Lee Auto Priming Hand Tool

[Jhamblen86]

I have been noticing that the shell holder on the Lee auto priming hand tool has issues with accepting brass. I just got 100pcs of Winchester 44 mag brass in last night. 35 of them wouldn't fit into the shell holder of the priming tool. I have had this issue with factory ammo and the lee priming tool but never to this extent. Anyone else encountered this?

 

[cfullgraf]

I have occasionally had problems with shell going in shell holders, not just Lee. Usually, it is due to dings in the rim but sometimes the rim is too large.

Except for some particular head stamp 9x19 and 5.56 NATO cases, never to the level you have indicated. I just scrapped these range pick up cases, which not a desired option in your situation.

If the shell holder works most of the time, I suspect the cases may be slightly out of spec. If the diameter of the rim is too large, you could chuck the cases in a large drill and slightly reduce the diameter of the rim.

If many, many cases from different sources do not fit in the shell holder, it may be out of spec. Then, check with Lee.

 

[RugerBob]

I have the same issue with top brass and winchester in my hand prime. I like using it, so I switched to remington for all my 45LC needs. I have no issues with the winchesters in 38 in the hand prime tho. Just my 2 cents. Bob

 

[Romeo 33 Delta]

Tolerance stack up ... if I use Remington/Winchester .308, I use a LEE #2 shell holder ... but I was helping a friend get started in reloading and he had some other brass brand (and NOW I can't remember which) and I had to switch to a LEE #3 shell holder in order to run his brass. Life's just like that sometimes!

 

[Jhamblen86]

Thanks everyone, think I may take the oversized brass to my belt sander and knock off a few thousandths. God knows I don't want to throw away 35 pieces of new brass.

 

[rcmodel]

Before you do that, check the shell holder for internal burs where the rim of the case hangs up.

Lee quality control isn't always on the same level with RCBS and such.

I have had to take a needle file to several Lee reloading press shell holders to get them to work as designed.

rc

 

[LiveLife]

shell holder on the Lee auto priming hand tool has issues with accepting brass. I have had this issue with factory ammo and the lee priming tool ... I don't want to throw away 35 pieces of new brass.

Before you modify the brass or the shell holder, if you experienced issues with factory new brass, I would contact Lee Precision customer service for a replacement.

http://leeprecision.com/satisfaction-guaranteed.html

Every Lee Reloading Tool is unconditionally guaranteed for two full years and has a limited lifetime guarantee!

 

[SlowFuse]

I have had some instances on the Lee hand prime shell holder and also the Lee branded press shell holders that were tight. You may have tried this, but on most that were tight, a little spin on the piece of brass to put it in at a different angle, say a 90 degree spin (someone else may have a better description) fixes the problem.

Prvi brass has been the most common brand this happens with for me.

 

[Jhamblen86]

Thanks everyone for the input. I need to take some measurements and go from there. I know I should have done that first but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this experience before.

P.s. I know I'm using it correctly. If the shell holder is out of the tool I'm getting the same result.

 

[FROGO207]

FWIW 45 ACP A-Merc brass will not fit any of my shellholders regardless of brand. Found 4 pieces out of 3K that I had purchased a couple years ago.