Lee AutoprimeII

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DannoU

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Dec 24, 2005
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Port Huron, Michigan
Guys,

:confused:

I'm new at reloading, starting out with a Lee four hole turret press. The setup instructions aren't the best for accessories, say, the Autoprime II. Does anyone have the "scoop" on how to integrate the Autoprime into the four hole operation?

Or.... is it used seperately in one of the four holes until all cases are primed? Then taking the four hole press to setup for the four die kit?

Thanx for any help out here, I'll have tons of questions in the future, CYA L8R!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

DannoU
 
Good question, DannoU...No... I have always primed as a seperate process. Concidering that you have to use the shell holder on the primming die and the actualing rod in the place of the shell holder position on the ram. I use a single stage press for this task or pull the rotator shaft from your turret and set the primming die into a seperate die adapter which turns your turret into a manual turret press and prime as a seperate and independent procedure. I firmly feel that you should keep primming as a seperate operation as you need to inspect each primer to insure that it is seated properly..................

Look out!!! Here come the progresive hoard on the attack...:neener: Your purchase of a Lee turret is a good investment as I have been using my 3 hole for over 15 years with little or no problems. Most of the problems that I have were generated by my own ignorance...

Welcome to the site and welcome to a fine, if not, habit forming hobby...Shoot-em. Load-em. Shoot-em again. And Merry Christmas to ya...
 
Thank you sir!!!

Thanx alot Bushmaster......

That confirms my guess that priming should be an isolated task, just because it's one of the most critical and possibly "explosive" steps to reloading. It deserves full attention, especially out of a "newby":uhoh: like myself. Saying that, again Thanx, Merry Christmas and back to the books.

Speaking of which.......................do you know of any really good Handloading Data books or programs with a decent amount of load data for 40sw. I have the Hodgdon data that came with my HS-6 powder. I'm sure that Lee will provide me with some with the new press (hopefully). Of course any suggestions are welcomed.:eek:

DannoU
 
My main source is the Lyman Reloading Handbook #48. I also have a Sierra Edition 5 Second printing and several printings from Winchester, Hodgdon, Accurate, Alliant and IMR. You can get a lot of useful information from the internet by going to the various powder and bullet sites.

There are many reloading books and you may have opened a pandara's box with your requests. Out of the many resources pick the one that fits your needs. By all means get name brands when purchasing manuals. They have to last a long time...With many finger printings as you search and research many times.....Aways locate as many sources as you can to either refute what you read here or to varify the same...:)

Merry Christmas to you and yours....:)
 
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If you have a Lee turret, you might want to set up a dedicated head with just the single-op type dies in it (stuff you will want to use single-stage style).

Items on that turret could include the auto-prime II (works great for me btw), the lee universal decapper (works great for me, also), a primer-crimp swager (like the one from RCBS), etc.

That way you can have all those items ready-to-go, on their own turret head, instead of mixing them in with other heads you might have an empty slot in, or fussing with always screwing them and your dies in/out.
 
Use it as is

When I used my 4 hole lee turret, I used the built in priming arm and used it WITH the auto indexer in operation. Used in this manner, it was MUCH faster than a single stage, about half what my new dillon 650 does.

If on the other hand, you aren't worried about high production rates, then de-capping and priming can be done as a seperate step.

Oh, and I've NEVER popped a primer in any priming operations,(except when using a lee hand tool that uses a hammer to seat the primer). Even when a few times they got pressed in SIDEWAYS! That's in 45 years of loading.
 
Snuffy...I only use that primming "arm", as you call it, when I have to prime one or two or find an incomplete seating of a primer. Otherwise, I find the "arm" to be slow. I also found that it's very common for that "arm" to fail to completely seat a primer. At least that's on my older 3 hole Lee press.

Merry Christmas to you and yours...:)
 
I have played around with single, progressive, and turret presses. What works best for me is I have a universal decapper on my RCBS single stage, and a RCBS hand primer. I decap and hand prime cases. Then, I move over to my RCBS turret press and load from there like normal. Works for me, cause I get very picky about my handloads, especially the priming. Yeah, it's a bit slower, but it's my time and product, right? :D

Kinda wish they made a hand held deprimer. Then I could decap and prime while surfing or watching TV....perhaps the Lee handall would work? Hmmmmm.
 
Snuffy...I only use that primming "arm", as you call it, when I have to prime one or two or find an incomplete seating of a primer. Otherwise, I find the "arm" to be slow. I also found that it's very common for that "arm" to fail to completely seat a primer. At least that's on my older 3 hole Lee press.
Click to expand...

i hate that arm, i wont use it, it has a nasty tendency, (at least on my press) to tip primers. i got a lee handheld primer instead.

though im gonna upgrade and get a lee safety prime now
 
confed sailor said:
i hate that arm, i wont use it, it has a nasty tendency, (at least on my press) to tip primers. i got a lee handheld primer instead.

though im gonna upgrade and get a lee safety prime now
Click to expand...

The Auto Prime II is meant for single stage presses or a seperate operation on one. It won't work on the Turret Press with auto indexing because of the part that must be inserted in place of the shell holder.

As to the primer flipping: This is from Lee's FAQ. I had the same problem but solved it quickly.

Flipped primers in Turret Press

Primer tipping or flipping is usually caused by a burr or nick in the slot of the ram where the primer arm and primer cup pass. This burr catches the primer cup and compresses the spring and when it suddenly snaps free, it causes the primer to tip or flip over.

You will find the burr at the point where the 1/4 " wide primer arm slot on the ram meets with the shell holder slot. Remove this burr with a file. It is easy to get at with the turret removed.

Another possibility is machining left on the inner diameter of the shell holder. With a small round file, you may smooth this area out if necessary.
 
Uncle Don. You can use the Auto Prime II on the Lee turret if you remove the indexing shaft which virtually changes the turret to a single stage or manual indexing press. By installing the Primming die into a seperate head, primming is no problem...:)
 
Autoprime II update............

Guys,

The LEE Autoprime II works great (for me) in the non-progressive configuration on the four hole turret.:)

For the "learning curve" I'll be in for a while, I'll use it this way. I did use the supplied primer arm for a couple of cases, but I don't like the feel as much as with the Autoprime II:(

Thanx for all the help, and it's on to the next step, the book:D

DannoU
 
The Bushmaster said:
Uncle Don. You can use the Auto Prime II on the Lee turret if you remove the indexing shaft which virtually changes the turret to a single stage or manual indexing press. By installing the Primming die into a seperate head, primming is no problem...:)
Click to expand...

You are speaking of batch loading - correct? Yes, then it would work, but even if you remove the indexing rod, you still need to put in the Autoprime II shell holder. If you manually indexed for each stage, it would have to be removed each time and replaced with a shell holder.

If you are talking about batch loading where you are priming all cases before manually advancing, yes - I see where you are coming from.
 
Uncle Don...The latter. As I prime all my cases using a tool head with specialized dies in it, one being the primer die. I then change to the particular calibre for the remaining procedures. This tool head has the expander die with the powder measure installed, the seating die and the FCD. Because I weigh every charge that I drop it is not a rush operation, but pretty much a fool proof method...
 
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