autoprime woes

A

aletheuo

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Cranbrook, BC
Couple of things - My autoprime lever broke the other day (cast crap!) and Lee is sending me a replacement. I emailed my request and they were very easy to deal with.

On a second note, I have begun reloading 303 british. The recommended shellholder is #5 but am not very impressed with the positiveness of it's fit so I emailed Lee again and the response was: the #5 shellholder is what's recommended. That's it.

I've tried a few different brands of brass but they all seem to pop out of the holder right at the end of the push (presumably after the primer is fully seated). Since the #5 holder is also for magnum cases I guess it's just the way it is then, right? Has anyone found another shellholder that works or can be modified to work properly with the 303 case?
 
I broke my Autoprime lever a few weeks back as well. Oh well after a lot of primers have gone through it, not a big deal. I ordered 2 direct from Lee and they arrived last week. 10 or 12 bucks, shipping included for 2. At $2.50 for the part, it was cheap enough to get a spare. The new parts look like steel and not cast aluminum.
Gord
 
I have a #5 shell holder for my autoprime and it holds 303's well, maybe yours is a little out of spec. I bet lee will give you a new one if you call and explain what's happening.
 
On to my fifth lever now. I suspect there a a few Sellior & Bellot cases that I missed uniforming there primer pockets but lee have been great at replacing them
 
pageophile said:
I found mine was an absolute PIA without the lube. Completely different story once it's lubed up :D
Click to expand...

My new lever came in the mail today! Lubed it up with some lithium grease and it's like using a different tool for sure. There was quite a bit of wear on the bearing surface and it had maybe done 1000 rounds.

The new lever appears to be made of the same cast crap but I think the lube will definitely extend it's life.
 
The instructions packed with the Autoprime stress the importance of a dab of grease on the round bearing surface of the priming arm. makes a big difference.

I load 303 with mine and have no problem. It sounds to me that the shell holder you have is the wrong one and has been miss-stamped a #5. call Mr. Lee and I bet he will replace it.
 
I picked one up last week, after 'forgetting' to prime a shell on my Hornady LnL, and having powder everywhere afterwards... :redface:

My initial thought was: what a POS, it'll surely break in no time! The thought of lubing it never came to mind...

I decap & clean my brass first, is it OK to prime BEFORE resizing?
 
When you prime is not any issue, but I don't like to tumble unprimed brass becasue the media gets stuck in the flash hole.

I prefer to size and decap after cleaning, so that the brass sizes easier and there is more opportunity to get the last of the media out of the cases.
 
Ganderite said:
When you prime is not any issue, but I don't like to tumble unprimed brass becasue the media gets stuck in the flash hole.

I prefer to size and decap after cleaning, so that the brass sizes easier and there is more opportunity to get the last of the media out of the cases.
Click to expand...

Same here. I don't like the idea of sand or grit touching my dies.
 
zuke said:
Same here. I don't like the idea of sand or grit touching my dies.
Click to expand...
I tumble with SS media, it is a wet process. No sand, grit, or other sh*t - my brass is spotless. :dancingbanana:

Just lubed my Lee autoprime, then tried to put a universal shell holder in - it does not fit, WTF??? :confused: Without the holder, the pushrod - or whatever that cam-looking thingy is - still catches on something about 50% of the time. I'm not putting any primers near it until I figure these out...
 
When I first got into reloading I bought BOTH of Lee's set's of shellholder's.
It was the smartest thing I ever did.
Some I've never used but have loaned out to newbies just starting out.
 
Auto prime use a different shell holder than the press. Lee sells a small pastic case that has a dozen or more shellholders in it., very handy. red one for Utoprime and green one for the press. Best things i ever bought.
 
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