Lee primer tool?

[leadhead]

Which Lee hand primer tool do you guys think is the best and easy to use?
Been looking at the Ergo Prime, but they make so many different ones.
I've been using the old round tray model for years and have worn out 3
different ones. I sure liked it, but there starting to show there age.
Thanks for any information.
leadhead

[CRracer712]

That's the only one I have and use(the round one). I bought my oldest son the last one in the kit form(in case), but I don't know if he uses it or the challenger press to prime.

[MUSTANG]

I have several of the Lee "Round" hand primers. Almost all gone now due to wearing them out - have worn out several (6 or 7) of the metal handle/housings since the late 1970's/early 1980's when they first came on the market. Wish Lee would make a re-run of these tools.

I bought a LEE PRECISION 90700, Auto Bench Priming Tool a few weeks ago. Not really pleased with it as the triangular feed tray is difficult to load from primer trays, difficult to orient all the primers "UP", and it fails to feed into the primer punch quite often.

[Brick85]

I was looking at the Lee hand primer with the triangular tray. There was a big warning on Lee's site that said with certain brands of primers, the entire tray has been known to explode, so they recommend using those primers singly. That was enough to make me glad to keep my RCBS hand primer which has a barrier to prevent full tray ignition.

[mdi]

I have a Lee "Ergo Prime" and it works just as well as any hand priming tool I've used, and better than a couple big name tools...

[leadhead]

mdi......... Does it have the triangle tray or the square one?
I've seen both advertised.
leadhead

[Bmi48219]

I have a Lee Auto Bench primer with the triangle tray, got my procedure for filling tray down pat. Same w/ flipping primers right side up, usually 1-2 recalcitrants sometimes none. I did notice some brands of primers are easier to flip than others. Winchester is the easiest but I don’t use then too often. If I notice primers aren’t dropping from the tray into the feed chute a couple taps on the left top corner of tray get things moving. Once the tray is 1/2 empty dropping into the chute is pretty consistent. If I remember to bring the handle all the way up after each stroke it works very well.

[leadhead]

Been checking out the Hornady primer seater and have decided it's as close to the old
Lee seater as it gets. I may decide on it. Not real sure yet. The older I get, the harder
it gets to make a decision.
leadhead

[mdi]

mdi......... Does it have the triangle tray or the square one?
I've seen both advertised.
leadhead

Folding square i.e.; triangle.

FWIW; I tried 4 different hand priming tools and the Hornady was the worse. I could not get more than 4 or 5 cases primed without a failure to feed or a primer backwards. I rarely use a hand primers as could not find one that I really liked. Most did not fit my hand as I had to re-adjust it in my hand after each squeeze and I found them to be inconsistent (life long machinist/mechanic so I do know how to use hand tools)...

[gumbo333]

Look on eBay for the old round Lee hand primer. It was by far the best. Still is. The square tray model that came out next was complete junk. I have never used the latest Lee hand primers. I have a Lee bench primer I seldom use, its pretty fussy. When I got it new large primers wouldn't even flow thru it. Small primers worked fairly well. I sent the new large primer cartridge back to Lee, they sent me a new different designed cartridge, and a nasty letter. The new cartridge does work with a lot of hiccups. Guess I need to follow Bmi's routine. Look for more old round ones. Someone should laser print one.

[leadhead]

I've seen the old lee tools on e-bay but there all used and probably worn out.
The one's I have are still working, but are getting tired. I bought the Frankfort
Arsenal one and it is a very well built tool, but is way to heavy for me to use.
It should never wear out as everything in it is made of steel except the primer
tray.
leadhead

[onelight]

I've seen the old lee tools on e-bay but there all used and probably worn out.
The one's I have are still working, but are getting tired. I bought the Frankfort
Arsenal one and it is a very well built tool, but is way to heavy for me to use.
It should never wear out as everything in it is made of steel except the primer
tray.
leadhead
I have this one also and have used it on about a 1000 cases and it works well for me but I normally prime on the press.

[tbobbo]

I have a old round lee........it’s getting worn and doesn’t feed all that well anymore. I bought a Lyman branded one that uses standard shell holders. It works very well so far. I don’t hand prime much, but it worked well for the 500 I tested it for. I needed an excuse to buy a complete shell holder set anyway. Most people probably have the ones they need already.

[leadhead]

Which one of the Lee's is better, the ergo prime with the triangle tray, or
the ergo prime with the black square tray? And why did they change in
the first place?
leadhead

[fgd135]

Several years ago, when Lee discontinued the old round tray Auto Prime, and I could no longer get replacement parts, they offered to replace with the new design square tray Auto Prime for, iirc, $10 and your old Auto Prime. I gathered up all the old broken ones and got three new ones in exchange. Like someone else has mentioned, that new one was junk, junk, and junk. Primers spill and double feed, the plastic tabs on the square trays break easily, etc. One is still sitting brand new in the box. After that experience, I didn't bother trying the latest iteration of the Lee tool. I now use a bench mounted RCBS auto priming tool and have never looked back.

[MUSTANG]

Which one of the Lee's is better, the ergo prime with the triangle tray, or
the ergo prime with the black square tray? And why did they change in
the first place?
leadhead

I suspect that it is because of the potential for "Multi-Detonation" of primers. The triangular trays has the knob for the open/close/feed/ selector slightly above the feed trough. The square tray ( and the old round tray system that many of us remember and prefer) does not have these features. That knob seems to be highly problematic for me in the bench top model I bought as it keeps the primers from flowing reliably down to the seater stem.

I understand why the "Lawyer Protection Designs"; but hate them. Back in the 1980's I did set a 100 pack tray of primers off in the old round style hand primer tool; but it was my "OWN FAULT". I had some tight primer pockets and did not run them through a primer swage die to normalize them, just pushed forward because they "Aren't That Tight" and I needed the .308's for a rifle match I was driving to the next morning. Any way; after that single time where I set a bunch of these primers off, I never load a primer into cases that have not been run through a primer swagger before loading (I always Keep range picks ups and surplus cases isolated until the primer pockets are swaged out now). I also never put more than 20 primers in the tray now. Makes for more primer tray reloading cycles; but I have never again set a primer off in a priming operation.

[AABEN]

I also like the old round ones I have a square one that I do not very much to change the talk has any one here used the AdJ charge bar ? i have them set up on my auto-disk powder measure that works very good for hand guns one set for 9MM 40mm and 45ACP

[robg]

i use the old round lee primer tools but have used a friends lee bench one ,it works very well.when my thumbs give out thats the one i will buy.

[leadhead]

Well, mdi scared me off of the Hornady primer seater, so I ordered the Lee
Ergo Primer Seater.... I'll see how it does when it arrives.
leadhead

[tdoor4570]

I have 1 of the lee round tray, 2 of the square tray auto-prime (new in box), 1 lee ram prime which my wife likes and 3 RCBS 90200 hand priming tools . can't pass them up at yard sales or any reloading equipment at all. still go back to the round tray or an RCBS tool when I have to do priming.

[44magLeo]

I have one of the round tray Lee primer tools. With arthritis I found using my thumbs gets very tiring and a bit painful after awhile.
I bought the Ergo prime with the square trays. Thought that pulling with my fingers would be better than pushing with the thumbs. Is was beeter as far as that went but the primers don't always feed right and pops the lid up. A bit aggravating.
I got the bench primer and it took a bit of learning on just how it likes to be used. I mounted it on a scrap of oak I had and clamped it to the bench. It didn't work very well. The large tray jammed up so bad I had a very hard time getting it out of the tool. I broke to part that pushes to primer.
I ordered up a new set of the dohickies that go in the tool and hold the tray. The new ones were made different. These worked much better but still had issues.
I was a bit frustratated and set it aside. After a bit I tried it again but didn't clamp it down. Just held it with one finger on the bench when I had the lever all the way down I just slid my finger off the lever and let it rise up with the pressure of the spring. This bounced the tool just a bit so the primers fed darn near perfectly.
So if you have your tool clamped solid, take of the clamp and hold it a bit loosely, let the lever pop up on it's own so it can bounce a bit and you may find it works better.
When I first started loading on the RCBS Rock Chucker I used the priming set up it had. I never felt comfortable using the tubes for the primers.
I used that set up for a couple years and decided to try the Lee hand tool. I liked it much better than the tubes. Felt much better about that.
Never tried any of the other brands of tools. I was a poor fellow and couldn't afford to try them. A few of the bench mounted tools still used tubes so I wouldn't try them anyway. I like the way you just dump primers in the try and go to priming.
Leo

[MUSTANG]

I have one of the round tray Lee primer tools. With arthritis I found using my thumbs gets very tiring and a bit painful after awhile.
I bought the Ergo prime with the square trays. Thought that pulling with my fingers would be better than pushing with the thumbs. Is was beeter as far as that went but the primers don't always feed right and pops the lid up. A bit aggravating.
I got the bench primer and it took a bit of learning on just how it likes to be used. I mounted it on a scrap of oak I had and clamped it to the bench. It didn't work very well. The large tray jammed up so bad I had a very hard time getting it out of the tool. I broke to part that pushes to primer.
I ordered up a new set of the dohickies that go in the tool and hold the tray. The new ones were made different. These worked much better but still had issues.
I was a bit frustratated and set it aside. After a bit I tried it again but didn't clamp it down. Just held it with one finger on the bench when I had the lever all the way down I just slid my finger off the lever and let it rise up with the pressure of the spring. This bounced the tool just a bit so the primers fed darn near perfectly.
So if you have your tool clamped solid, take of the clamp and hold it a bit loosely, let the lever pop up on it's own so it can bounce a bit and you may find it works better.
When I first started loading on the RCBS Rock Chucker I used the priming set up it had. I never felt comfortable using the tubes for the primers.
I used that set up for a couple years and decided to try the Lee hand tool. I liked it much better than the tubes. Felt much better about that.
Never tried any of the other brands of tools. I was a poor fellow and couldn't afford to try them. A few of the bench mounted tools still used tubes so I wouldn't try them anyway. I like the way you just dump primers in the try and go to priming.
Leo

Can you describe just how you hold your mouth and tongue to get it to work Just Right?

[gwpercle]

I went back to basics .
A Lee Hand Press + Lee Ram Prime Unit .
Lots of leverage for my old hands , no feeding problems or pesky trays or plastic parts ...
It's just a much simpler and easier to use set up , it works and I can prime cases anywhere .
Gary

[stubshaft]

I have worn out a couple of the round tray primer tools and have only two left. I got one of those newfangled triangular tray pieces of garbage and threw it away.

[gwpercle]

I have worn out a couple of the round tray primer tools and have only two left. I got one of those newfangled triangular tray pieces of garbage and threw it away.
Me Too ... that triangle tray was the ultimate in flimsy ... I wont insult Mickey Mouse by calling it his name , This is what drove me to put the ram prime on the hand press and use it to prime brass ...no flimsy mickey mouse plastic parts ... I'm priming like I did in 1967 ...on the press ... And , I like it so much better !
Gary