Priming set ups

[Bret4207]

I've used Lee Auto Primes for years. However, now I'm getting tired of replacing the thing every few months beacuse the priming ram wears and the plastic wears and the ram dents primers and....well you get the idea. I also use their Ram Prime that comes with some presses. Works great and uses standard shell holders but 1 at a time is slow. I have a Co-Ax press with the nice priming set up but every one of my shell holders has a through hole that is too small for the priming ram to pass through. Still one at a time priming too.

My question- Does anyone have any dope on the Lee Ram Prime with the primer feeder? Pro/cons? I have about 30,000 primers in stock and want to use them up, so the nifty RCBS primer system is out for a while.

[Oldfeller]

Any LEE primer system that has the plastic tray and the downward curved square plastic feeder tube seems to require some form of agitation vibration (up-down or rotating) to get it to work correctly.

If I am envisioning the one you are talking about correctly, it has no possible agitation from any rotary or vertical press motions as it just sits still, up on top of your press sticking out in the air like that and it stays perfectly still as you cycle your lever .....

No agitation could get agitating (to you).

Oldfeller

[Bret4207]

Know what you mean Kelly. Got to shake them in somehow. I went by Gander Mt today and picked up an RCBS hand priming tool on a whim. Same price as Midways on sale too! I'll give this a try. I found the RCBS strip priming tool which I'd forgotton about. For $65.00 I can suffer for a while.

[Willbird]

I myself like the little rcbs priming press, it uses normal shellholders, it works nicely, and the primer tubes can also be used as primer pickup tubes for progressive reloading tools.

Bill

[MARCORVET]

The Lee Auto Ram Prime Is A Derivitive Of The One On The Loadmaster. As It Moves Up And Down, It Rubs On Two Small Points To Agitate The Primers So They Are Constantly Feeding Correctly (at Least That Is What Is Supposed To Happen, I Usually Tap The Primer Tray About Every Ten Cycles). As For The Auto Prime, I Have One That I Have Used Since 1990 Or So. It Still Seems To Work Fine And Has Primed Several Thousand Cases. Good Luck With Your New Choice. Fwiw, Sam.

[Buckshot]

.............If I have to prime a bunch at home I use the Lee Auto Prime. Gotta reach up and give it a flick every now and then. The last feew don't like to feed down there at the bottom of the shute so I have a bit of wire I use to herd the last couple.

Otherwise just doing 20 or 50 I use the RCBS/Lachmiller priming press. Mostly I save up cases needing to be primed and will bring them to work and use the RCBS primeing press there. Might as well be getting paid while doing it [smilie=l:.

There has been a couple times when I had a ton of 38 and 357 to do so plugged in the Dillon and did everything short of reloading them.

................Buckshot

[BD]

I'm in the market for a hand priming tool also. Is there any consenses on the quality of the RCBS/Hornady/Lee tools? I'd like to be able to prime cases while watching the tube with my wife. BD

[Willbird]

Well if your gonna use Lee priming tools, at least read, and follow his directions on picking primers, and make sure everybody in the room watching TV is wearing safety glasses.

According to the designer of the Lee tools some brands of primers should not be used at all, and some only 20 in the pan, etc.

Personally I had 2 of them and like some others felt they wore out too easily, I gave mine away.

also the special shellholder bit annoyed me. it is tought enough having ONE to fit every case let alone TWO.

and the Lee autoprime DOES blow up, I have heard of it within my circle of aquaintences, and Mr. Lee would not address that issue if it was not a factor.

John paul Jones lays the blame for most priming tool explosions to CCI primers....he is quiet adamant about not using them in primer magazines...and according to him a very high percentage of priming explosions were with CCI primers.

I have badly mangled primers with the autoprime when I had them, but they did not blow. at that time I was below that age when reason was running on all 8 cylinders hehe

Bill

[RayinNH]

I've used the Lee hand prime tool for about 9 years now, seating 4 to 6 thousand primers per year. Be sure to follow the Lee instructions about putting a little grease or vaseline on the connecting rod. In this time the clear plastic cover on mine has yellowed a bit and it's not quite as tight as when new but for $10.59 from Midway it's a very good deal...Ray

[felix]

Look at the Sinclair tools. The have the Lee system done right.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=REPTSI&type=store

His stuff is top notch.


felix

[C1PNR]

I myself like the little rcbs priming press, it uses normal shellholders, it works nicely, and the primer tubes can also be used as primer pickup tubes for progressive reloading tools.

Bill
I guess this is a "me too" post. I've been using the RCBS bench tool for years. Have it mounted to a piece of 1" x 6" that I "C" clamp to the bench, kitchen table, etc., when it's time to prime cases. You get a rhythm going with it and it's nice to stop every 100 cases, just to look around, have a sip of coffee, reload the primer feed tube, and get back to it.

[Maven]

I too currently use 2 Lee Auto Primes, (1 for LR & 1 for SP primers), but never with CCI primers and must say I like them. (Only the one I use for pistol primers has the "flip tray" attachment.) However, one did break due to the poor quality of the casting, but it was cheap enough to replace. I also purchased a Forster Co-Ax primer seater, which is well-made, but rather inconvenient to use and adjust for cartrdiges whose bases are something other than .473". Lastly, I have a Lachmiller unit with only a .473 shellholder that I use on occasion. None of them does a better, or worse, job of seating primers than the Lee Autoprime. ...Maven

[fatnhappy]

I too had a lee hand priming tool. What a piece of junk. It lasted around 1000 or so primers before the cam arm broke in 2.
So I ponied up $25 for the RCBS hand priming tool and couldn't be happier.

My $.02

[BD]

Look at the Sinclair tools. The have the Lee system done right.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=REPTSI&type=store

His stuff is top notch.


felix
A hundert and five dollars!!! I hope they have it right. Thats only 3 times the cost of an RCBS and nearly ten times the cost of a Lee! Of course if I blow up a tray of primers while watching TV with the French Woman I might have to build yet another house to live in, (alone), which would cost a bit more.
BD

[drinks]

I have been using the Lee hand primer since they came out, still the same one, just follow instructions about periodic lubing and do not squeeze till something breaks, usually, if a bunch of pressure is necessary, some thing is wrong, wrong type of primer, something in pocket, primer crossways or two primers one on top of the other.
So far , several thousand primers and no problems.
Don

[Willbird]

I must say on the Sinclair unit if it is made like the K&M (Sincleir might be better) it is not even in the same class as any of the other hand priming tools,a much more refined setup that must be tried to be appreciated.

Bill

[joeb33050]

I had to go get it to make sure I got the name right. The Lee Auto-Prime. I've had this since ??, certainly before we bolted to Florida in Sept. 00. I prime thousands of cases a year with this tool, and it has never let me down, broken, acted up or exploded. I think I've had this for 10 years or more. I had another one, but I think I left it at the range or ?? Sinclair speaks well of this tool in the catalog. George Roberts gave me an RCBS priming tool, I tried to give it back, he wouldn't take it, I gave it to Ed Bradley and he gave it away.
Are we/am I talking about the same tool?
The old grey cast metal Lee primers were great, but wore out quick. They were small and worked fine until the ram thing wore and they didn't seat the primers. Is that what you're talking about?
joe b.

[KCSO]

I have a couple of the old aluminum Lee hand priming tools with the screw in shell holders. I seem to remember buying them and a set of Shell holders in about 1969. They are still working and that is mostly what I use. I tried the newer Lee tray primer unit once and thought the speed was offset by having to jiggle the tray ever couple of pulls.

[KCSO]

I have a couple of the old aluminum Lee hand priming tools with the screw in shell holders. I seem to remember buying them and a set of Shell holders in about 1969. They are still working and that is mostly what I use. I tried the newer Lee tray primer unit once and thought the speed was offset by having to jiggle the tray ever couple of pulls. I also have a 310 tool with priming heads for a number of calibers and use it once in a while.

[Bret4207]

I was talking about the standard cast metal and plastic Lee Auto-Prime. I basicly wore mine out where the ram comes up to push the primer in. Got really sloppy.

[sundog]

Yea, I have one of the old Lee hand primers with the screw in shell holder, but I only have 2 or 3 shell holders. I was poor in those days and never got a complete set, and you can't get them any more that I know of.

Now that I'm rich ('yea, right' he says to hisself) -- well, not in poverty any more..., but almost -- I have had the RCBS hand primer for a number of years and have been very satisfied with it. What I do not like is the extra large Fed pkg trays so that you have to dump in something else and condense down to get into the primer tray to get all hunert of them at one time. sundog

[StarMetal]

Boy isn't that the truth about those Federal large primer packs. I too have the RCBS handprimer and am very satisfied with it. For those of you that have the RCBS handprimer and using a different brand of shell holder and are experieincing that the primer rod doesn't go all the way to the bottom to pick up another primer there's a solutions. RCBS's shellholders are radius on the bottom to correspond with the plastic part it fits on. If your shell holder is tight it will bind the rod. Little time spend with a small grinding wheel on your Dremel fixes it in a hurry.

What I like about the RCBS primer is that it cuts off the magazine of primers when you're seating one. I think that is a very good feature. I've seen a friends tube of primers explode on a Dillion press and even though the tube has a steel protector sleeve on it, it blew a one foot hole in his basement ceiling which was the kitchen above!!!! Think if his wife or someone would have been standing on that spot when it let go!!!

Joe

[beagle]

felix....I've looked at those and they look good. Take RCBS shell holders instead of the mickey mouse Lee's which is my main objection. But, they are pricey.

I liked the old RCBS Posi Prime but they tended to break the casting and after 3, I threw my hands up and went to the bench mounted job.

The old Lachmiller bench mounted job was a class act as well. I bought one in 1968 and it's still in use by #2 son as we speak./beagle

[felix]

John, call up ol' Sinclair a tell him you want his RCBS hand priming version instead of his current Lee version. He has it, guaranteed, but they might not sell them anymore. Why? Don't know.

A tool of that quality demands turned primer pockets, inside and out. Only for bench guns. Waste of quality for anything else. ... felix

[MARCORVET]

Tpr. Bret,
I have been using the Lee Auto Prime for the last 15 years. I use primarily CCI primers... Have not had a problem with the Lee, nor with the CCI primers. I lube mine with white silicone grease (also used in avionics applications). Mine has very minimal wear and still functions as it was designed to function.

[Willbird]

Felix,

It might be a waste for pistols.

But both my woodchuck rifles shoot like bench rifles (in the .2's) so they are worth it.

I'm gonna guess I can't make a 75 grain cast boolit good enough to run in 6-284 at 3800 fps tho :-) and not into the .2's and .3's. Ditto on the 22-250AI at 220 swift velocities (and loading data too)

Bill

[BruceB]

Dillon makes a heavy brass primer-flipper tray which is big enuff for the federal primer boxes. It costs a bit, but is a very high-quality item and worth the cost, in my estimation.

There's a reason for Federal's fat boxes. They got to wondering about how effective (safe) their old-style primer boxes were, so piled-up quite a bunch of the factory-boxed primers and set fire to the stack. The resulting explosion was impressive, and led them to make the new packaging, with the primers a lot further-apart from each other.

Seems reasonable to me, but a BIG flipper is sure nice to have when using the big Fed boxes.

[trooperdan]

How many of you guys use the RCBS tool that takes the CCI strip primers? I have one and I'm liking it pretty well. It has universal jaws for all calibers so no shell holders to even worry about. Until recently I did all my priming using the Lee tool but it got to be a lot of aggravation; something I don't need at my age! I hope the strip loaders catches on so I can get the strips pre-loaded. I'm saving my old strips and I have a strip loader just in case!

[StarMetal]

Well I don't think the primer manufacturers are going to start making strips of primer. So if they don't I think it's kinda of dumb to have to load primer strips when I could be putting the primers in a case. To me it's just an extra step that's not needed. That's the reason I didn't buy that setup, plus I don't like CCI primers.

Joe

[NVcurmudgeon]

I use and like the Dillon large, brass, primer flipper. I got it along with my Square Deal as a gift. The gift giver said that Dillon recommended their flipper as an explosion preventer. Anybody else hear that? My guess is that Dillon didn't want to use steel lest there be sparking, or plastic because of static electricity.

[fatnhappy]

Well I don't think the primer manufacturers are going to start making strips of primer. So if they don't I think it's kinda of dumb to have to load primer strips when I could be putting the primers in a case. To me it's just an extra step that's not needed. That's the reason I didn't buy that setup, plus I don't like CCI primers.

Joe

Ok, this one begs the question, what's wrong with CCI primers?

you can't just lay that one on the table without elaboration, IMHO.

[Willbird]

I for one have found CCI primers to be slightly larger than the other brands,this may be of help if I get some brass with looser primer pockets......but at present it just makes them seat hard,this is especially the case with some CCI benchrest primers I had.

Also a well known loading tool dealer has claimed most if not all of the priming station detonations on progressive tools he has heard of were with CCI primers....the is rumor and conjecture.........

Mr. Lee makes some strong statements about which primers are safe in progressive loading tools, I do not remember what he said in regards to CCI

Bill

[NVcurmudgeon]

I don't know about explosions, but I do know that Dillon told me "quit using CCI primers" when I complained about primer feeding in my Square Deal. They said that CCI primers are larger and not as round as the Winchester and Federal that Dillon recommends. My mike showed me that the Dillon tech was correct on alll counts. I still use and like CCI primers, but not in a progressive machine. Part of the reason I favor CCI is that when I started reloading (1959) CCI was the only easily available primer. The big two discouraged reloading, and Federal wasn't widely known among the press and scale crowd. It may be that CCI, having started as the handloader's primer, deliberately makes their primers oversize because some of the other handloaders, not me, stretch primer pockets.

[StarMetal]

I remember when CCI got started. All they made, when they started, were primers, and I used them. It seems to me when they started making 22's the the quality of the primers slipped some. Some of the things mentioned here about size and not working good in progressive presses and I have found alot more misfires with them then other brands. When some of my friends at worked mentioned misfires too, it confirmed my suspicions, so I quit using them. Probabaly in all fairness there's really nothing wrong with them.

Hey you fellows remember when CCI got started you could send in for a free real embroidered cloth patch of a 1911 pistol and you could get the target titles on them like like Sharpshooter, Master, etc? I still have a brand new one never sewed on. Have to look, think it says Sharpshooter.

Joe

[Willbird]

Wow on the misfires, I cannot remember a single misfire yet with ammo I have loaded, and that is a great many rounds, BUT generally I don't use CCI primers either, Federal BR in rifle and Win and Rem in pistol.


Bill

[StarMetal]

Willbird, like I said it wasn't just me, it was with a few of my shooting/reloading friends. First I thought it was me, my reloading, then I though maybe my firearms were at fault until I mentioned it to my friends. They said they had the same problem with CCI too. Now this isn't to criticize them now, this was way back in the 80's, so I just quit using them and never went back. I mean I wouldn't turn down a great deal on a bunch of CCI primers if it came along.

Joe

[Poygan]

Maybe I'm just a creature of habit but I use two Lee Auto-Prime units, one set up for large and one for small primers. I do watch to ensure that the primers are right side up before I slide in the case. I also use CCI primers and have done so for 30 plus years. To date I've had one primers fail. The only cases that are difficult to prime are some older GI .38 specials and only those with specific headstamps. Everything else works fine....

[Willbird]

Oh ya Star I don;t discout what you say, My experience would tend to support what you said.

the Large Rifle BR primers I have go in cases darn hard, I could see that the primer pellet might get damaged from that.

Bill

[Bret4207]

Ya know, come to think of it most of my primers are CCI. Matbe that was part of the problem with the Lee set up. I did find if I used a primer pocket uniformer and a cleaned the pocket everytime, a bit of a hassle IMO, it worked better. What I'd really like is to figure a feeding setup for the Forster press priming device. Too much work for too little trouble with the RCBS in hand.