Lee Loader to the Rescue

[musketjon]

Last night I was priming some SL 43 brass for an upcoming match. I was having one helluva time trying to get the primers seated with my Lee Auto Prime. Try as I may, all the primers were high. '' What am I gonna' do now? '' thinks me. In an '' Aha'' moment I remembered my old Lee Loader taking up space in my loading shelf. Soooo, I took it down, wiped the dust and cob webs off of it, opened it up and took out the repriming rod. I put it in the first case, set it on the anvil of my vise and gave it a few whacks with a plastic hammer. '' Voila''!!! The primer was now seated flush with the case head. I did this for the remaining 49 rounds and now all is good. Just thought I'd pass this along to everyone in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation. Good thing I never got rid of that Lee Loader.
Jon

[joem]

While Lee made a fine primer seating device (round primer tray) they have up dated it with a new design to a square primer tray. It seems to me that they have shortened the handle area which is not a improvement in my mind. They also make a ergonomic one but it's more money. The new design has a plastic top cover which I consider a bit too thin as it can be displaced by a out of place primer. I had to buy the new design as my older one with the round primer tray wore out. I'd rather have the old design IMHO.

[tmark]

Correct me if I'm wrong and I've been corrected so many times there are red pen marks over 99.9% of my body.....those hand held Lee primers are not safe to use. Primers, according to what I have read, sometimes detonate when squeezed by those hand held devices.

[Liam]

I'm with joem on the Lee handheld primer seater. Prefer my older, round one. The newer square one preps the next primer for loading in such a way that if you put the loader down a primer falls out. Not everyone wants to load all their primers at once. Also, even on the old tool sometimes a primer pocket is tight and the primer sits proud. Rather than accelerating arthritis by squeezing the tar out of the tool, I follow up with the tight ones by further seating on my RCBS Rockchucker until flush. Never had a primer go while in the handheld tool. Although, I suspect it is possible. In the litigious world of today, if it were a danger, I think they would quickly be removed from the Lee inventory of products available.

[joem]

I did have a primer go off in my older Lee hand primer tool. I was priming some odd ball cases for a friend with his Russian (crap) primers. I had just touched the primer arm and put very little pressure on it. A couple of my fingers got scorched and a small blister is all I had. I will not use Russian primers anymore.

[Hecklerusp45]

It can happen, and did happen to me one time. I am in the habit of keeping it pointed away from me when I squeeze the handle, so no harm done.