Lyman Auto-Primer Problems!

[rmurfster]

Has anyone ever used the Lyman Auto-Primer? I got a Lyman T-MAG II Turret Press for Christmas and the Lyman Automatic Primer Feed is a piece of junk!

For every primer that goes into the primer arm, another 1 or 2 fall out of the Primer Tube!

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

 

[agd1953]

I just got the same kit but I usse the manual primer arm at this point, If I set up the auto primer I let you know how it works.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I had a Lyman T mag once. I have also had some dealings with Lyman's customer service. I sold the press to someone that likes it..

I now have a Lee Classic Cast Turret press doing the work I planned to do on the Lyman T mag. The Lee makes more accurate ammo, makes it faster and for less money than the Lyman and the priming system works great.

Best of luck on that Lyman. I wish I could offer you some help. My apologies.

Dave

 

[st_albert]

Way too many years ago, I started reloading on a Lyman Spar-T press. It worked fine for me. So, when I got back into reloading a couple of years ago, I naturally bought a T-Mag. I was surprised to see that over the years, the primer feed system had been moved from the frame to the turret itself. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be ... um, fired. Whereas the old Spar-T primer feed system worked well (as I recall) the new design proved unusable. I was spending more time chasing spilled primers than reloading. I quickly gave up and went back to manually placing primers in the cup.

Ultimately, though, I switched to an RCBS hand priming system which gives me a much better control over primer seating depth and so on. It is almost foolproof, and very fast to do a batch of cases.

I still use the turret press to do case-mouth flaring, charging, bullet seating, and crimping in one go.

And if I read JUST ONE MORE THREAD about how great the Lee Classic Turret Press is, I'm going to lose all self control and rush out and buy one!

Albert

 

[nitesite]

I use a Lyman T-Mag II press. I think it makes very accurate ammunition, and I do it at a very leisurely pace which I prefer.

BUT... the very first tweak I made to the original setup was to lose the primer tube system. As you found out, it is a piece of crap. It is impossible to keep it in adjustment, and going from small-to-large primers is a huge PITA. I constantly dropped new primers into the used primer bin while stubbornly trying to make it work.

It didn't take long for the tube system to just disappear.

I kept the priming ram arm on the press and just use clean hands to place each primer into the ram cup.

Dave IFBGA knows a lot about reloading (much more than I do), but I have to ask why he thinks the Lee Classic Turret makes more accurate ammunition. Faster, yes. I have no doubt about that.

 

[agd1953]

Well that settles it for me, The auto fed stays in the package

 

[loadedround]

Once upon a time I bought a Lyman All American turret press with the Auto Primer arm and could never get it to work properly, having the same problems as the above posts. Finally gave up on this poorly designed "gadget", shoved it back in it's box and primed by hand. Many years later I sold the whole set up for over twice what I paid for it and never went back to Lyman.

 

[ilbob]

I have a Lyman O-Mag press. It came with some kind of semi-auto primer feed on it that I never did get to work reliably. I ended up with a Lee hand primer.

 

[wheezengeezer]

i normally use a hand priming setup.it doesnt take any longer because i use loading blocks and run all cases thru each operation.used the priming setup off my t-mag on the spartan and thought it needed some re-engineering.the plunger that holds the primer in the arm is a bit too low.some brands of primers work better than others

 

[Winger Ed.]

It seems that those things work perfectly, or not at all.

My single stage press was also one of those 'not at all' types.

I ended up getting one of those Lee tools with the shell holder & disc of primers on top, and the hand squeeze lever underneath. It did great until the lever broke.
But, by wearing a welders glove to cover the sharp edge the break left,
I get by fine with it again.

 

[rmurfster]

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. It's pretty sad that Lyman would put out something with so low quality that isn't cheap$$$.

One other gripe I have have about the unit is that the dies are too close to the center post. When I use the wrench tool, it hits the other dies and the center post!

Makes good ammo though.

 

[nitesite]

One other gripe I have have about the unit is that the dies are too close to the center post. When I use the wrench tool, it hits the other dies and the center post!

Well, for getting six die stations on one disc I think they did well.

If they used a larger diameter disc to space them further out it would create issues of flexing and losing rigidity.