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Lee Auto Prime

Freshly Minted Georgian!

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The Hen that laid the Golden Legos
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This afternoon after faithful service since 1984 my original Lee Auto Prime finally gave up the ghost. The little zinc pivot arm snapped in half part way through a batch of 1000 223 cases. Sad day! Since the new model from Lee has a bad reputation for jamming I ordered a hand primer from Frankford. We'll see if it lasts as long as my old Lee did!
 
This afternoon after faithful service since 1984 my original Lee Auto Prime finally gave up the ghost. The little zinc pivot arm snapped in half part way through a batch of 1000 223 cases. Sad day! Since the new model from Lee has a bad reputation for jamming I ordered a hand primer from Frankford. We'll see if it lasts as long as my old Lee did!
Sorry for your loss. RIP
 
This afternoon after faithful service since 1984 my original Lee Auto Prime finally gave up the ghost. The little zinc pivot arm snapped in half part way through a batch of 1000 223 cases. Sad day! Since the new model from Lee has a bad reputation for jamming I ordered a hand primer from Frankford. We'll see if it lasts as long as my old Lee did!
The reputation of the new model Lee is well deserved imo. I primed tens of thousands with my original Lee. I picked up a used one and wore it out too. The new one isn't worth a dang.
 
Today the Amazon gods delivered my replacement priming tool from Frankford Arsenal. Looking forward to using it. The cost is roughly 3x the current Lee model but man, this thing feels substantial. The thing feels like it's built like a tank. Once I get a couple thousands cases run through it I'll post an update.
 
Initial feedback. Last night I sat down and primed a couple hundred 223. All primer pockets were prepped to remove crimps on my Frankford case trim and prep center using a Lyman small primer pocket reamer. I'll caveat, as with any new tool there is sometimes a learning curve. Early on I had a few primers cant in off center and jam. To clear I had to remove the shell holder from the tool and use a universal decapping die to pop them out. Additionally I noticed a slight half circle imprint on some primers like the ram cylinder a bit off center, maybe a 32nd. As I got into more of a rhythm I discovered the shell holder may be cut too deep. If I fully seated a case in the shell holder it was indeed about a 32nd off center. I ended up fully seating then as I pressed the ram lever down and the primer started to hit the pocket I'd shift the position of the case until I could feel it all line up properly, the resistance would diminish and the primer would seat. I thought maybe I just had the wrong shell holder so I checked the paperwork which called for a #4 (which is what I was using). I tried other shell holders to see if any others were a better fit, none were. The shell holder just seems to be a sloppy fit. Not sure if they purposefully built it to loose tolerances or if it's a lemon. The tool did come with a set of 12 shell holders which are compatible with the old Lee shell holders as well. I'll try a Lee holder this evening to see if I get better results.

Initial impression. Sturdy, likely more rugged than my trusty old Lee. Loading the primer tray was much easier than the Lee and the tray itself has a small slide gate that you can use to shut off the flow of primers. Came in a decent case. Changing from Small to Large is easy and the two pieces you swap are both robust, feels like steel but I'll magnet check it to confirm. For a tool costing about 3x the Lee I'd expect better tolerances on the shell holders. More to come.
 
I probably have an extra zinc arm for your Lee if you ever want to go back it. I think I have 6-7 of them. Early round tops and newer square trays. I think the atm is the same.
 
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