Lee auto Bench Primer

[marine one]

Has anybody used or have a lee bench primer?
I'm think about getting one. I'd like some feedback weather you like it or had problems with it.
Thank you in advance

[grayfox2013]

I've never used that one before. Looks like it would be good if you were going to just prime a bunch at one time. I've been using the Lee Safety Prime like the one below with my turret press. Cheap & works well too.

Lee Safety Prime : Cabela's

[COSteve]

While I've not used Lee's auto bench primer, I have tried a few Lee handloading tools over the years but I've been disappointed in their overall quality and durability. On the other hand, Lee's Deluxe Carbide 4 die pistol die sets and Pacesetter rifle die sets have proven to be terrific.

[B/J/M]

mine mostly just sux. It resides in my junk box

[flashhole]

Can you please be more specific on "sux"?

My experience with Lee tools has been good but I am very selective as to what I buy. If it looks like a quality tool with a well thought out design I will give it a go. So far I have not been disappointed in any Lee products. At their price point I think they are the best value on the market by a wide margin.

No experience with the Lee Bench Mount Priming Tool. I use the old style RCBS Bench Mount Priming Tool where you load one primer at a time. I have one each set up for small and large primers.

[BWM]

All of my dies is Lee and they are very good I have the Lee pot for led it has been good for 30+ years I would hate to guess haw many pounds of led that I have ran throw it in 30+ fears

[flashhole]

I use the Lee Pro 4-20 lead pot and Lee molds for 40 S&W and 45-70. All are excellent products.

[Paladin_one]

I just purchased one of these before Christmas. Have primed about 500 rounds so far, about 200 large, and 300 small. As long as you are sure to raise the handle to the stop after priming each time, it works great.

YMMV
Paladin_One

[BWM]

I like the hand primers. I can set in the house and prime my brass or I can do in in the gun room I have 6 of them small large and mag in each size and the other 2 is for different brand primers for different guns. only had one to brake and LEE replaced it. Good luck on what you do

[Legion489]

Lee has some of the best and WORST product on the market. Lee dies are great and I own nearly every brand of dies so I can compare them. Dillon/Redding is best, RCBS/Hornady, and Lee are very good. Lyman can be spotty, they are either excellent or OK.

Lee presses (and I have owned or used all of them) and the Perfect Powder measures (ditto) are usually trash. Every so often a good one will slip though, but not often. I fully expect the bench primer to be the same.

[gwpercle]

Originally Posted by marine one Has anybody used or have a lee bench primer? I'm think about getting one. I'd like some feedback weather you like it or had problems with it. Thank you in advance

Doesn't look as if anyone is going to give you any meaningful feedback on the Bench Primer. Check some of the customer reviews from Amazon , Midway etc. sometimes those are helpful.
I don't have one or I would give a report. I did purchased a new hand held tool , with the square tray , but haven't tried it out yet. My old round tray tool is still hanging in there .
Gary

[Ireload2]

Check the comments at castboolits. There is a mix of pro and con.

[kwg020]

Originally Posted by BWM I like the hand primers. I can set in the house and prime my brass or I can do in in the gun room I have 6 of them small large and mag in each size and the other 2 is for different brand primers for different guns. only had one to brake and LEE replaced it. Good luck on what you do

This. I have 2 of the old style (round tray) Lee hand primers. Both work great.
kwg

[smbob]

I have the old style Lee Auto Prime as well.
I have been using it for 30 years and reloaded thousands and thousands of rounds with it with no problems what so ever.
A couple of weeks back I primed 500 .223 cases in an evening while I was watching TV.
It's funny. You ask some people, "Why the don't reload?"
They tell you, "I don't have the time."
Really? You have time to sit there and Vege out in front of the TV doing absolutely nothing. Make yourself useful.

[Legion489]

The old round primer tools were great. Have not used the new square one, so can't comment.

If you are interested in getting the real scoop on Lee tools, there are a lot of Lee fan sites, and they are merciless in their reviews, and these are people who LIKE Lee junk!

My view is a product straight from the factory should work. If it doesn't, the factory should fix it. Lee presses and a number of other Lee tools don't, and Lee won't. On the Lee fan sites they talk endlessly about tinkering with some worthless piece of Lee junk until it finally gives in and sorta-kinda works, and then spend more hours until it generally/usually works. They seem to actually enjoy that! I don't, I want it to work, or the factory to fix it, not spend hours at a time screwing with it and maybe it works.

[r80rt]

I have two of the old Lee round tray primer tools, I've loaded a box car load of ammo with them. I've never even looked at any other priming tool.

[kwg020]

I just bought one. I have not set it up yet. When I do I will critique it.

kwg

[Beck]

Originally Posted by Legion489 The old round primer tools were great. Have not used the new square one, so can't comment. If you are interested in getting the real scoop on Lee tools, there are a lot of Lee fan sites, and they are merciless in their reviews, and these are people who LIKE Lee junk! My view is a product straight from the factory should work. If it doesn't, the factory should fix it. Lee presses and a number of other Lee tools don't, and Lee won't. On the Lee fan sites they talk endlessly about tinkering with some worthless piece of Lee junk until it finally gives in and sorta-kinda works, and then spend more hours until it generally/usually works. They seem to actually enjoy that! I don't, I want it to work, or the factory to fix it, not spend hours at a time screwing with it and maybe it works.

I've been lucky with LEE products for the most part. I only load for 7.62x39, so my experience is limited. Except for an RCBS bullet puller and a Hornady powder tirckler, everything I have is LEE.

I had an issue with the Lee neck sizing collet die for 7.62x39. It comes with a .306 mandrel, which is great for my .308 bullets. I called LEE Precision and they transferred my call to John Lee. I asked about getting a mandrel for resizing necks to load .310/.311 bullets. He said they don't have one, and wondered why I would want one. I said, "well you're selling a product for 7.62x39, but I can't load standard diameter bullets for that caliber."

He got defensive and said I was mistaken about x39 bullet size. I had the latest SAMMI doc open on my computer, which states x39 bullets are .309-to-.311 by SAMMI standards. Long story short, that guy believes with all his heart that US ammo makers load factory x39 with .308 bullets.

He said he could send me a mandrel for 303 British and an extra collar that I'd have to drill out to size. I also had to cut the mandrel down to the proper length and use a grinder to create a head on the top of it. If I didn't have the tools and some basic machining skills I wouldn't have been able to do it. He sent the parts for "Free" but charged a rather high shipping cost, so they weren't free.

There seems to be a DIY mentality among LEE folks. We're supposed to have fun making the products work... I guess.

Other than that everything has worked well. So I'm both happy with LEE products and somewhat puzzled.

[r80rt]

My Lee 7.62x39 dies came with two mandrels. One for .308 bullets and one for .311. I've used Lee equipment for 40 years, never had a problem with any of it. I do use a Lyman single stage press now, but it was a gift. The lee press worked just fine and my son is still using it.

[Beck]

Originally Posted by r80rt My Lee 7.62x39 dies came with two mandrels. One for .308 bullets and one for .311. I've used Lee equipment for 40 years, never had a problem with any of it. I do use a Lyman single stage press now, but it was a gift. The lee press worked just fine and my son is still using it.

Yeah, all the full length x39 die sets from the major reloading companies, including LEE, came with two expanders from the beginning. My LEE full-length die for x39 came with two different sizes. I asked him about that and why the neck only resizer doesn't. He basically ignored that question.

He was either having a bad day or doesn't understand 7.62x39. Not many people do. John is the son of the founder... but maybe not the resident expert in this case.

After that phone conversation I went back and looked at reviews for the product on the Midway site, where I bought it. Other reviewers had the same complaints about the neck only sizing collet die.

Now the LEE site says the collet die for 7.62x39 is made for .308 bullets and you have to Champher the neck for larger diameter bullets. For one thing that does not work. .306 to .311 is a big stretch. But the main thing is the description on the LEE site and Midway USA site didn't say anything about it being for .308 bullets only when I bought it.

All my other LEE products work well.

[grayfox2013]

I have 2 Lee presses at this time, the Lee Classic Cast single stage & the turret press. All my dies are Lee. Lee makes some good stuff at affordable prices but they also make some cheap stuff. I've had some problems with my hand primer but I mostly use the one on the press when reloading. I also had problems with too little neck tension when loading .380 bullets. Found out on the internet that I wasn't the only one & that you could get another sizing die that was slightly undersized. So I bought one & the problem was solved. In my opinion Lee should have recalled the original ones rather than customers having to buy a second one to correct a problem that was Lee's fault unless it was just the kind of bullets I was using. I also have a $200 Redding Powder thrower that doesn't do well on powders like IMR 4350. Funny but my cheap Lee powder thrower does great on it so go figure. Overall I'm very pleased with Lee products.