Lee 1000 auto prime blew up about an hour ago *PICS*

Quite a few years ago I had 90 or so primers let go in a old CH autochamp that I was reloading with(they were notorious for this).Scared the heck out of me and left a hole in my friends cement roof.It gave me an appreciation as to how powerful primers are.

To this day I try not to get carried away with how many rounds I can crank out in an hour.When seating primers,if theres the slightest resistance,stop and have a look what going on.I also keep the area around the priming punch really clean,If youve loaded a few hundred rounds,you often see a greenish type dust which is priming compound.Its feasible that this stuff could ignite with friction,so i keep this really clean.I also stay clear of cases with crimps or those nontoxic federal cases which have a smaller pimer pocket size,it seems pretty easy to set off primers trying to seat those.As always,wear eye protection

Good to hear that you were not hurt and to share your experience here,good for us to be reminded what can happen
 
sevoman said:
Good to hear that you were not hurt ...
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I am pretty sure the OP was hurt!!!!

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Regards,

Chizzy
 
shooterace said:
Glad to hear that you are ok. I have been reading the post for feedback and am impressed by the attitude of the guys here. We are all human. We make mistakes.

A reply like the one from rookie is a little over the top.

Just my .02

Ace
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The OP is a new poster here. OK, I believe him but the Lee bashing at the end of his story for his own mistake makes me a bit wonder.

He is not really hurt, is he? I have been hurt more each day of my younger life when I was fixing up cars without proper safety measure.
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.
 
Good thread, like the pic's.
Your ok, nothing but a flesh wound.
I bet the old lady was PO'd, must have made a heck of a bang, anyone knock on the door?
Can't blame the equipment when it does what its suposed to, they said don't. You did. It scattered but appears to have self destructed in a specific way, the press and powder measure seem to be in one piece.
I'd like to see a pic or get a part number of one of these blast shields.
I always wear safety glasses (with side shields) when reloading but perhaps a shield is in order.
I've had 3 Pro1000's and all have served me well (they all had teathing problems mind you), knock on wood nothing has blown up. In the begining I reloaded about 5000 rounds with Federals (all I had and I didn't know about the warning-used press) and never had a hiccup. They went in sideways, backwards, squashed flat and darned near cut in half but never detonated (at the time I found it odd they even worked in the gun).
Lucky I guess.
A friend with a 650 touched off a tube full (I think they were Federal's..?...), the blast was directed up and he was ok, the machine required a few new parts. So it can happen with other presses as well.
Glad your eyes are ok.
 
Glad you're OK.
But I'm another one who thinks this can happen with any press, and with any brand of primer.

One of the disadvantages of priming on the press, unfortunately, you don't have the 'feel' that you do with a separate hand primer. I'm not saying it can't happen with these, it can, but you can feel when something is wrong a little better, so it's less likely.

As to the press, if you decide to throw it out, I'll pay shipping, I can always use another perfectly good press.
 
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shooterace said:
Glad to hear that you are ok. I have been reading the post for feedback and am impressed by the attitude of the guys here. We are all human. We make mistakes.

A reply like the one from rookie is a little over the top.

Just my .02

Ace
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Really?? Liberal perhaps? That is the attitude that got us where we are. It must be someone else's fault.
I agree that we all make mistakes. I agree that it is very nice that there was no serious injury to person or property. I do not agree that this is the fault of the BS loose tolerances on the equipment. I do however believe that this is a story that the media would spin the same way.

Lee Precision Presses UNSAFE!!!
Experienced Reloader Nearly LOSES Hand!!
While making his own ammunition, a explosion occurred....nearly losing a hand and severe damage to the room due to shrapnel as the Lee Press disintegrated, becoming a bomb!! .... We can easily agree that such practices are inherently dangerous to users and those around them. Such practices should be banned!!....etc

This what you are looking for?

Yes, I agree it was unfortunate that the incident occurred, I am happy no serious injury occurred, but the OP had GOT to stand up and say..."Man, am I lucky!! I f***ed up and the press design still kept me alive. Major lesson learned."
 
My own preference in primers:
Pistol : CCI

Rifle : CCI/Winchester

Shotgun : Winchester only.

YMMV but I have not had any issues when using these primers in these cartridges/shells.
Dillon 550 for Pistol Rifle
Mec 8567 for shotshell.
 
I had an AutoPrime blow a large pistol primer (Federal). I was nasty. Accordong to Lee such incidents sometimes chain fire the 100 other primers in the tray - more exciting.

Federal are more sensitive. The primer blew when i tried to seat a large primer in a small primer case.

This is not a Lee issue, nor a Federal issue. It is a #### Happens issue.

If you can't wear glasses and take some risk - try bowling or badminton.
 
Dogleg said:
All you have to do is look at the Federal packageing. Nobody else feels the need to have a package 10 times bigger than everyone else. Blow up a warehouse or two, and you start takeing precautions. They never went to the jumbo packageing, increased storeage space, and increased shipping costs for the sake of profits. They had to.
Concluding that because you've never had a problem that no problem exists is like me concludeing that since I've never been shot, that I'm bulletproof.
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Says it all right there! from my limited experience Federal are the only ones that have detonated while conducting priming.
 
jmiddy said:
Says it all right there! from my limited experience Federal are the only ones that have detonated while conducting priming.
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And a very limited experience it appears to be!;) My only primer explosion after about 18yrs was a CCI in a Dillon 550. Not a single one of the 1000's of Federal in the Auto Prime. Weird, huh?

COREY said:
I started using Winchester primers in my Lee when I started using a progressive; I was planning on switching to Federalws when the 200 Winchesters were used up. After the first crunch of a primer and it coming out in pieces, I decided to avoid Federal. I was thinking about it again the other day; I am gald I saw this to remind me to leave the federal primers alone in the 1000.
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Once you reduce a primer to crumbs, all bets are off as to which brand will not explode. Federals cup material may be softer, once you compromise ANY primer cup they all have the potential to pop. Slow down and learn the feel of the priming process. And of course, wear glasses.
 
I could only get small magnum primers for my .40. Never used them before but the Guy at the gun shop said they'd be fine if not better in my lee 1000 due to the thicker case of the primer......Does everyone agree?? I hate using something i'm not used to. Oh and they are CCI's.
 
Wow lucky. Full face shield is what I wear . LNL Hornady. If the primer went the others are blocked by the primer transfer bar. So there is some metal blocking the bottom of the tube. Plus the shield like in Dillon. I'm thinking a movable 3/4 inch plywood baffle above the primer drop tube might stop any spray hitting ceiling lights. I covered the light tubes in that anti shatter plastic sleeve.

Wow.
 
Lucky you weren't injured more seriously, without eye protection you would probably be BLIND!

About a year ago on this forum I warned about the Lee plastic priming mechanism becoming high velocity schrapnel if there was a primer magazine detonation and here is the proof.

In that previous post I related my own experience with a primer magazine detonation with my Dillon 1050 (.45 acp, federal LP primers), the primer shuttle bar jammed, reached around the back to move it with my face very close to the machine when the whole magazine detonated. I was not wearing eye protection and a piece of primer caught the corner of my right eye, the blast put me into shock. Very fortunatley there was no damage to my eyes, my doctor was concerned about the possibility of a detached retina but it was O K. Yes, I learned my lesson that day, the STEEL blast tube on the Dillon saved my sight and directed the force of the full magazine upward doing no harm except to the follower rod. Upon dissassembly of the primer mechanism I found a lot of geen primer compound powder in the shuttle bar track as there had been a few cushed primers the last seveal times I had used the machine, when I moved the primer shuttle it detonated either from friction or more likely static electricity simultaneously setting off the entire magazine. If I had kept it cleaner there wouldn't have been an incident, my fault entirely, kudos to Dillons' design that potected this fool.

In my 52 years of reloading I have tried the odd piece of kit from Lee and found that is was all JUNK! Moulds and dies and other items I have tried have all been JUNK. Not worth the cheap crap it is made of, therefore expensive JUNK. IMHO

I bought a P200 Ponsness Warren pistol loader with the swinging shell holder arm when I began IPSC in 1982 and in my haste set off several single primers with no more than a loud pop and no ill effects, hence my complacency I guess. But it was too slow. The top shooters were using Dillon so within a year I had a Dillon 450, upgraded it to a 500 when that became available, then two 550Bs. A 1050 soon followed when they became available, and then two more. (.45 acp, .38 super and .223)

If your desire is to become the best shooter you can, investigate what equipment works for the top shooters in the sport of your choice. They know what works

You will never regret buying quality. The bitter taste of paying for expensive junk, however, lasts a long time.

Cheers, Bryan
 
Dogleg said:
At least you're not badly hurt, it could have been worse.There's loosely two types of primers, "simple" and "basic". Unless I have it backwards Federals are of the "basic" type, but which ever way Federals are of the more sensitive type. Lee has been claiming for years that basic primers aren't safe in any auto primer feed while many people just said he was full of crap. Now that the full of crap guy has been vindicated, do we believe him that it applies to all brands of primer feed mechanisms or do we believe those that denied that the potential exists?
For what's its worth, I'm a big fan of Federal Primers. I just don't run them through auto feed mechanisms.
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Not saying you're right or wrong, but I have run literally tens of thousands of Fed primers through three auto primes (eventually you wear them out), never had a problem. FWIW - dan
 
The instruction's say VERY clearly NOT to use Federal primer's.
Do you shoot 3 inch mag's out of a shotgun with damascus barrel's or with 2 1/2 chamber's?
:jerkit:


Opcx6 said:
Lucky you weren't injured more seriously, without eye protection you would probably be BLIND!

About a year ago on this forum I warned about the Lee plastic priming mechanism becoming high velocity schrapnel if there was a primer magazine detonation and here is the proof.

In that previous post I related my own experience with a primer magazine detonation with my Dillon 1050 (.45 acp, federal LP primers), the primer shuttle bar jammed, reached around the back to move it with my face very close to the machine when the whole magazine detonated. I was not wearing eye protection and a piece of primer caught the corner of my right eye, the blast put me into shock. Very fortunatley there was no damage to my eyes, my doctor was concerned about the possibility of a detached retina but it was O K. Yes, I learned my lesson that day, the STEEL blast tube on the Dillon saved my sight and directed the force of the full magazine upward doing no harm except to the follower rod. Upon dissassembly of the primer mechanism I found a lot of geen primer compound powder in the shuttle bar track as there had been a few cushed primers the last seveal times I had used the machine, when I moved the primer shuttle it detonated either from friction or more likely static electricity simultaneously setting off the entire magazine. If I had kept it cleaner there wouldn't have been an incident, my fault entirely, kudos to Dillons' design that potected this fool.

In my 52 years of reloading I have tried the odd piece of kit from Lee and found that is was all JUNK! Moulds and dies and other items I have tried have all been JUNK. Not worth the cheap crap it is made of, therefore expensive JUNK. IMHO

I bought a P200 Ponsness Warren pistol loader with the swinging shell holder arm when I began IPSC in 1982 and in my haste set off several single primers with no more than a loud pop and no ill effects, hence my complacency I guess. But it was too slow. The top shooters were using Dillon so within a year I had a Dillon 450, upgraded it to a 500 when that became available, then two 550Bs. A 1050 soon followed when they became available, and then two more. (.45 acp, .38 super and .223)

If your desire is to become the best shooter you can, investigate what equipment works for the top shooters in the sport of your choice. They know what works

You will never regret buying quality. The bitter taste of paying for expensive junk, however, lasts a long time.

Cheers, Bryan
Click to expand...
 
Opcx6 said:
In my 52 years of reloading I have tried the odd piece of kit from Lee and found that is was all JUNK! Moulds and dies and other items I have tried have all been JUNK. Not worth the cheap crap it is made of, therefore expensive JUNK. IMHO

I bought a P200 Ponsness Warren pistol loader with the swinging shell holder arm when I began IPSC in 1982 and in my haste set off several single primers with no more than a loud pop and no ill effects, hence my complacency I guess. But it was too slow. The top shooters were using Dillon so within a year I had a Dillon 450, upgraded it to a 500 when that became available, then two 550Bs. A 1050 soon followed when they became available, and then two more. (.45 acp, .38 super and .223)

If your desire is to become the best shooter you can, investigate what equipment works for the top shooters in the sport of your choice. They know what works

You will never regret buying quality. The bitter taste of paying for expensive junk, however, lasts a long time.

Cheers, Bryan
Click to expand...

Funny how this thread about someone's misfortune, albeit admittedly partly due to his own fault, has turned somehow leached out Lee Bashers.

To the LB's, if Lee equipment is that bad, don't you think that they would have gone out of business long ago, and the owners bankrupt 20 times over from lawsuits?

Please be reminded that not every shooter/reloader is made of money that we can afford a Dillon 1050, much less three of them.

Don't you think that if we had the same resources as you, we would be buying 1050s too? Well, speaking for myself, I wouldn't.

Well, let me re-phrase that...I could if I wanted too. My food and bills take precedence over my shooting hobby, but if I really wanted to, I could conceivably buy 3 1050s. I could also buy three (3) or more Wilson's TOTL 1911s or Noveske ARs and WHY, but I shoot cheap Ruger and Norincos and SKSs and Savage/Marlin 22LRs because I am perfectly happy doing that. It is just my nature, yes I am what people would call cheap (and proud of it). I spend for what I need and like and for what works well enough for me.

Lee equipment, while not the best quality, is not junk. Their equipment has worked fine, even the evil Pro1000 that is the "villain" in this thread. 21 years ago, my first reloader ever was the Pro1000 and it worked well enough. But my reloading needs changed quickly when I shot competitively and fired an average of 500 rounds a day, 3 times a week. So I got two Dillon 550Bs (sold those and got another one) and a Hornady Projector because they were obviously built better and easier to use. I was never a top shooter, but that was more a function of my abilities than my equipment/ammo. I shot full custom Colt 1911s then, but I could have used Norincos and the competition results would've been the same, cause I am sadly not that great a shot, period.

Times and needs changed and and am now equipped with all-Lee products: Classic Cast Single, Class Turret and Loadmaster, Pro-Melter 20 lbs, various pistol caliber molds, etc. All working fine, thank you. Yes, I read the warning about using Federal Primers and I still use them very carefully. I did have a primer explosion in my Lee Pro1000 back then, and thankfully escaped completely unscathed using CCI.

To the OP, once again, I want to say that I'm really happy you are fine although a little banged up, physically and emotionally. Thank you for sharing and risking the ridicule that you've been dealt with. It takes a real man to take that. You came out and let all of us know so that we can be more careful.

Sorry for the hi-jack but rant is over.
 
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