I'm having issues with primer seating on my Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret. I'm loading 9mm with small pistol primers. After the primer is properly fed, (thanks for the tip on the washer under the safety prime) the metal arm holding the primer that tips in to insert the primer in the casing is just barely catching it's cup on the on the bottom of the shell holder, right when it tips in, requiring a bit of a 'double pump' on the lever before seating can occur. Any idea how I can adjust this?
Lee Classic Turret Problem
- Thread starter jfremder
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Put your finger under the metal arm when it is entering the shell holder. It that helps it to go in smoothly, then you simply have to put something in the grooves on the base of the press where the primer arm makes contact. The problem is that the arm is not completely vertical as it is entering the shell holder. I glued a piece of a toothpick in between the grooves to solve this problem on my press. A dab of hot glue or anything else that is about 1/16 of an inch thick should also work.
ChuckB
Member
I've been giving mine the finger.
It works fine. May try the hot melt, if I have a lazy day!
Chuck
It works fine. May try the hot melt, if I have a lazy day!Chuck
SSN Vet
Member
Observe it carefully and see if it's hitting the bottom of the shell plate or the side walls of the slot in the ram.
The primer cup is slightly out of round on mine and depending on the alignment of the cup, sometimes it rubs against the side of the slot in the ram and hangs up momentarily. To solve the problem I simply rotate the primer cup untill it clears and rock on. It doesn't seem to move much during normal operation, so once I have it aligned to clear the slot walls, it stays that way... unless I bump it.
The primer cup is slightly out of round on mine and depending on the alignment of the cup, sometimes it rubs against the side of the slot in the ram and hangs up momentarily. To solve the problem I simply rotate the primer cup untill it clears and rock on. It doesn't seem to move much during normal operation, so once I have it aligned to clear the slot walls, it stays that way... unless I bump it.
I have that press, and quickly became disillusioned with that Safety Prime contraption. Worst product Lee makes, IMO. I'll use the Lee hand primer thingie, until it inflames my carpal tunnel syndrome. But I do most of my priming just using the press to insert the primers in the cases.
I'm an oddball, I like to pre-prime my cleaned and polished brass by the bucketful, and have them ready to load. Then, I just have to resize them and fill 'em up with whatever bullet/powder combo I want.
I take the decapping pins out of my resizing dies, and deprime cases by the thousands with a universal decapper die. I'll then tumble them in dry walnut bird litter to clean them, and tumble again with Graingers 20/40 corncob and NuFinish to shine 'em up real perty.
Like I said, I'm an oddball.
I'm an oddball, I like to pre-prime my cleaned and polished brass by the bucketful, and have them ready to load. Then, I just have to resize them and fill 'em up with whatever bullet/powder combo I want.
I take the decapping pins out of my resizing dies, and deprime cases by the thousands with a universal decapper die. I'll then tumble them in dry walnut bird litter to clean them, and tumble again with Graingers 20/40 corncob and NuFinish to shine 'em up real perty.
Like I said, I'm an oddball.
sonick808
Member
mine just needed some de-burring on the edges of the primer arm... not sure if it's quite the same hangup though
jfh
Member.
Have you cleaned the primer arm and the ram slot for it recently? Cleaning should include swabbing out the 'hook' in the arm that it pivots on--
Jim H.
Jim H.
G36Rick
Member
I had a similar problem with the lip of the primer cup hitting my shell holders,causing a possible detonation of a crushed primer.A quick call to Lee customer service and in two days,two new primer arms were shipped (large and small) to my door.Along with two indexing inserts.Function is flawless now.No need for any mods or home fixes. Lee's customer service is the best !
Sometimes the shell will get out of alignment on it's way down from being sized. I just push them a tad. Also make sure the shell holder is in all the way. Otherwise the Safety Prime works great. If it didn't work I'd sure find out why because it is easy to use and saves a lot of time compared to priming separately.
ssyoumans
Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2010
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- 709
Mine has the same problem that the original poster stated. The primer in the primer cup hits the bottom outer edge of the shellholder as it is tilting into the ram. Cleaned the inside of the ram, filed a chamfer on the pivoting arm, still hangs or knocks the primer out of the cup.
What I see happening is that when the arm makes contact with the red press base, instead of beginning to pivot, it instead slides up before beginning it's pivot inward. So, by the time it has pivoted in a bit, the primer catches on the bottom of the shellholder. It doesn't pivot smoothly, despite chamfering the leading edge on the arm. I guess I need to see about filing some on the slot in the ram, but I don't want to create any slop that may lead to off centered primer to shell alignment. Design doesn't seem to accomodate the quality of their machining of the parts. I also tried a toothpick between the notches on the red press base, that just caused the primer arm to lift up earlier, not rotating inward any sooner. Just a little annoyed at this point. I'll try some large primers this week and see if that arm exhibits the same problem.
What I see happening is that when the arm makes contact with the red press base, instead of beginning to pivot, it instead slides up before beginning it's pivot inward. So, by the time it has pivoted in a bit, the primer catches on the bottom of the shellholder. It doesn't pivot smoothly, despite chamfering the leading edge on the arm. I guess I need to see about filing some on the slot in the ram, but I don't want to create any slop that may lead to off centered primer to shell alignment. Design doesn't seem to accomodate the quality of their machining of the parts. I also tried a toothpick between the notches on the red press base, that just caused the primer arm to lift up earlier, not rotating inward any sooner. Just a little annoyed at this point. I'll try some large primers this week and see if that arm exhibits the same problem.
Perhaps give Lee a call? I bet they would send out a new small primer arm... The fix for mine was a 0.100" piece of hard rubber adhesive backed drawer stop. The rubber is placed in the groove, with a 0.325" gap in area toward the ram with no rubber. The arm only hits the rubber in the beginning, then the red cast base at the end of the seating stroke.
I have the same setup. The only time mine has done this is when the primer arm shaft with the spring on it under the cup has gotten dirty and it doesnt move as it should. I got into the habit of using the air gun and blow the residue and gun off everything, including wiping down the primar arms, ram shaft, etc, etc, after every use. Then it's ready to go the next time.
sonick808
Member
cleanliness, smoothness, light chamfering on all edges of the removable primer arm (that pass through the ram) and also i put a light coating of breakfree clp on the arm and the pocket where it pivots. Basically, make sure it's completely smooth. Like someone said, maybe even remove some material widthwise just a tad,
The design specs are fine. Something is not seated, or catching. Deburr, prep and clean EVERYTHING, then work it with your finger a couple hundred times to assure.
Also, make sure there are no burrs on the slot edges in the portion of the ram where the primer arm slides through. clean those edges up.
The design specs are fine. Something is not seated, or catching. Deburr, prep and clean EVERYTHING, then work it with your finger a couple hundred times to assure.
Also, make sure there are no burrs on the slot edges in the portion of the ram where the primer arm slides through. clean those edges up.
I had the same problem with mine. I sent Lee an e-mail, they sent me back the fix. Yout ram is simply out of alignment. Take a 1/4 " allen wrench (a "L" shaped one) Remove the shell holder and priming arm. Note that the slot your primer arm just came out of should be in the center of the two raised areas on the base of the press. Insert the allen wrench in the slot and turn it so the slot is centered. You probablly won't have to move the ram very much. Put the arm and shell holder back in and try it. You might have to tweak it a couple times to get it right, but it will fix the problem. One more helpful hint, if you take the top off the ram before you start (un screwing it) put a couple drops of Loc-tite on the threads and put it back together. This will keep it from happening again.
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