Lee BreachLock kit Review

[Cmiller82]

I just purchased the Lee Precision BreakLock single stage kit. The only difference between this kit and the 50th Anniversary kit is the Auto Prime XR instead of the safety prime. I thought that was a worthwhile feature... it wasn't... more on that later...

I picked up the kit with .308 dies from CedarValley Hunting.

The press and the dies work great. Some research online turned up and great suggestion on case lubing. Dilute the Lee case lube 10:1 in water, dunk the cases, leave them to dry, put them through the resizing/decapping dies, then resize as necessary. Then I clean them in an Ultrasonic with water and dish soap.

After they are dry once more, I prime them. This is where the kit fails miserably. The Auto Prime XR is hard on the hands, the primer tray interferes with pulling the lever. I wonder if the person that designed it even had hands. This is first part of the kit I'll be replacing with an RCBS primer tool.

The powder measure with this kit is quite good compared to things I've heard. It works great with extruded powder. The charge was never out more than .1gr.

The bullet seats well, and within .005"

The factory crimp die seems to work well too.

The most time consuming steps are the case prep, I would recommend having plenty of brass so that you can be in several phases of the case prep at the same time.

Any suggestions on making the Auto Prime work better are appreciated.

 

[Magnum_Tom]

Why don't you want to prime on the press? I use the auto prime on my presses and it works great.

 

[Cmiller82]

I'm wishing I got the safety prime in the 50th An. kit...

Without the safety prime I have to place the primers on by hand... I resorted to that for the last batch of .308 I reloaded because the auto prime was killing my hands.

For small rifle primers the auto prime works well... I did a hundred in just a few minutes. It's a much easier grip.

One thing I left out... the scale the kit comes with. I used it a bit, verified it's accuracy with my "good" scale. The problem is the slightest bump moves the 1gr slide. Even pouring powder in the scale causes the arm to bump down and move the slider. I'm going to take it to range next week and give it what it deserves...

Even with the crap I'm going to throw out, the kit it still worth it considering the press alone is $80.

 

[old enfields]

Funny my auto prime XR sucks with small rifle primers and runs like a top with the large. Still not as good as the original auto prime was though.

 

[LUTNIT]

The problem is the slightest bump moves the 1gr slide. Even pouring powder in the scale causes the arm to bump down and move the slider.

Why don't you use the lock stud on the scale? It's in the centre bottom of the slider and you press it in to lock the slider. Push it out from the back to release it again. Trying to use the Lee scale to measure powder charges without using the lock stud is unbearable.

As for the Autorpime XR all I can say is I have used it to prime 1200+ cases (large rifle only) without issue. The primer tray doesn't get in the way at all the way I hold it (the way it's held in all youtube videos) and I'm not a small guy with small hands (6'3" 260lbs). My major gripe with the Autoprime XR is the clear plastic tops have the plastic bits that hold them on snap off. Both the covers I got with mine (one for small and one for large primer trays) have broken and I now have to use elastic bands to hold them on (the tops are interchangeable; that's how I broke both while only using large primers.)

 

[BLACKBRIAR]

I'm not a fan of the Lee original hand primer or the XR. I have both. The lever should have been on the front of the handle as opposed to the rear. I think the new Ergo Prime would work well as they put the lever on the front much like the other hand primers out there.

I do use the Auto Prime on my press and the only real complaint is that you have to manually move the last few primers into position. They should get rid of the curve in the feeding arm and make better use of gravity.

 

[Cmiller82]

Why don't you use the lock stud on the scale? It's in the centre bottom of the slider and you press it in to lock the slider. Push it out from the back to release it again. Trying to use the Lee scale to measure powder charges without using the lock stud is unbearable.

homer voice: Dohhh!!

That would fall under RTFM... read the fine manual.

Thanks... I might keep it now