Lost the small pistol primer pocket for my .38/.357 seating die. Anyone know if I can get a replacement without buying a new die set? Many thanks, Leif
A primer pocket is the hole in the brass case into which you install a primer. You're obviously talking about a part of the tooling, but we can't tell what part. A picture's worth a thousand words.
Seating punch is my guess and he should be able to buy spares through the manufacturer whom ever That may be.
I'd guess seating punch as well. If he has a RCBS die just call RCBS and they will mail him one for free with free shipping.
Sorry about the terminology and appreciate the correction - I've been reloading in small batches from a hand press for about a year and there's so much to learn. It's the small cup that holds primers for insertion into the primer pocket - large rifle primer example in the photo, above the spring. Contacting the manufacturer is a great suggestion, these things just seem so easy to lose.
Lee is great. Give them a ring, or on line chat and you’ll have you replacement in days. I’ve used that same method and broke that punch.
Call Lee, then. They're generally happy to sell you any component parts quite cheaply. Go ahead and buy 2-3 of them if losing them is a particular concern.
And the hassle of having to stop reloading for a week while you order and wait on another replacement is worse than the shipping cost. When you buy spares of small, cheap parts, always buy about as many as you think you might ever need.
You have a ram prim tool. Lee supplies one with their hand press. Not a part of you dies, but a separate tool. The large aluminum piece screws into the die position and the "stem" is pushed into the ram, just like a shell holder. (BTW I could never get comfortable using a hand primer, they [tried 3] just didn't fit my hands and discovered ram priming. I used them nearly exclusively for 20+ years)...
I had a couple of small lee reloading things I needed and contacted lee via e mail. And wasn't satisfied with their slow BS service so I got rid of most of the Lee stuff I had and switched over to RCBS and Hornady which both have excellent customer service. Several of the gun shops in this area quit stocking Lee products as well because of Lee's business practices. Good luck with your priming piece.
My suggestion would be to buy a second Ram Prime unit. Leave the one set up for large primers and set the new one for small primers. Save the extra stuff and stote all of it and both the stems in a quart ZipLoc baggie. Bet you never loose any parts of it again. I have two set up this way and find it works great. Then call Lee for the missing pin and cup to keep for spares. You do know as soon as the new stuff arrives you will find the old ones on your loading table dont you.
I’m kinda surprised nobody has offered one up yet. I gave mine to my dad to serve as backups because that setup always seemed weak. And to the topic of Lee customer service, I got a new old stock classic cast a few years ago, and one of the linkage arms had a casting flaw in it that looked like it might eventually crack. Emailed Lee in the morning, they asked for a photo that afternoon, I provided them the photo that evening, next morning I had tracking info on a new part being sent to replace the other.
It's been a while since I needed customer service from Lee but I always found the to be very good about it.
