Priming on progressives

Priming off the press doesnt seem very progressive to me. If I had a machine that I couldn't prime with, I would repair or replace it.

Never had an issue priming on press. Some folks like more control over each step. Find what you like

I prime on press LNL-AP and SS press. Always have since I started handloading. The main thing on AP is that you must take the time to get everything adj properly as it should be. Once done most all work. The biggest problem is keeping every thing clean if you deprime on the press.

When the primer is picked up from the tube feed, it can tilt or even be up side down. Mostly an adjustment issue.
Under magnafication, i can see a taper on the leading edge of some brands of primer. (Last i looked) This taper helps alignment with the pocket.
The press needs to be in alignment. Dillon has a tool for this.

Never force a primer feed, if jammed. Clean primer tubes of of compound dust. Some primers contain nitroglycerin.

Some internet KABOOMS.View attachment 969072 View attachment 969073 View attachment 969074

No problems to report priming with my LNL AP. I keep the slide area free of debris and it chugs along just fine.

I prime on 5 different progessives without any problems.
I don't have any problems because I DE-PRIME off the press and wet tumble all the priming crud off the cases before loading on any progressive.
When I'm de-priming I can feel any crimped primers and deal with them, so they never find there way onto a progressive, another reason why priming goes smoother on the progressive.

Some may consider my process as not truely progressive re-loading, but it works for me.
Any and all "adjustments" on a progressive can NOT eliminate problems caused by the accumulation of primer crud or the occasional crimped primer.
jmo,

Edit: I de-prime on my drill press,no shell holder slot to find:

But now there's this, for both de-priming AND Priming as fast as you can pull the lever:
Automatic Case Primer Press - Lee Precision
check it out...

No problems w/ my auto-primer on my 750. Where I have my stoppages are w/ the case-feeder getting other casings in it.

Most on-press priming systems do so at the bottom of the stroke, where leverage is poor and it can be difficult to feel the primer seating.

I prime on press with one of the most hated presses on the market, Lee Pro1000 I recently loaded and primed 2600 9mm in a row on my Pro1000 w/o a single failure and when that failure happened it was caused by me making an adjustment to the press and I got it out of sequence. I do also prime both large and small primers on it.

I also on press prime with an old Lee 3 hole Value Press that will not work with any of the automated dispensers. Each primer must be hand placed just like I did when I first started reloading on a Bonanza "68" press.

My preference is to tumble,decap, and tumble again before I start the reloading process. I like to keep my loading area clean - so I don't introduce dirty brass and used primers into my loading runs.
I prefer to hand-prime, even when using a progressive. I'm not perfect, and many careful people have had bad experiences with the priming events on progressives. Priming (IMHO) is the one process in the sequence that could potentially have the most catastrophic results if something goes wrong. (The powder drop is next).
Some may say I'm overly careful, but I'm dealing with stuff that goes BOOM. I survived a war and saw a lot of bodies blown to pieces as well as a lot of people who survived but were horribly mutilated.
Just my opinions.

Blue68f100 said:

I prime on press LNL-AP and SS press. Always have since I started handloading. The main thing on AP is that you must take the time to get everything adj properly as it should be. Once done most all work. The biggest problem is keeping every thing clean if you deprime on the press.

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Same here, but I do agree that IF there is a weak area on a progressive press, it is generally with the priming system, and that includes shotshell as well as metallic. I get a burp now and again on my LnL and now and again on my RCBS single stage where the primer might flip, but they are few and far between so as long as I am alert, issues are minimal compared to the time savings.

I just wonder why it seems to me that the included priming systems seem to cause the most problems. Mamy folks use bench mounted or hand held primers
to overcome press auto prime problems.

Why do you, who use these presses, think this is?

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A lot of it is operator and what they are feeding the press some of it is design, some are better than others for sure.

The most reliable priming systems are the presses that have swaging systems before they seat the primers to preset depths. The others rely the user to have feel to avoid malfunctions.

The most reliable primer feed I have used is the rotary style, least reliable is the Lee plastic hopper.

George P said:

Same here, but I do agree that IF there is a weak area on a progressive press, it is generally with the priming system, and that includes shotshell as well as metallic. I get a burp now and again on my LnL and now and again on my RCBS single stage where the primer might flip, but they are few and far between so as long as I am alert, issues are minimal compared to the time savings.

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The only time I have ever seen a primer flip was when the feeder was not aligned perfect, or failed to use the follower rod to put weight on the primer stack. I can not even remember when I had a primer flip on my LNL-AP it's been that long. I know on my Redding Big Boss II if the seating anvil in not set to the proper height you have problems. I have 2 separate feeders, SP, LP that are preset so I don't have to mess with it.

I run both a Dillon 550XL and 750XL presse and load large and small rifle, and large and small pistol cases on both presses. Outside of being a PIA to change primer sizes, I've never had a problem with seating any of the four different size primers I use. Only time i've ever had a problem is where I run into GI military case that didn't have the primer crimp removed.

I have an auto breech lock pro, actually like it quite a bit. It didn't come with the normal safety prime all of my other lee presses have, so I ordered it....

I think I spent a total of 45 minutes on it before I came to the conclusion they designed the new version intentionally to not work, I think it's still off to the side of the bench where I left it that day. Might take it to the range to use as a target.

It wasn't really automatic to begin with, but the old version was at least usable to a degree. All I can figure, lee thought there were to many improvements on the press. They had to make something really, really bad to keep things balanced.

Xl650. Lost count of the 8lb kegs of powder ive used with every grain dropped into a case primed on the machine

loadedround said:

I run both a Dillon 550XL and 750XL presse and load large and small rifle, and large and small pistol cases on both presses. Outside of being a PIA to change primer sizes,

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Try this method next time and see what you think.

I have a Hornady ProJector (predecessor to the LNL, an early one...) and the weakest link on it is the priming system. Once I got it adjusted correctly it works very well with large primers, still not so much with small primers.. which will sometimes catch on the anvil. There is a lot of tolerance slop in the older Hornady system, and there is still the disadvantage of priming at the absolute top of the handle stroke... but it is what it is.

243winxb said:

Clean primer tubes of of compound dust. Some primers contain nitroglycerin.

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Interesting... I've never considered that.

Both my DILLON 550b and XL650 prime perfectly, quickly, and without trouble.

Everything that gets loaded on my LNL-AP gets primed on it also. I can't remember the last time I had a primer problem on it.
Keep them clean and they work well. Mine is 10 years old I believe and lost count how many thousands of rounds it has loaded.

PWC said:

I just wonder why it seems to me that the included priming systems seem to cause the most problems. Many folks use bench mounted or hand held primers to overcome press auto prime problems. Why do you, who use these presses, think this is?

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Your question is valid, but somewhat pre-supposes that all progressives are equivalent in integrity and effectiveness. They are not.

I have long said that "In reloading you get exactly what you paid for. If you didn't pay much, then you probably didn't get much." This is not to say that you will never be happy until you shell out XXX amount of dollars. Or that different users don't have vastly different expectation levels.

But at some point, most every reloader throws up their hands and says "This was a great starter press. It did what I needed it to do 10 years ago, but my needs have changed, and my time to spend on this has decreased. I need a better solution."

I don't want this to degrade into a squabble about colors. All reloading equipment needs are personal. I don't have your reloading need; you don't have my credit card. Necessity demands that we all gravitate to the press setup we individually need. However, better presses are simply more sophisticated and can do more jobs better.

I have a Redding T-7 that I could prime with but never considered doing that. The reason is I think that would add time and it's something that I can do much faster with my RCBS bench priming tool to my reloading.