Why Not the Lee Primer System?

[LBussy]

I am sincerely trying not to ignite a jihad here. The problem is there may not be a good answer which will ultimately result in either no answers or bad ones so ... apologies if that's how it goes.

Since starting here many moons ago I purchased the Lee Turret Press and it's been fine for me. Nothing spectacular but I've had fun at the range. I have been considering a progressive to ramp things up a bit and there's a lot of good comparison articles out there between the Dillon, Lee and Hornady. One of my favorites so far is "Dillon vs Lee vs Hornady" by Aaron Burns.

As I look at these comparisons the relative superiority of various subsystems is often a matter of preference or small degrees. There are two areas however where both Dillon and Hornady seem to fall behind and one is primer handling. I can reload my primer system in a few seconds with a new tray, where the Dillon and Hornady both seem to use some torture device that forces one to stack them in tubes.

Why?

I think it's okay to say that there's a large difference when viewing the Lee vs the Dillon/Hornady progressives. I'll just say that large difference may be all in my head but at this point based on a few days or Internet research that seems to be the case. If that's the case then why do the other two have such slow primer handling methods? One could spend >$300 on some other gizmo to load the primer tubes but that seems even more silly when you compare the brilliant simplicity of the Lee primer handling systems.

Why are Dillon and Hornady so far behind here (possibly only in my head/opinion) especially given their premium price point?

[F. Guffey]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am sincerely trying not to ignite a jihad here. The problem is there may not be a good answer which will ultimately result in either no answers or bad ones so ... apologies if that's how it goes.

I have 4 complete Lee auto primer systems with extra parts, I also have three of R. Lee's favorite single primer installers. I have two RCBS auto primers with the round tray and I have the bench type RCBS primer installer. And then there is the one Herter sold and it looks identical to the one I have that looks like a Lochmiller. etc.

When priming cases I do not have a preference, the Lee gets a lot of use, if not for Federal primers I would (almost) be out of primers, I never got into that thing about using Federal primers in a Lee auto prime system. It was too late for me, by the time the Internet came around I had already loaded 100s of primers many times before I was told "If I do that I will blow the lid off".

The only problem I had with the Lee primer system was the double clutching; double clutching will seat a primer and allow another primer to slice in beneath it. When that happens the reloader does not have enough leverage to seat the primer etc. etc.

F. Guffey

[F. Guffey]

The primer tube is one thing, the primer tube without a shield is another.

F. Guffey

[kmw1954]

People tell me I'm ignorant or an idiot because I have been loading primers on my Lee Pro 1000 for over a year with out what seems to be all the trouble most complain about. So I guess I'm the anomaly, doing something wrong or just plain lucky.

[LBussy]

I should mention that my post presupposed the priming system on the progressive press itself. I am considering a dedicated primer press as a solution to the issue, but I'm just confused that there's not a better primer system on the Dillon or Hornady.

Originally Posted by F. Guffey

The primer tube is one thing, the primer tube without a shield is another.

Do the Dillon/Hornady setups not have a shield?

[Old 454]

Its not the loading of primer trays with lee.. its all the flipped or crushed primers. I had a load master and the priming system was a pain in the butt.

I now have a dillon 650.. yea you have to load up the priming tubes but that doesnt take that long... and i just fill 5 tubes at a time to put in the primer magazine when needed. And i dont have near the problems with priming as i did on the load master.

Even the lee dealer near me calls it the load disaster and they refuse to sell the load master.
Does the dillon have primmer issues.. on occasion it does due to the primer arm will bend on occasion ... once in awhile a crushed primer.... but nothing like lee's load master.

But i will say this ... if not for Lee alot of people would not be able to afford getting into bullet making

[kmw1954]

Its not the loading of primer trays with lee.. its all the flipped or crushed primers.

I read these statements and I just get encouraged when using my Lee Pro 1000.. From the replies and statements I read on every forum it has to be the most hated press in the world. Mostly because of sentiments like this.
After using this press for over a year I don't understand why but I do not experience this flipped or crushed primers that everyone curses about. I have kept track since last December and I've had exactly 5 crushed or flipped primers and each one can be accounted for as something I did to cause it. With all but one of those occurred while I was working up loads and taking cases out of the press at every position and then getting out of sync. Yes I prime everything on my presses, I don't own anything to do it otherwise.

[F. Guffey]

Do the Dillon/Hornady setups not have a shield?

I have 4 primer systems that use tubes with no shields.

F. Guffey

[LBussy]

Originally Posted by Old 454

Its not the loading of primer trays with lee.. its all the flipped or crushed primers. I had a load master and the priming system was a pain in the butt.

So inserting the primers is not optimal, but preparation surely is better than the tubes the others use. The direction I'm headed here is why do the others not do something like Lee does for the primer loading and use whatever "improved" method they have for primer insertion?

I realize I'm likely asking a rhetorical question. It just seems like for the money however that they would have engineered it a little better. I suppose if I had a good idea someone would have already figured a way to use the Lee trays to supply the Dillon or Hornady primer systems.

[Old 454]

As far as I know the problems are on the Lee Load Master not the classic turret. I have not heard much bad at all about the classic turret press.

The Load Master i had was a damn nightmare with primer issues.
Some of the primer issues can be chalked up to how stable your press is.
Mine is now secured to the floor with cement anchors and to the bench legs with carrage bolts... press is mounted on the dillon strong mount.
I still do get a crushed or fliped primer once inawhile though

[F. Guffey]

I still do get a crushed or flipped primer once in awhile though

A smooth running press is not likely to flip a primer, a crushed primer is a primer that was caught in the process of being flipped. I have a Rock Chucker that will flip and crush primers if it does not like the shell holder.

F. Guffey

[F. Guffey]

I called RCBS to discuss their shell holders, they made me a deal, they said they would exchange my shell holders for new ones on a one for one basis. I explained to them they had no ideal what they were getting into, I explained to them I could modify all of the shell holders to fit a new application but after modifying the old shell holder would not work (ever time) on the old application. And then there were those little half moon dents on the primers.

F. Guffey