Lee Safety Prime driving me crazy on Lee Turret press

[Jailer]

The part about the little bit of clearance, with the ram raised all the way up the primer feeder should swing back and forth freely to the primer cup. Adjust with other washers if necessary.

I added a washer between the the bracket and spacer to raise my safety prime just a bit so it wouldn't hang up and drop primers. Works flawlessly now.

[Colorado4wheel]

I added a washer between the the bracket and spacer to raise my safety prime just a bit so it wouldn't hang up and drop primers. Works flawlessly now.

That is the answer.

1) Make sure your adjustment of the safety prime is not interfering with the turret movement (breaking pawl).
2) Align the safety prime inserter with the cup/priming lever.
3) Push firmly, feeling it go into cup.

If that doesn't work add a washer under the entire unit to raise it up a little.

[edsmith]

I have one of those lee saftey primes, would not give you a nickle for a truck load of them, I now have a rcbs aps, and a lee auto prime II.

[44Vaquero]

@Edsmith, I also have a Lee Auto Prime II, It works equal to or better than any other priming system I have seen/tried. I do not understand why Lee discontinued them.
As for the Safety Prime it works once you get the hang of it, but so did the T-Bar style priming arm that proceeded it. Other than not having to handle the primers it's I am neutral about it.

[edsmith]

I like the way you can feel the primer seat with the auto prime II. I don't like priming with the primer arm on a press.

[44Vaquero]

Agreed, the feeling is much better at the top of the rams travel vs the bottom. I actually have the auto prime II set up all the time on a Lee Reloader C-Press.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I've read through this thread and for those that aren't getting good results with the Lee Safety Prime, you're not adjusting it right. For those who aren't getting good results with the auto advance on the Lee Classic turret press, you're not adjusting it right. I realize Lee's documentation isn't the best, but the information on how to properly adjust these things is out there on the internet and all you have to do is google it and follow the directions/watch the videos, whichever you want to do. Don't run down the product if you haven't taken the time/effort to learn how to adjust it right and get it properly adjusted. That's like taking a newly purchased firearm out of the box and shooting it without bothering to clean the storage grease out of it. You might get lucky or you might damage the gun.

I've posted on this forum several times about how to adjust these things, so you can search through my postings or simply google. But don't complain and run down something it's your fault it isn't working right.

[Colorado4wheel]

It's a pretty basically system. Not a lot to go wrong. But it has to be set up right.

[44Vaquero]

We need a "like button" I think Dave hit the nail on the head!

[Floydster]

Dave said it best, if you don't know what you are doing, don't blame the equipment---use your head, some people could screw up a steel anvil.

[edsmith]

for those that the safety prime works good,thats great, but I will complain and gripe about it, it should not take an einstine to figgure it out. I have 6 priming systems,the primer arm that came with my presses, a lee ram prime, a lee auto prime II, a rcbs aps press mounted, a rcbs bench auto prime( can no longer use it, my old arm won't take it)and the lee safety prime,or did have,sold it yesterday.of all of them, I like the lee auto prime II best, MOST OF MY RELOADING GEAR IS LEE, they sure missed the boat with the safety prime.when some one has a complaint about something I want to hear it, it could keep me from making a mistake.

[Twmaster]

Dave said it best, if you don't know what you are doing, don't blame the equipment---use your head, some people could screw up a steel anvil.

I never blamed the equipment. I blamed the awful instructions.

[FLDad]

The instructions could stand improvement. That said, I have to admit that the initial problems I had with the Safety Prime were my fault. Once I slowed down and took five minutes to look up better information, I was able to get it adjusted correctly. Since then it has been flawless on my Classic Turret. Not one failure in many thousands of rounds.

[gefiltephish]

The safety prime on my LCT has worked perfectly right out of the box. I have both the spacer and funny shaped washer under the bracket. Well, I did have to grind the washer a bit to provide clearance for the die lock nuts. There is so much slop in this thing I find it hard to believe that adjustments need to be that critical. Height perhaps. All I did was eyeball the thing up to the primer arm. As far as my press/primer is concerned, ballpark is close enough.

For those of us fortunate enough to not have any problems with this, it can be hard to imagine just what the problem could be - it's such a simple device. That said, I started out with a loadmaster so I know just how frustrating Lee stuff can be at times.

I wonder if some of the problems might have to do with flashing on the internals of the moving part(s)?

[MtGun44]

My large size Safety Prime works OK, the small one spits about 1/3 of the primers on the
floor. Lots of fun. It also lets them turn sideways and upside down easily.

Bill

[geargnasher]

Funny how of all the times I've asked to buy the malfunctioning Lee tools people are cussing, not one single time has anyone ever taken me up on it. All of the Lee press priming equipment needs a little final QC occasionally to remove casting burrs or maybe a re-adjustment once in a while, but it all works fine once you wipe your butt with the instructions and figure it out for yourself. Actually, the slick paper the instructions is printed on doesn't even work well for that.

Gear

[GT1]

This priming system works, plain and simple.
If it isn't working, you are not paying attention to the simplest things, while reloading.

[Twmaster]

Funny how of all the times I've asked to buy the malfunctioning Lee tools people are cussing, not one single time has anyone ever taken me up on it. All of the Lee press priming equipment needs a little final QC occasionally to remove casting burrs or maybe a re-adjustment once in a while, but it all works fine once you wipe your butt with the instructions and figure it out for yourself. Actually, the slick paper the instructions is printed on doesn't even work well for that.

As the thing still works well on my single stage press I see no reason to sell it.

This priming system works, plain and simple.
If it isn't working, you are not paying attention to the simplest things, while reloading.

That's real easy for you to say. Further, this has no bearing on the 'simplest things, while reloading' and I take offense at your remarks.

[geargnasher]

If it works on your single stage, like you mentioned in your first post, but you're having issues with it on your turret press, that would indicate a setup or adjustment issue. You might have to add a shim under the bracket to make it work like you like, tolerance stacking on your particular specimens may have pushed things to the point of binding. Seems like a simple solution to me based on the information you gave.

Gear

[dragon813gt]

Why should he, and myself, have to add a spacer to get it to work properly. It should work with what it came with in the box. That isn't asking much and is what's expected of everything you buy. I have no problem tweaking things to get them to work. But it seems like a lot of Lee products require this tweaking. I am not bashing them as I own a lot of their equipment. IMO some very minor changes and better quality control would help immensely. I'm sure we'd all pay an extra $5 for a Lee mold that we don't have to buff the burrs out of or make other minor adjustments. If they had better quality control they would have a better name


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