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The "NEW" Lee hand primer tool

I too cut my chops on the original lee autoprime. Still have it and the box and 20+ shellholders and extra handle and trays that are cut and sanded making them single load. I was about to get a new autoprime when I went looking for reviews and found them to concur with what is said here now.

I ended up getting the frankford handprimer and am very happy with it.
After selling off 3000 primers on gunbroker via priming 9mm cases, my hand was not too happy. As a result I was quick to pre-order the new lee ACP for pistol as well as an RCBS bench prime for rifle when not using the frankford.

The lee ACP has been awesome but in a time where "all primers matter" I would either have to do a primer 1 at a time or use the frankford. Besides the original lee autoprime the frankford has been the only way I know I won't seat a primer upside down or crush it. Drawback on my frankford has been then half moon imprint it leaves on federal primers.
 
When I sold my reloading equipment in 2010 I had 4 of the old style Lee hand tools that worked flawlessly. Fast forward to 2015 I bought back in again choosing a Lee hand tool. It was junk, I then selected the upgraded version, it was just OK, but hard on my hands. Next I went w/the bench primer model. It worked fine if you paid close attention to what you were doing. It was small fast and no hand pain. If I was doing it again today it would be the LEE bench model. LDS
 
When I sold my reloading equipment in 2010 I had 4 of the old style Lee hand tools that worked flawlessly. Fast forward to 2015 I bought back in again choosing a Lee hand tool. It was junk, I then selected the upgraded version, it was just OK, but hard on my hands. Next I went w/the bench primer model. It worked fine if you paid close attention to what you were doing. It was small fast and no hand pain. If I was doing it again today it would be the LEE bench model. LDS
Absolutely agree Bro. No hand pain at all with the bench tool. Don't know why I waited so long to get one but happy that Lefty Trigger sold me one that is ANIB. Don't mind priming at all now.
 
I still use the same old style ones I started with 20 years ago when loading at the range. I modified the tray by epoxying a t-nut in the tray bottom and a hole in the top tray for a threaded knob( copied this idea from Al Weaver). This prevented the sloppiness by controlling the gap between tray top and bottom.. Also I periodically put bolt grease on the cam inside the handle.
I read your post this morning and thought, WOW why didn't I think of that? I have two old Lee's that I've used for 30 years. So I drilled both of the primer trays in the center and installed #10 "threaded inserts" (like pop rivets, but threaded internally) . Then used #10 X 3/4" hex socket cap screws - works Great!

Thanks, so much!
 
Lee went out of their way to ruin a product that worked really well. I bought a "new and improved" version and promptly gave it away. POS. I use a Forester and it works very well.
Medic I tend to agree with you about Lee ruining things after their collet neck sizing die fiasco.

Thinking about the op's question? Priming tools is another area I have spent a bunch to just find out what works.

I've got
2 of the gray Lees with screw in shell holders
2 of the round tray Lees both still in top notch shape
1 Lee Ergo hand primer
1 K&M
1 RCBS Bench mount
1 Forster
At least 3 presses with auto primer feed.

Out of that the tool that does the best job of seating primers for me is the K&M although its one primer at a time.

Of the bench mounted primers one of the presses does the best job.

If I was going to sit in a easy chair and prime, which I never will, I would grab the Lee Ergo prime out of the Lee hand squeezers although the Red body is a little big for me hand. The old style Lee's are a little small for my hands.

One day I was at Brownell's talking to the Forster guys, super gentlemen by the way, about their reloading tools. When we got to their priming tool my only negative was loading the square tubes is not easy. They both chuckled and one disappeared for a minute or two. When he returned he handed me a red plastic tube loading tray they had been working on to load their tubes and told me to give it a try.

That tray makes all the difference in the world. Shortly after that I saw they started offering them for sale, they are a little pricey but well worth it. They make filling the tubes easy.
 
I have the old style one, with the round primer trays. I don't remember it ever giving me any problems unless it was user error. Today it sits in my Reloading Bug Out Bag, along with a Lee Hand Press.
 
Medic I tend to agree with you about Lee ruining things after their collet neck sizing die fiasco.

Thinking about the op's question? Priming tools is another area I have spent a bunch to just find out what works.

I've got
2 of the gray Lees with screw in shell holders
2 of the round tray Lees both still in top notch shape
1 Lee Ergo hand primer
1 K&M
1 RCBS Bench mount
1 Forster
At least 3 presses with auto primer feed.

Out of that the tool that does the best job of seating primers for me is the K&M although its one primer at a time.

Of the bench mounted primers one of the presses does the best job.
This post jostled my memory (a rare occurrence anymore). My first hand primer was the Lee Posi-Prime tool which used screw in S/H's -which I still have. Really hard on the thumbs because it is so small. I progressed to the Auto-Prime, it offered better leverage and a tray, cheap so that I could have several dedicated with no changeover needed. Tried the K&M and that wasn't all it was hyped up to be for me. Tried the RCBS and it feels good but a PITA to change over. On the advice of a mentor I tried the RCBS bench mounted tool and my scores did not drop as a result of not being able to feel the primer seating to the same degree as a hand primer. This is now my choice for preloading at home -even for match rounds.
 
I had a situation a couple weeks ago with one of my old Lee's set up for 223. I noticed after priming if I set the case on the bench, it wobbled - strange! Looked it over and realized the primer was sitting proud by a thousandth or two (very hard to measure). I looked at couple more and found the same thing. My first thought was that I hadn't squeezed the tool hard enough, because the primer pockets on this brass were pretty tight. So I took a few and ran them again - no change.

I started investigating further and found that I could slide a case in and out of the shell holder with the punch in it's fully raised position. I took the tool apart and found significant wear on both the cam and the cupped end of the punch. Fortunately, I had spares for both. Once replaced it worked fine again.

Unfortunately, I threw the old parts away, otherwise I would have attached pictures. From here on I will make very sure I keep things greased.
 
The original "dangerous" model round tray Lee worked best, no doubt. I had several. It took a long time to wear them out, maybe fifteen to twenty years. Some claim far longer service and I don't question that, but I'm pretty sure they didn't prime tens of thousands of cases with the Lee tools. They weren't made to last forever or close to it. If you greased a critical point occasionally, this would allegedly extend their lifespan. Most of us, if we lubricated them at all, did so on an irregular basis and maybe this really did reduce their longevity. I don't know.

The "dangerous" model reportedly was a contributory factor in several accidents where primers exploded. Lee did their own testing and reproduced the results. Their experiments were well publicized at the time in at least one paper gun magazine (not Internet rumor). I guess this was thirty years ago. Lee may have mentioned this in their load manuaI as well, though I'd have to look to confirm. As a result of Lee's testing, they recommended using only CCI and Winchester primers in the tool to avoid detonation of primers.

They re-designed the tool and made it much safer but it wasn't really a good tool. Most know the rest of the tale up to the present. All this is from memory and their may be some minor inaccuracies, but that's the basic story. Others may remember it in better detail.
 
I’ve been priming on an old RCBS unit that hasn’t been made in decades but they still send me new priming rods when I need them. I bought a back up off EBay, I love the feel of that tool. I tried the Lee hand primer, I don’t think I primed 50 cases before giving it to a friend.
 

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