Primers clogging up my Lee Classic Cast press

[97th Signalman]

I have a Lee Classic Cast press that I have been using for years with no issues at all. I often use my Lee cast turret press to reload my pistol ammo but I usually use my single stage Lee Classic press to remove primers prior to cleaning the fired brass.

This Lee Classic single stage is one of those that discharges the primere down through the large hollow ram into a plastic tube at the bottom of the ram. Last night, when I removed the tube to empty it, I noticed that there didn't seem to be many primers in the transparent plastic tube after depriming 250 pieces of 9mm brass. I pulled off the tube and emptied it and tried to shine a light up through the ram to see if it was clear.

Bad news; it was totally clogged with primers. It took lots of ramming and poking with a cleaning rod from above and below to clear out the several hundred primers that were clogging up the ram. They had apparently bridged over the hole at the bottom of the ram (The interior of the ram is drilled in several steps varying in diameters ; large to small from top to bottom). I am guessing that the primers bridged at the last and smallest step where the exit hole is near the bottom of the ram.

Some the first to come out the bottom were large pistol primers left over from previouisly depriming a batch of .45 ACP brass. I suspect that the problem started with those large primers and I just didn't notice at the time.

I do keep the primer arm in while depriming because if you don't, the primers will bounce off the cross pin inside the ram and pop out the side of the ram and can be a real PITA. However, that primer arm does inhibit what would otherwise be a straight drop to hole at the bottom of the ram. Therefore, they probably bounce around the ram interior during their fall to exit hole.

Has this ever happened to anyone else using the Lee Classic cast press? Is there anyting that I can to do to avoid this seemingly rare occurance? Although it has only happend to me on this one occasion, it took a while to clear the log jamb and the process scattered dead primers all over the floor. I imagine that I will be finding them for weeks.

I plan to call Lee Presicion to discuss this but I thought that I would also seek help from the experts here. I can suggest two mods that Lee could make, assuming that they would care to do so. They could use a tapered countersink to alleviate that lowest sharp stepped edge where the primers seemed to get hung up. They could also make some sort of piece to fill the primer arm slot in the ram so that you could deprime without having the primer arm in place to prevent primer escape. That would make for a straighter drop of the primers with less likelyhood that they would get hung up at the last step.

Anyway, can any of you guys suggest how to avoid this troublesome issue. Please don't suggest the I buy a different press because I really like this one. It is generally reserved only for loading my larger caliber rifle ammo but I do use it for all my depriming.

 

[Scimmia]

With primers going down the tube one at a time, I don't see any possible way for them to get caught on the stepped edge you mention. Multiple primers at once could bridge, but not a single primer.

I don't see why, but is there any chance at all you dropped a couple of primers down the tube?

 

[kingmt]

My turn to guess. If you had a build up of carbon build up to cause the bridge, once one primer got stuck it could build up fast.

 

[JohnM]

Never seen that, but since I prime off the press with my Lee Classic Cast SS, I knocked out the roll pin that catches the primer arm because it would still bounce a lot of primers out the side and to the floor or where ever.

 

[243winxb]

Lee FAQ, help for Lee owners. http://leeprecision.net/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/List/Index/13/product-support Things need cleaning now and then.

 

[97th Signalman]

Mystery solved ... My error... as usual

Some of your responses triggered me to do some thinking and remembering. Just before depriming 250 ea 9mm cases, I deprimed a batch of 500 .45ACP cases. While doing that batch of .45 ACP cases I wasn't paying attention to the flexible plastic primer tube and I allowed it to over fill before emptying it. That probably backed up a mess of those large pistol primers into the ram where, in all likelyhood, it caused the jamb up that remained behind even after I emptied the overfilled discharge tube. The resulting clogging from this earilier error on my part didn't show up until I deprimed the subsequent batch of 9mm cases.

LESSON LEARNED: Empty your primer discharge tube before it is full to the top. Or, alternately, when depriming large batches, remove the cap from the end of the tube and let the primers fall directly into a bucket during the depriming process.

My apologies for taking up your time. Maybe others can learn from my mistake.

 

[RandyP]

Thanks for posting and fessing up to your procedural glitch - lol -

It is a good lesson for us all. The same great collection tube system is on my Cassic Turret and I am sometimes surprised by just how quickly that thing can start to fill up.

 

[Certaindeaf]

You can have the hose stuck into something like an emply bleach jug so that it slides up and down but still stays in the hole.

 

[kingmt]

I have seen where others have put a pop bottle on the end of the tube. Seems like a good idea if you don't want to plug up the tube or kick the bucket.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Early warning

If you watch the (good thing the tube is transparent) tube every once in a while, you can see each primer fall (and hear them, too if the room is quiet).

So, if you check the primer drop every once in a while and don't ignore the lack of a primer when there should be one, you will be alerted earlier.

I wonder how many people (especially those who don't have a dedicated loading room) use a drop cloth so spilled powder and dropped primers are easily contained?

Thanks for sharing your experience. I don't think of your post as a confession. More of a cautionary tale. There are so many things to watch when loading. It could happen to anyone. If the first person it happens to shares the knowledge gained we are all better off.

Lost Sheep

 

[97th Signalman]

There probably was a time, long, long ago, when I could hear pirmers fall but since I turned 70 that time is long past. However, I can see them and I should have been watching. I tend to approach cleaning and de-priming as mindless tasks and don't pay as much attention as I should. Even at my advanced age and wisdom I still encounter exciting opportunites for improvement and I plan to exploit this one.

I am sure to remember this experience for a while since those scattered primers should keep popping up for weeks to come... little reminders of the folly of inattention to a critical task.

 

[Notoast]

I bought a length of 5/8" OD x 1/2" ID vinyl tubing at my hardware store and ran it into an old milk jug. Measure the length of the tubing with the ram at the top of the stroke before you cut it so you don't cut it too short. Before you replace the tubing, perhaps shoot some die cleaner down the ram to blow out any carbon/crud buildup.

 

[armarsh]

...I do keep the primer arm in while depriming because if you don't, the primers will bounce off the cross pin inside the ram and pop out the side of the ram and can be a real PITA. ...

I removed the arm and cut a little rectangle of pink syrofoam to fill the gap. Zero leaks. I see it is not quite so pink and clean anymore.

 

[TheCracker]

I was going to guess that u had let the tube get too full then I saw where you figured it out.

Ive done that myself!