Lee new Auto Prime hand Unit

alanwk said:

The Lee hand priming tool is a piece of junk. Primers going in sideways every few tries. My old style Lee unit was flawless but this one is a piece of cr*p. Any suggestions as to which one to replace it with? Thanks

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my RCBS round tray is very good! never had a sideway

I'm guessing you want the older round style. They are usually available on eBay.
I think last time I bought a couple of them so if any parts break (they will) I'll have replacement parts. I think I've bought every revised/improved model, still use the round one. Sometimes I get some LPP that are really tight so I use the Ergo model so as not to break the lever on the old one.

The old Lee round one was the best. I’ll never understand why they don’t go back to it. I loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds on mine and kept spare parts on hand for when something broke. I will be hitting evilbay for another as I still have parts.

I'm a big fan of the old round tray Lee Auto Prime. I keep mine for special jobs.

I currently use the RCBS hand primer with the universal case holder. It works well with most cartridges. A couple, like 25 ACP do not work well with the universal shell holder and that is when I get out the Lee.

I have both the standard RCBS priming tool that uses loose primers and the APS strip version.

I haven’t tried the new model but my round priming tool has been flawless

My old Lee hand-timing tool worked a good while but broke. The new one broke the first session. I have a RCBS now. It works fine.

I just got the Frankford Arsenal. Definitely solid quality. Seems to do pretty well, I haven't used it much yet.

Mark_Mark said:

my RCBS round tray is very good! never had a sideway

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I have been using one of these for many years. The large primer plastic piece that holds the shell holder just fell apart from old age I suppose last year and I called RCBS to order another and asked how to pay for it . No charge, out lifetime warranty takes care of it was the reply. RCBS make quality products and stands behind them.

doubleh said:

I have been using one of these for many years. The large primer plastic piece that holds the shell holder just fell apart from old age I suppose last year and I called RCBS to order another and asked how to pay for it . No charge, out lifetime warranty takes care of it was the reply. RCBS make quality products and stands behind them.

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I need to call them for my powder charge plastic thing. It came off, I just taped it, been like that for years, works fine, just ugly

I have tried 3 different makes of hand primers, Lee, Hornady, and RCBS. All exhibited the above mentioned problems. Plus "log jams" amd "failures to feed". About 30 years ago I discovered ram primes and gave away/put away my hand primers (none seemed to fit my hand as I would have to reset the tool in my hand after every squeeze.). I tried several different priming tools/methods and now use an RCBS bench prime. I had a Lee bench prime for about 8 thousand rounds but I dropped it and chipped a part off the shell holder slot (not Lee's fault, Not Lee's "poor design". Not Lee's "inferior" materals. Just my old hands and a concrete floor). I occcasionally use the priming attachment on my Co-Ax and it works quite well too...

I tried the lee bench prime, once you get the hang of it it is ok.

I still use my original round one. I broke the lever and bought the replacement for the newer model they say wont work. It works just fine after a little modification with the Dremel.

Use to use the Lee round tray hand primer and it was great. Heard too many reports of the latest model being not so good so I went with Franklin Arsenal when the old Lee died. FA works great and comes with a full set of shellholders to boot. Little heavy but solid.

I have worn out 2 of the old Lees. The new square trays are a bad joke. Some engineer needs to be fired.

I have worn out 2 of the old Lees. The new square trays are a bad joke. Some engineer needs to be fired.

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Lee round tray = good
Square tray after that = so so
New Triangle shaped tray = less so so
All the models after the round tray have gotten progressively worse IMO.

If this post strays to far from subject, I apologize. I retired my round tray Lee hand priming tool. I now use a Lee Bench prime,and Rcbs Ram prime. Once one becomes familiar with the quirks of the Bench prime, have loaded thousands of Large and small pistol primers, the only hiccups have been a few primers missed(Remember to give the tray a finger flick occasionally to keep the waiting primers in que.) The unit does not really like Large rifle primers as well more flicks and shakes to keep the primers feeding. Overall i would give a grade of A- , I have been using Lee products for 40 years. Have never found reason to cuss them or disparage their products.
Thank you for listening

I retired my ancient round tray and bought a Frankford Arsenal unit so I would'nt have to worry about replacement parts. I fixed it up, replaced everything worn, made sure it was tip-top, then put it in a box. I still have it and a bunch of trays set aside somewhere. I'll dig it out if the FA ever breaks - just long enough for a replacement FA to arrive in UPS, then back it goes into a well-earned retirement.

Dudedog said:

Lee round tray = good
Square tray after that = so so
New Triangle shaped tray = less so so
All the models after the round tray have gotten progressively worse IMO.

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why would they make a triangle one, for the triangle shaped primer packages?

the only thing wrong with my old round Lee was the larger primer packages like Federal, not fitting so nicely and maybe dropping a few.

I just use a RCBS universal now when hand priming and if you just put the case in and don't touch it, it works fine but whenever I get in a hurry and touch it with my case grabbing hand, it pops out haha.