I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

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triehl27
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I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by triehl27 »

So I HATE priming, I hated the priming system on the Red brand XXX Turret press from the day I got it flimsy, floppy, falling apart if you looked at it wrong, and dependent on gravity for primer loading. I quickly grew tired of the hand primers. After spending $2000 on reloading equipment, most of it from Red brand XXX, I ran into an issue with a defective die (gouged inside the die and the threads for the center post had never been cut, but the top and post had been force in anyways. Upon trying to have it polished or replaced the customer service essentially said you have no idea what your doing and when I went up the ladder to a supervisor, at one point I was told, "You're to stupid to reload with our equipment"

It was then I decided A: I would never by another product from them and B: I would begin replacing the dies and equiptment I had from them with other more customer friendly brands. Which I have done.

But back to priming. Hate it.

Recently I ordered a Lee Auto Bench Prime, and despite the fact that the Folding Tray is a pain in the... designed by ACME and worthy of Wiley Coyote, once you get the primers loaded and set up, Priming has become a pleasure. (God did I really just say that?) Yes I did. Tray aside, I was able to do 400cases in less then an hour without rushing.

You have excellent feel, I knew immediately when I had a bad case or bad pocket, and was able to skip, and dispose of those cases. I knew exactly my seating depth.

Overall the Lee Auto Bench Primer has made priming easy. Not a joy, but the easiest I have ever used, and despite the ACME designed tray, it sure beat primer tubes!
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smustian
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by smustian »

Never seen that before. Looks nice and easy.
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gunguy
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by gunguy »

I'm the same way, when a company screws me over i'm done buying there equipment. It's nice when a company steps up and takes care of warranty issues. I've had really good luck with most reloading companies, these guys want to keep us loading. I'll have to look at this Lee priming system, but i've had really good luck with my RCBS bench mount priming system.
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triehl27
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by triehl27 »

The feel for inserting the primer is what I love about this one. The tray, takes practice to say the least.

1000% happy with RCBS, Forster, Lyman, and Hornady's customer service. I have NEVER had to pay for warranty work or parts. I even got a disassembled Lyman Crusher Press, Lyman said send us a photo of what you have, we'll send you any parts you need and fresh moving parts for it to bring it back to new. Best press i have.
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tXr
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by tXr »

I use the same low budget Lee hand primer tool that came in a Lee Challenger reloading kit I was given as a gift a few decades back. As the arthritis gets worse every year I suppose I should look at one of these gizmo's.
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r.tenorio671
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by r.tenorio671 »

...one of the changes I made to my reloading processes with my Lee LM to better accommodate my "schedule" and greater ease & efficiency, was to break down some of the procedures, especially in light of my preference to have cleaned primer pockets. I typically deprime & size my brass in batches then wet tumble them (trim before tumbling as required) to collect coffee cans of pre-prepped brass for when time allows for a loading session. I found that doing priming as a separate session on its own is much more faster, especially when using the auto feed feature of the LM, with the added benefit that the "feel" of seating primers is enhanced significantly as no other operation is occurring that would add "resistance" to the feel transmitted in the mechanisms. The added benefit of doing the charging, seating & crimping as a separate operation increased the smoothness & speed of the cycling with less effort and force involved which also mitigated the spillage of the charged case as it cycled to the seating station.

These changes increased my productivity significantly....for ME, YMMV.

I'm trying to avoid "accumulating" do-dads like I did early in my reloading beginnings, and at times the struggle is real :roll: :lol:
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rebel
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by rebel »

Just a thought - I put one primer in the press and load that primer by feel one at a time. Slow , yes Positive, yes. But I tend to fall toward the BR crowd than the mass production crowd. My sh&t usually works pretty good.
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triehl27
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Re: I HATE PRIMING - BUT... Lee Auto Bench Primer

Post by triehl27 »

Well I admit I do have more then one loading pattern, it is all dependent on what the goal is.

Example in 308 powder loading only: These are for my rifle, I would not say to use these in anyone else's rifle and if you do so you do at your own risk.
Plinking ammo i'll load with a midgrade load in the Lee auto disc approx 43.4grains. It's accurate to +/- .3 of a grain at it's worst and usually +/-.1 of a grain. 8-10rnds a minute. 3MOA extreme

Shooter 308 ammo, Autodisc, 2 pulls, and trickle to 44.1. .5-1moa 2-3 rounds a minute

Match ammo? I'll trickle to 44grns and then load one piece of varget at a time until I hit 44.1. The second it hits 44.1 it's good. 1 round a minute is fast loading this manner. Accuracy? .15-.4 in weighed matched Lapua Brass or LCLR brass. This has produced .3 MOA repeatable groups at 600 yds out of my rifle, Soda Cans at 980yds are repeatablly possible. This loading manner is a pain in the >>> you get the idea.
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