priming arm sat too low. Would catch and pop the primers back out of the priming arm. I took a thick washer and placed it under the plastic mount on the press, raising the entire assembly by a little over 1/16". Fixed the issue, now it's rare to have a primer feed improperly.

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[opos]

I am the "odd man out" I guess....I've used all the primer adapters, hand tools, extra add on's, etc for many years and still come back to clean hands and pick up and load one primer at a time into the arm on the press..I have Lee classic cast single stage...I got a Lee Classic turret and I have a Lee hand press...I've had RCBS equipment...some Hornady equipment, etc....I've never had one misfire..never had a primer in backwards or crosswise, etc since I just went back to my 1960's method of clean hands...a little flat plate that lets me shake the primers all face up..and one primer at a time...I've dropped a few and as long as my area is clean I've loaded those and they all go bang....Am I the only one? I hate the plastic flimsy little primer feeders and the hand priming tool is ok but I've got the old kind and frankly don't want to chance setting off a bunch of primers if one pops....The little device that can be bought for the Lee Hand Press is a "manual feed" unit so if the manual feed is ok for that why not be ok for the fixed presses with the arm? Works fine for me..never popped one..don't have misfires and I think it's about as quick as anything else...and I don't like to sit "and watch tv while I prime"...I concentrate when I'm loading.

[gwpercle]

I just hand prime off press , stops all the drama in it's tracks ! Also cuts down the cursing and high blood pressure .
Gary

[Wayne Smith]

No, you are not the only one. When I am priming a couple of hundred pieces of brass I will break out the RCBS hand unit (getting new jaws and spring for the 'universal shell holder' since it ejected 32 brass). Other wise I prime on the press - and often on my TrueLine Jr.

[tazman]

I've watched all the video's to no avail. I have gone to depriming and priming off the press which I don't mind too bad. I did notice in one of the vids there was the spacer used to mount the primer setup a little higher and have thought about finding one to give it a try. It seems as though the primers are sticking to the little part that pushes them into the cup so that they get slightly pulled out of the cup as the priming mechanism retracts, then they are either jacked in the cup or just fall out. I also noticed the end where it hangs on the mount hangs crooked almost as if it's off balance and won't sit level in the trough part. The small primer setup works right about 90% of the time but the large primer setup only worked right about 40% of the time. For now I'm just going to use it for my .41 Mag and for .223 loading since I load these in smaller batches and don't mind priming off the press so much. I'm getting my reloading space back this weekend and will just set the 9mm back up on my Loadmaster where I won't have problems with it, since I do load this in volume. My daughter and her hubby were living temporarily in our basement while apartment hunting so I had to downsize to the turret press temporarily, but they've moved out now so I get the mancave back and will have my full setup back this weekend.

I had the same problem when I first started using it. There are three problems with it that need corrected for it to work properly aside from the getting the correct bracket height.
First-- take the feed mechanism apart. This only takes a couple of screws. Make sure you keep track of how the parts go together. Pull out the small sliding bar that actually moves the primer. There is a notch cut into this bar that fits the primer. Usually there is a little bit of flashing left over from the mold here. Use a knife to remove this fin and clean up the notch so it is smooth and doesn't grip the primer. Then put the unit back together. Don't over-tighten the screws as they are easy to strip out.
Second-- You have to align the mechanism so it comes straight at the priming cup in line with the way the bar/lever sits in the ram. If this is off to one side a bit or at a slight angle, you will get dropped primers. When this is properly aligned, the priming mechanism drops the primers into the cup cleanly with a light clicking sound.
Getting this angle right is the part that seems to go wrong the easiest. I need to correct mine periodically since the vibration seems to allow it to move a little over time even though the bolts are tight.
Third--- The cover for the primer tray is always too tight. There is some flashing around the tray on the outside that tends to bind the cover until it is cleaned up. Inside the cover where the notches are molded into the rim for the locking lugs, there are usually small bumps where they will bind with the outside of the tray. Clean these off with a knife and the tray cover will work much easier. Having the tray cover a little loose isn't a problem since the locking lugs will hold it in place with the safety latch.
Mine only drops about one primer in 500 or so now after the cleanup and alignment.
I hope this helps.

[jetinteriorguy]

I've taken the primer apart and cleaned it up to no avail. For now I'm just going to prime off the press and live with it. Maybe some day I'll take it out and try again. For me it's just a tool that so far hasn't worked.

[Ben]

Any company that has as much internet space taken up by videos, articles and dedicated web sites telling you how to get their products to actually work says something pretty damning about their product line to me.

Well spoken ! !

Ben

[Leaker11]

I just got one to use on a Lee classic cast single stage press. I've used it to load .45 colt and .45/70. The safety prime is the new style and has worked right out of the box. Only loaded a couple houndred rounds with it. But I'm very happy with it. I just had to line up the primer arm with the priming arm by adjusting the mounting bracket.

[dromia]

Lee, sometimes their stuff works, sometimes it doesn't. You pay your money and you take your chances.

Wait 'till you get to using the small primer unit.