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Lee Auto Prime


Bridog

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Hello All,

 

I thought I'd give a review of the new Lee AUto Prime XP and give my experience.

 

I have a 30-40 year old Lee auto-prime that was my father in-laws that literally primed 10's of thousands of rounds when he was loading for his police dept back in the 80's. I have primed several thousand rounds on it myself and it ran almost without a hick-up, but recently started having alignment problems from plastic wear (1 in 100). So I thought I'd give the new style a try, as I already had the shell plates and it was only $18.

 

Well I just tried out my new Lee Auto Prime XP. And all I can say is what a piece of crap! In 100 primers I had 1 upside down primer seated, several flip sideways, caught a couple get upside down inside the tray. It's new design and tolerances are terrible. After my first couple problems I really payed attention to how I was doing it and it still would not function reliably. With the old one I could sit in front of the TV and seat primers without hardly paying attention, this new one requires constant attention and then you have to find all the primers that get lost in your lap and on the floor from messing with it so much. It is just a poor design in my opinion. I wish they could have just left well enough alone with a proven design. I went back to the old one and finished my batch of cases and this things going back.

 

Not sure if others have had the same issues as I had or if I just got a lemon...

 

Bridog (now Fire n Lead)

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+1

 

The new ones are a pain. Especially the new special channel so that only one primer feeds at a time.

It is a perfect case of safety design ruining practicality.

 

The new Hornady priming tool is much better but still has terrible tolerances. Primers flip over AFTER you put the cover on. But the handle works much easier than any of the others.

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Lee still has parts for the old ones ,,,,, As of last Nov. ....

 

Thanks for the report ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Was thinking of getting a NEW one to join the 3 old ones...

 

 

 

Jabez Cowboy

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Interesting. I was having problems with the priming feed on my Square Deal (works with federal primers, but not with Winchester), so I bought a new Lee Auto-Prime -- and I found it worked better than the old one I used to have. I particularly like the "cut-off" that ensures one primer at a time feeds.

 

Sorry your mileage has varied so badly. My all time favorite hand primer is an old RCBS "one primer at a time" hand primer. It was slow but had great feel -- you really knew the primer was at a just-right depth. Unfortunately, I lost it during a move, and RCBS no longer offers it.

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Good to know...I was about to get a "New" one. Hope they still have parts for the old style!

Yep, they still make parts. The pot metal handle finally snapped on my Lee autoprime after 10 years of use and I ordered a new handle from Midway.

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Hello everyone,

 

I just got an email back from Lee. It sounds like most of the parts are out of stock for good from them.

 

Bridog

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Scairt me enough I just ordered one from Gander Mtn.

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I recently purchased one of the new ones to replace my 25 year old model that was taking all of the lever travel to fully seat a primer. I like the new one allright, but not as well as the old model. The new model takes two pulls of the handle to first feed, and then seat the very first primer, and I keep forgetting and pulling the first case away. You do have to keep it tilted to keep the channel filled. The new model does have a nice, tight feel to it though.

Wyatt

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Gee, LEEmenter's! I have and use the L & S for all my BPCR reloads and have zero issues with them except:

* Remington Primers are a tad higher then the other brands

* Broken pot metal handles. So I call and they send me 2 for Free ... one to replace the broken one and the other when that one breaks too! :)

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Well I guess I am the lucky one. I have two new ones of the old style still in the box. Should outlast me if they do as well as the one I have been using for the past 20 years.

 

RBK

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I JUST BOUGHT ONE AND PRIMED 250 WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. works great.Unless the one you got is defective i can't see the problem. A bunch of my friesnds have one and they have not had any problems.

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