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Old April 21, 2005, 11:15 AM   #1
tjhands
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Lee Autoprimer question....

Hi all.

When I'm priming .357 cases, the primers go in soooo easily - just the slightest squeeze plants 'em in there snugly, but when I do .45ACP, it is a LOT tougher to seat the primers. Why?

Also. Do you guys use a little tool to ream the flash hole inside the brass every time you reload it? My kit came with one, so I use it every time.....just didn't know if that was an absolute MUST every time. Thanks.
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Old April 21, 2005, 11:38 AM   #2
willsjeep
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tjhands,
I use the Lee Prime-all for the same calibers, so far I have not noticed a problem with mine. The 357/38 do tend to be a little easier to seat than the 45 but not enough to cause worry.
Hope you can figure it out
Oops I misread.You said Auto Prime
Does it use seperate feeders for small/large primers?

Last edited by willsjeep; April 21, 2005 at 11:40 AM. Reason: Misread
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Old April 21, 2005, 11:54 AM   #3
Russ5924
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Mine does the same I always put it down to the large and small primers. I think the manufacture of the case has a lot to do with it also.Do I ever clean the primer pockets NO I have loaded 10.000 of thousands have never cleaned out a primer pocket yet, I'll check them but clean nope.I always clean my cases with the primers in and knock them out put them away untill I prime them again.I have a Dillon and a Lee and to me they are a pain to use with the primers.have removed all the primer junk and do them by hand with the Lee handprimer
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Last edited by Russ5924; April 21, 2005 at 07:09 PM.
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Old April 21, 2005, 12:22 PM   #4
tjhands
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Thanks, guys.

I mean I'm sure there's no problem at all (it's not THAT hard to seat the .45s), but I was just wondering why it was.

What about the reaming tool? Use it?
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Old April 21, 2005, 01:07 PM   #5
novus collectus
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Before I got my Lee anniversary kit I was using the Leeloader. I didn't have the primer pocket cleaning tool and was using 0 steel wool. When my carpal tunnel started to bother me I took a little piece of steel wool and a a 3/64" drill bit and pushed the bit through the piece of S. wool. I then put it into the drill with the chuck closing down on part of the S.wool that was around the bit. The drill bit acts as a guide and the excess wool spinning around does a much quicker and better job cleaning the pocket than the tool does (IMO). There is an added bonus, if you don't have a tumbler to clean your brass, then the S.wool spinning around usually gets the base nice and shiny too.
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Old April 21, 2005, 01:16 PM   #6
Sturm
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TJ, it could be the primers you are using in .357. I use CCI500 and WSP almost interchangeably so I would go with one that fits snugger when you seat and that may depend also on what brand of brass you are using. Winchester case, Winchester primer etc.
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Old April 21, 2005, 01:26 PM   #7
donkee
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I run into the same problem on some 9mm cases. The ones I have the problem with are military cases. The primers are crimped in place. You will need to remove the crimp with a chamfer tool if your .45 cases are military. If they aren't, then it has to be in the manufacturing. Don't forget to grease the auto-prime every now and then. If I let it go too long, then it gets harder to prime cases and it wears out the auto-prime faster........
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Old April 21, 2005, 08:34 PM   #8
drinks
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Autoprimer

I have been using my autoprimer about 25 years, I lube with lithium grease and neverseize about 2 times a year, more or less, I only load 2 or 3000 a year, so am not really into high numbers yet. the plating is starting to get thin, may get a new one in a few years, if I live long enough, I am 64 now.
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Old April 21, 2005, 09:37 PM   #9
Trapp
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I have the RCBS hand primer.........I only have trouble with brass that has a headstamp of "W C C 9 9" (maybe 66)........(.45acp)
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Old April 21, 2005, 10:20 PM   #10
rwilson452
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wcc66

WCC 66 is military brass you need to remove the crimp. either swag or ream it away. then they will prime just fine.
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Old April 23, 2005, 05:00 PM   #11
Unclenick
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Sturm's comment about primer brands is correct. I currently use Federal 150's in the .45. In the past I found the CCI primers took real effort to push in and the Autoprime indented them noticeably on the bottom. That put me off CCI primers, so the ones I still have are 20 years old. They may have fixed the problem in the interim. I don't notice any difference in insertion pressure between the Federal the Winchester large pistol primers.

You don't need to clean primer pockets for a pistol cartridge. The progressive loaders, like Dillon's, all knock out the primer at the sizing station and move the case directly to the priming station. No cleaning stop. Dillon claims to have done extensive testing and sees no performance difference.

I have found that deburring flashholes can improve accuracy substantially when using ball powder (AA2520 in .308, specifically) in rifles, but can't detect any difference with stick powder. Ball powder is harder to ignite, which may account for the observation. For this reason I will de-cap rifle cases as a separate operation before cleaning them, figuring it might make a difference to have that primer pocket clean if I decide to load a ball powder next time around. I haven't tested this theory—it just makes me feel better to do it this way.

For pistols you can get Dillon's primer pocket swaging tool to clean up military primer pockets. Because it swages, the case head brass flows and forms a slight crater rim around the primer pocket. This gets flattened against the breech face during firing, pushing some of the brass back where it was, so you may have to do this two or three times before things settle down. It's fast and easy, though.

For rifle, where case head squareness matters more to accuracy and where the bolt face pressures get higher, I recommend you go to Sinclair and get a Wilson case trimming tool with Wilson's primer pocket uniforming accessory. This is basically a profile cutter that cleans out either military or commercial primer pockets to maximum dimension and gives them a radiused shoulder for very easy primer insertion. Too much work for pistol, though.

Lubing the Autoprime matters. I have read at least one lengthy thread complaining about wear. I use a boron nitride grease packaged by Tamiya for model cars as Ceramic Grease. However, I think any good gun grease would probably do just fine. I’ve avoided using moly grease just to help keep my hands clean.

For rifle, I've had good luck with the K&M priming tool. It aligns the primer squarely with the base of the case before inserting it. The compound arm loses leverage as it approaches the final seat position, so you can feel the primer bottom out in the pocket before you indent it. It is a one-at-a-time device, so, again, not my first choice for pistol where that priming precision isn't needed. This is a slow-fire rifle ammunition gadget.

Nick
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Old April 25, 2005, 12:00 PM   #12
Leftoverdj
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I'll throw in a pitch for the Lee AutoPrime II, the press mounted deal. It's all steel and uses standard shell holders. I find it a bit faster on long runs because my thumb does not get tired.

I just primed 2000 range run .38 Special, and I can say with confidence that there is considerable variance in primer pocket size. As has been mentioned, there is also variance in primers. The newer Win plain brass are the smallest I have ever run into.
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