Broke my Lee Auto-Prime

[Dusty Stevens]

What Dusty said, new ones are junk, by the time you pay for shipping you could be on your way to a 21st century. Trust me on this.

Im trying to get a couple spare trays for my tray fed 21st century. So sweet to use itll make you look for stuff to prime

 

[Old Navy]

Yesterday evening I was priming some of my .223 brass. Seating some wolf primers, my thumb lever that you squeeze to push the primer in, broke. That ended my load development in a hurry.

So, i get on the Lee website this morning and see that mine, with the round tray was discontinued in 2010, along with parts for it. They note that you can get any new priming tool from them for half price plus shipping.
I like the hand held type, and I already have all the Lee shell holders, so I'm sticking with Lee for now.
My question: Lee has two hand held priming tools.
The “Ergo prime” and
The “ New auto prime”
Do any of you guys have experience with any or each of these two models ?

I am leaning Towards the ergo model. Anything you don't like about the ergo model ?

I feel your pain. I have two almost new RCBS and still use the Lee.

 

[Longtrain]

Way back I broke one and Lee replaced it with the same model, several thousands of cases later, that one broke too. I read that the new ones weren’t as good so I switched to a K&M priming tool. One at a time, but the quality is amazing. Considering all that goes into top reloads now, one at a time isn’t a big deal.

 

[mr45man]

Im trying to get a couple spare trays for my tray fed 21st century. So sweet to use itll make you look for stuff to prime

Yes, I prime at the kitchen table and watch Fox.

 

[ericbc7]

Has anyone tried to 3D print the old version of lee’s round primer tray? I would happily pay for the print file (or whatever it’s called) for both large and small primers!

 

[243Mendoza]

the part that breaks in my auto prime is the dumbell-shaped link. Broke two of them.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

the part that breaks in my auto prime is the dumbell-shaped link. Broke two of them.

You talking about the only steel, non- potmetal part?

 

[243Mendoza]

You talking about the only steel, non- potmetal part?

Not steel, some other material/

 

[Damon555]

I have had 2 Lee hand primers....When my original round tray version broke I blindly ordered the newer version with the square tray....What a waste of money that was.....sure it worked but it was very tedious. That little step up that they added right where the primers feed from the tray into the tool was just ridiculous. I suffered with that one for a while but luckily the plastic covers were also garbage and when they died I swore them off. Now I have the RCBS tool and love it. I can't believe Lee would even put out a pile of junk like that new primer tool.....

 

[chop house]

i have two... they haven't broken (yet) but the connector link has worn on the ram end to where the power stroke is shortened. figured that out when i chambered a round that i knew i bumped the shoulder on.... primer was left just a couple thou high.

found the links listed on evil bay. was excited until i read a review that cautioned the links for the 'xr' version (whatever that is) are too short to work in the old round tray ones.

 

[dantiff2]

I was fortunate enough to get Laine from Lee to read through some posts and use it as constructive criticism. Unfortunately, it sounds like they are losing interest in a hand priming method altogether and concentrating on the bench mounted type.

I don't understand the reasoning for CCI and Rem primers to be the only safe primers to use. I've loaded thousands of Federal brand and never one hiccup. Can anyone relate to that statement? Here's a reply that I received from Customer service.

Laine @ Lee Precision
Staff - 04/28/2020 1:41 pm

Thanks for the feedback, Dan. Complaints on the New Auto Prime tool universally come from long time users of the Auto Prime.
The priming pin, nylon locating area and body is virtually identical to the original. The elevator pin and flash gate have been added to allow the tool to more safely handle today’s more sensitive primers. The original Auto-Prime was down to only CCI and Remington primers being safe to use.

An APP bench mounted priming tool is in the works, we are pretty confident it is going to trump the competition and be the favorite priming tool model we sell.

Thank You,

Laine
Customer Service

Lee Precision, Inc.
4275 County Road U
Hartford, WI 53027

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Hard to use a bench priming tool at the range

 

[Damon555]

Even though my loading bench is a good size there is no room for a bench mounted priming tool.....If I'm not using my 550b progressive (mostly for pistol) everything gets primed with a hand primer....Probably 90% of my reloading is for rifles so a good hand primer is very important to me. My RCBS press has a built in priming tool.....there's no reason for me to buy a stand alone bench primer when I don't use the one I've already got......

 

[dantiff2]

Well said. I agree 100%. I choose not to use my rock crusher as a priming tool. I use my Lee tool or include that in my progressive runs also.

 

[LarryDScott]

I prefer the Lee Bench tool over any of the Lee hand held models. Mount it on a small piece of finished walnut, and use it anywhere.