Lee 'precision' priming tool

[CraigH]

Very much new to reloading, just primed my first 50 .357 cases, I have the Lee precision priming tool. Out of the 50 cases I successfully primed about 25-30, I noticed with 2 with upside down primers early in the process (they were definitely not upside down in the tray, I rechecked several times before starting), as soon as I discovered the 2 upside down I began visually checking the primers before seating, I found there would be a run of good ones, then some would come out sideways, some upside down - I would just tip these out on the table and then continue.

Have I got a dud tool, are they just cr@p, or is there a knack to this?

Cheers

[ukrifleman]

Never had a problem with my Lee primer feeder.

There are 2 primer rams, one for large rifle and one for small rifle/pistol primers, make sure you are using the correct one.

Always a good idea to check the primer orientation in the ram before seating the primer.

ukrifleman

[CraigH]

I'm definitely using the small primer arm - I learned that I needed to check the orientation, but as they were stuck in the shell holder (waiting for me to seat the primer), I was having to just dump them out on the table before moving on and retrying - I must have dumped 10-15 primers out.

I had a search on the internet, found a few youtube videos with people reporting the same problem (with no suggestion of a solution)

[bradaz11]

Is this the press mounted, push and click? I've never had a primer turn over without there being done other issue. Is the round part pushed fully into the chute

[stuarta]

I have the Lee hand primer and primed 100’s of .44 cases and not had problems.

[CraigH]

Is this the press mounted, push and click? I've never had a primer turn over without there being done other issue. Is the round part pushed fully into the chute

May have helped if I added 'Hand' to the title.

It is the hand priming tool, with the triangle shaped primer tray.

Primers are right way up in tray, it seems to be when they are moving between tray and shell holder, at some point they occasionally flip sideways, or fully over.

[Pete]

I have a couple of these (Ergoprimes which I updated with the triangular tray kits), and yes, the primers do occasionally turn over somehow. I've also had some go in sideways.................
It seems to depend on how quickly you release the handle to feed the next primer into the guide ready for the next case.
It's irritating when they do this, but they're the quickest and they give good seating "feel" when they are working properly.

Pete

[CraigH]

I had a little more success yesterday by resting the hand primer edge against a table, I had 3 out of 50 flip over - possibly the resting against the table had nothing to do with it, but I will continue doing so until proved otherwise.

Cheers

Craig

[Blackstuff]

I have an Ergo Primer and have a similar experience as you and Pete. I found holding the primer at different angles made a difference. I also keep a small screw driver nearby so I can flip the primer over if it doesn't drop properly.

In addition to this issue I also sometimes get a primer lodging itself up in the mechanism! It doesn't stop it working though and the first time it happened I didn't realise until i'd done around 50 cases with it like that

[Laurie]

They're prone to this problem with small size primers, rarely so with large. Whilst priming a case, tip the tool down to the horizontal and pointing away from you, release the lever and remove the primed case. Before slotting a fresh case in, rotate the tool back up enough to check another primer has fed and is right way up. Then repeat process.

If it's seen a primer sits sideways or has turned over when doing this check, position the tool to pointing upwards near vertically, partially operate the handle to raise the primer to above the shellholder level and tip it it right side up with a finger tip before releasing the lever and slotting a new case in and seating it while in the horizontal position. With the tool in the vertical position, it won't feed a second primer behind - which it will do if the angle is low enough causing another problem.

The horizontal operating position improves feed reliability both in primer orientation and in feeding another primer behind for the next case, but it is still important to do a visual check before actual seating. It sounds clumsy, but a routine quickly develops and the incorrect seating issue is easily avoided entirely. Misfeeds - either no primer slotting onto the ram, or getting two still occur although rarely if good positioning of the tool is used.