Lee square hand primer

[abunaitoo]

Friend was not happy with his RCBS hand primer.
Said it was hard to press.
I gave him a Lee square tray hand primer.
He was having nothing but problem with it.
Flip primers. No feed. Not straight in. Smashed primers.
He did say it was easier on the thumb.
I asked him which hand he was holding it in.
He said the right hand.
I told him those were left hand primer tools.
I have some right hand one's.
I'd exchange it the next time I saw him.
I gave him a old Lee round tray one, and he's happy with it.
Still waiting for him to return the left hand one.

[SierraHunter]

I have two of the RCBS priming tools. a little oil goes a LONG way on the pivot on those. They tend to bind up if dry, and can be a real pain in the rear. Small drop of thin oil right in the pivot and it's a whole new machine.

[GhostHawk]

Even better than oil is a dab of imperial sizing wax on the main shaft. Lasts a lot longer too.

[engineer401]

The old round tray seaters work great. Those square ones were so bad they were eventually replaced with a newer design. I thought of buying the new trays but instead went back to the RCBS bench primer. I gave the Lee primer away with a warning of the need to upgrade.

[Froogal]

I have one of those Lee hand primers. I used it a couple of times and put it back in the box. Don't need it. I use the primer holder that came with the Lee press. If I want to, I can deprime, resize, and reprime all in the same operation.

[Baltimoreed]

I’ve used the old original lee hand primers for years and like them except for the easily broken pot metal handles. I was given a cool looking rcbs hand primer only to find it awkward and very difficult to use. Glad that I never bought one. For the most part I prime on my Dillon 550s and Lyman T2 presses but prefer to prime my large rifle brass by hand.

[Baltimoreed]

Attachment 258517
Repaired 2 of my broken pot metal handles for my old lee auto prime. Been meaning to fix them for a while. A couple pieces of aluminum flat bar from Lowes and some jbweld and a couple of minutes at my disc and belt sanders. I flattened the broken piece and then used a coarse file to rough up both parts, then jbwelded them together. I used my sanders again to narrow the one end and break the corners. Will try it out this weekend as I need to load some ‘06. I’ve always had good success with regular jb weld, tough stuff, tried the fast jb and was disappointed.

[skrapyard628]

My old round tray lee auto prime finally decided to break on me about a month ago. The portion of the connecting rod that slips into the handle broke on it. Not the easiest part to try and jb weld/repair. So I purchased the brand new style auto prime to give it a try.

I cant really say Im disappointed in it. I have found that as long as you hold it steady at the right angle it feeds and seats primers just fine. There were a few issues I had with it for about the first 100 rounds I primed (a few flipped primers and sometimes it didnt feed). But once I figured out that I needed to keep it steady and not shake it around when it was feeding the next primer up to the ram it worked just fine.

If it lasts anywhere near as long as the previous one I had then I will definitely be a satisfied customer.

[Dimner]

I use my lee square version with my right hand. The lever thing is oriented towards me not away. I use my right hand thumb to start the seating and then always use my left hand to seat it that extra little bit so it's just a around 10 thou under flush.

If using LC or other military brass, it can be really hard to seat primers with this tool unless you do a bunch of reaming on the primer pockets. I have the new Lee APP primer pocket swager and even at max depth on the swage, LC brass is still a bit of an effort to seat home. And even more effort sometimes to get it started. When reaming pockets, there is a nice bevel on the primer pocket and the primers flow right into where it needs to be. The best non-military crimped brass I have primed is always R-P. Those always seat home nice and easy.

So, it might not be a right or left handed thing, it might be the condition of primer pockets. Just some food for thought.