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Thread: Priming With Lee Loader - Any Accidental Discharges?

  1. #141
    Boolit Master
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    I am in an apartment and pray that I won't pop a primer... I don't want to have to explain what I am doing to anyone.
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  2. #142
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    Quote Originally Posted by lightload View Post
    My question is one out of curiosity and is not relevant to the discussion. In use is the tool's mechanical advantage about the same as a Lyman single stage Spartan or RCBS Jr or does it have a higher m.a.? Since each half of the tool has a lever, then I expect the rating to be fairly high.
    I believe you have two different loading tools confused. The Lee Loader talked about in this thread is the multi-part reloading tool used with a mallet. http://leeprecision.com/lee-loader-38-spl.html The Lee "Reloader" press is a small "C" type bench press. http://leeprecision.com/reloader-press.html
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  3. #143
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    You might consider buying a hand priming tool.
    I don't know what to tell you about the noise because even the decapping punch makes noise when you use it and it will disturb people in your own household.
    Decapping 20 cases is not intolerable but decapping 100 will probably irritate some one at about 35 or 40 cases.

    Quote Originally Posted by ghh3rd View Post
    I am in an apartment and pray that I won't pop a primer... I don't want to have to explain what I am doing to anyone.
    EDG

  4. #144
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    Quote Originally Posted by A pause for the COZ View Post
    Ahh yea, I was loading in the living room and a small pistol primer popped.

    I looked at the wife.

    She looked at me.


    Off to the basement I went.
    Love it!
    I know that look, have received it many times. Not for primers, but many other things.
    Last Sunday I made srambled eggs. I sauteed some onion and jalapeno. The noxious fumes set her off on a coughing fit.

    Shiloh
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  5. #145
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    Well I just loaded 20 30-30s and two primers went off. Remington 9-1/2M. Didn't bother me a bit. Lee Loaders are noisy anyhow. Best, Thomas.

  6. #146
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    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    Well I just loaded 20 30-30s and two primers went off. Remington 9-1/2M. Didn't bother me a bit. Lee Loaders are noisy anyhow. Best, Thomas.
    Two out of 20 is a lot. I only had "pops" with one of my Lee Loaders but I "fixed" it by chamfering the primer pockets on my .44 Magnum brass (just like I do for de crimping military primer pockets; with a countersink).
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  7. #147
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    I chamfer as well. I blame the primers or myself. I'm not as sensitive to FEEL as I once was! Best, Thomas.

  8. #148
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    Thomas:: do you have a Drill Press? If so then chuck up the rod used for seating primers and use it as an arbor press.

    You will get both feel and complete seating with virtually no chance of popping a primer.

    I guess I'm going to have to make a video showing how to use a drill press as an Arbor Press when loading with a Lee Classic Loader.

    It really is a better way to do this, and once you do it that way you won't be hammering anything..

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
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  9. #149
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    Right what Buchanan says. And you can get a small drill press from Harbor Freight for $56.00 bucks after the 20% discount. Granted it no high end but it does drill holes with a sharp bit and will seat more primers than you will ever need to prime.
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  10. #150
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    Quote Originally Posted by W.R.Buchanan View Post
    Thomas:: do you have a Drill Press? If so then chuck up the rod used for seating primers and use it as an arbor press.

    You will get both feel and complete seating with virtually no chance of popping a primer.

    I guess I'm going to have to make a video showing how to use a drill press as an Arbor Press when loading with a Lee Classic Loader.

    It really is a better way to do this, and once you do it that way you won't be hammering anything..

    Randy
    Thanks WR Buchanan- I will try that. My drill press is 3 ft away from my Rockchucker. Best, Thomas.

  11. #151
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shiloh View Post
    Love it!
    I know that look, have received it many times. Not for primers, but many other things.
    Last Sunday I made srambled eggs. I sauteed some onion and jalapeno. The noxious fumes set her off on a coughing fit.

    Shiloh
    Bout the ONLY look I get! I can't smell, Wifey was toasting jalapeρos on the comal one day, got sidetracked. All of the sudden I couldn't breathe! Saw the lovely peppers burning on the grill, was worse than the gas chamber with CS gas in the Marine Corps!!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  12. #152
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    Did it once while using a metal hammer, use a combination rubber/plastic mallet now. Going slower and having done more of them you get a better feel for when they're seated all the way without over doing it.

  13. #153
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    Just to disprove the statement that primers will not go off unless struck is not true. Just got 9 stiches in hand and stomach because I was reseating a primer SLOWLY in a loaded 38 special case that was not seated completely. This was with a Lee hand priming tool going really slow. Primer went off and case and priming tool fragmented everywhere including both of my hands and stomach.

  14. #154
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    i don't mean to be critical, having made a few mistakes myself, but reseating a primer in a loaded round is really living on the edge. I have a small tin cup on my bench for my mistakes. Easier to go through them, pull bullets and scrap errors on judgment.

  15. #155
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    As I stated in the other thread I am aware of several instances of primers detonating when using the Lee hand priming tool. The theory is when you are seating with a hand priming tool and you have to use extra force to get the primer to seat due to a crimp that wasn't fully seated or a oversize primer after you've applied enough force to pass the resistance the primer and ram jump to the bottom with enough forces to detonate the primer.

    I just did some experimenting with some tired 45 Colt brass. I don't own a hand primer. I do have a RCBS bench primer but I was unwilling to abuse it for this test. I have a RCBS ram primer that was used for this test. I slowly applied pressure on the primer until I tore the rim off. I did this three times without a detonation. Next I half seated the primer and popped the handle without a detonation. Tried it again a second time with a little more force and the primer detoinated. The wife knew it was coming but the dog was not happy.

    When using the Dillon primer pocket swaging tool (if not properly) adjusted you can collapse the primer pocket enough that it is impossible to seat the primer flush. This happened to coworker of mine during the height of the component shortage. He had borrowed a Dillon swagger to remove the crimp on 1,500 LC 5.56 case that he had purchased. He was overly aggressive with removing the crimp and he collapsed most of the primer pockets.

    He loaded all 1,500 rounds of cases for an out of state prairie dog hunt. The day before he was going to leave he went to the range for finial sight settings when he discover he couldn't close the bolt on about 75% of his ammo. I had him bring all his equipment over to my place that evening to determine what the issue was.

    He didn't have the time or components for a proper solution. Using the RCBS ram primer on a Rock Crusher I reseated (crushed) every primer in his loaded cases. I wore a full face mask and ear plugs for PPE. I had a 6" long piece of black iron pipe that just fit over the shell holder on the ram priming tool http://www.rcbs.com/Products/Priming...ming-Unit.aspx

    I also hung a sand bag about two feet over the press as a bullet catcher in the event one went off. None did. He shot them all and only a couple didn't fire. I loaned him a carbide primer pocket uniform and he uniformed all the brass and is still using them today.

    Primer detonation when using hand priming tools with hard seating primers is an issue that I have heard and read about over the years and I believe the theory above is the real culprit.

    The ones that I have personal knowledge of were all on Lee tools. I have no idea if one brand has more issues than another.
    Last edited by M-Tecs; 10-03-2016 at 03:35 AM.

  16. #156
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    *cringe* i have seated primers that didn't go right before without issues, i thought na, they won't go off.... Now i know they really can go off, with the luck i have had in the last few days, i think i better not do that any more, pull them and start again. I hope your paw heals quickly.

  17. #157
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    I once bought a 5 gallon bucket full of SL54 30-06 military brass.
    I punched out all the primers by hand and reamed the crimp with a hand tool.
    The crimp was not completely removed and when the primers finally got by the crimp some actually snapped a little as the tool seated them.
    My rounds were no loaded and I never set a primer off. I still have not all these years (since 1969) later.


    Quote Originally Posted by M-Tecs View Post
    As I stated in the other thread I am aware of several instances of primers detonating when using the Lee hand priming tool. The theory is when you are seating with a hand priming tool and you have to use extra force to get the primer to seat due to a crimp that wasn't fully seated or a oversize primer after you've applied enough force to pass the resistance the primer and ram jump to the bottom with enough forces to detonate the primer.

    I just did some experimenting with some tired 45 Colt brass. I don't own a hand primer. I do have a RCBS bench primer but I was unwilling to abuse it for this test. I have a RCBS ram primer that was used for this test. I slowly applied pressure on the primer until I tore the rim off. I did this three times without a detonation. Next I half seated the primer and popped the handle without a detonation. Tried it again a second time with a little more force and the primer detoinated. The wife knew it was coming but the dog was not happy.

    When using the Dillon primer pocket swaging tool (if not properly) adjusted you can collapse the primer pocket enough that it is impossible to seat the primer flush. This happened to coworker of mine during the height of the component shortage. He had borrowed a Dillon swagger to remove the crimp on 1,500 LC 5.56 case that he had purchased. He was overly aggressive with removing the crimp and he collapsed most of the primer pockets.

    He loaded all 1,500 rounds of cases for an out of state prairie dog hunt. The day before he was going to leave he went to the range for finial sight settings when he discover he couldn't close the bolt on about 75% of his ammo. I had him bring all his equipment over to my place that evening to determine what the issue was.

    He didn't have the time or components for a proper solution. Using the RCBS ram primer on a Rock Crusher I reseated (crushed) every primer in his loaded cases. I wore a full face mask and ear plugs for PPE. I had a 6" long piece of black iron pipe that just fit over the shell holder on the ram priming tool http://www.rcbs.com/Products/Priming...ming-Unit.aspx

    I also hung a sand bag about two feet over the press as a bullet catcher in the event one went off. None did. He shot them all and only a couple didn't fire. I loaned him a carbide primer pocket uniform and he uniformed all the brass and is still using them today.

    Primer detonation when using hand priming tools with hard seating primers is an issue that I have heard and read about over the years and I believe the theory above is the real culprit.

    The ones that I have personal knowledge of were all on Lee tools. I have no idea if one brand has more issues than another.
    EDG

  18. #158
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    Quote Originally Posted by EDG View Post
    I once bought a 5 gallon bucket full of SL54 30-06 military brass.
    I punched out all the primers by hand and reamed the crimp with a hand tool.
    The crimp was not completely removed and when the primers finally got by the crimp some actually snapped a little as the tool seated them.
    My rounds were no loaded and I never set a primer off. I still have not all these years (since 1969) later.
    That would be my point. I seems counterintuitive but you very rarely hear of primer detonations with the high leverage low sensitivity seating methods, yet with the high sensitivity low leverage method like hand seating detonations seem to be more common.

    In no way am I stating that hand seating tools are bad or unsafe. Like any tool the have limitation. Hard seating primers and low leverage handle tools are not the best combination IMHO.
    Last edited by M-Tecs; 10-04-2016 at 06:31 PM.

  19. #159
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    The only primers I have had go off when seating with a Lee Loader were when I was much youger and didn't realize that large pistol primers are slightly shorter than large rifle primers and I was loading .44 mag for my Marlin using rifle primers. I got the occasional "bang!" when loading but not many.

    It took me a while to realize the primers were sitting slightly high and then I looked for why... oops!

    I loaded thousands of .45-70 with a Lee Loader and never a problem but of course they have large rifle primers in large rifle primer pockets.

    I have not understood why the large pistol and rifle primers are not the same depth unless the same dies are used to make the cups but the large rifle primers are thicker... and maybe it is that simple.

    I still have my Lee Loaders but graduated to a press many years ago.

    Longbow

  20. #160
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    I have seated 5000 primerson a Lee loader. MINE has aspring loaded base with a hole in it for the primer to sit in Kind of looks like a washer. I used a hammer, claw and ball/pean, or some other object to strike the rod.NO un wanted bangs occured.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check