New Lee Autoprime (XR)

[pontcanna]

Anybody seen this north of the border? This reportedly addresses the "no Federal primers" issue with the regular Lee Autoprime and is a bit hardier overall. Saw it on the Factory Sales website (who offer it for $17.90 but want over $24 to mail it to Canada). It isn't yet on the official Lee website.

 

[D-Rock]

I always wondered if there was more to the no Federal Primer issue than meets the eye. I have read the Lee Reloading Manual and he seems to have very strongly biased opinions toward certain brands/ manufacturers etc. If he didn't spend so much time talking about how much better his equipment is than everyone elses I would have finished that book in half the time. Sorry to rant, just my opinion.

 

[SandRoad]

That looks nice. I really like the rounded shape of the new lever, always found the square one to be hard on my hand.

 

[kevguy]

Anybody seen this north of the border? This reportedly addresses the "no Federal primers" issue with the regular Lee Autoprime and is a bit hardier overall. Saw it on the Factory Sales website (who offer it for $17.90 but want over $24 to mail it to Canada). It isn't yet on the official Lee website.

I have one of those older Lee Autoprime. I got it off ebay for a good price. I hated it as it was very easy to jam and was uncomfortable to use. I went with the RCBS Universal Hand Primer and it is now quite enjoyable to prime cases using this tool.

 

[Eagleye]

I have primed tens of thousands of cases with the old Lee Auto-Prime units, with nary a glitch. This new tool looks like an improvement, nevertheless. I will avail myself of one when they show up here and give an opinion on them. Eagleye.

 

[trevj]

The firearms business is full of hard headed old coots that talked #### about each other and held long grudges. And i mean that in the nicest way! My understanding is that that was the origins of the 'Federal primers are unsafe' stuff from Lee.

Nice to see that you can dump a tray of primers in, without too much dicking about. Never had a problem with my Lee Autoprime either. Pretty happy with it, so none to eager to pay out for a new tool to replace one that works.

Maybe I'll get to try out a new one when the one I have wears out. could be a while!

Cheers
Trev

 

[aridan]

Never had a problem with my Lee Autoprime either. Pretty happy with it, so none to eager to pay out for a new tool to replace one that works.

+1. I use AutoPrime even though my Hornady LnL is supposed to do that job. I just trust the Autoprime more, and a couple of extra minutes don't matter when you know every primer had seated OK and not crushed while trying to jam it into NT brass. I'll get the 'new & improved' one when mine breaks, which is probably never.

 

[22to45]

My Lee Autoprime has worked for federal primers, and remington primers, and winchester primers and cil primers and s&w primers. I bought it used, with a huge crack in the tray, I epoxied it backtogether, and have done thousands with it. I am generally a fan of most Lee stuff, except the presses. I have a bunch of Lee stuff. If federal primers would sometimes explode in a lee primer, then they would sometimes explode in every other priming method. If there was an epidemic of this, then word would have gotten around.

 

[Cactus]

I have run a bunch for Federal small pistol and large rifle through my auto prime and have never had a problem. Federal is the most common brand available at the shop where I get supplies.

The older Autoprime is not the most comfortable to use with rifle cases but it works great for pistol cals.

 

[KDX]

There is a guy selling a new kind on Saubier that looks pretty sweet.

Here is a new priming tool that we are starting to produce. With this new priming tool you can control, set, and adjust the seating depth of your primers. This tool is currently designed to accept the plastic trays from the lee auto prime tool. However down the road we will be producing billet aluminum trays. The reason that we chose to produce a tool that accepts the lee trays is due to the fact there are so many of the lee tools out there that have broken handles or other problems that rendered the tools useless. By purchasing this new tool you can put some of your old lee parts to good use. The body and handle of the tool are made from aluminum and have been anodized. This tool was built with a lifetime of use in mind and should never break under normal conditions. We are backing it up with a lifetime gurantee. If it would happen to break you can send it back to me and we will repair or replace it for free. One of the greatest things about this new tool is the quality feel of the tool while you are seating primers. I have handled almost every priming tool on the market and I have never found anything even close to this tool. The tool will come with four of our most popular shell holders, they include 2,4,5, and PPC (shellholders are made of brass and fit much nicer than the lee shellholders, however the tool will accept the lee shellholders as well).
The price is $79.99 and includes the 4 shellholders, an adjustment tool, and instructions.

 

[Ganderite]

I have three of the old ones. One dedicated to Large, one to Small and a spare. have loaded hundreds of thousands of primers in them.

Only one explosion. Blew the tool to pieces. A piece went through my heavy shirt into my belly. Federal primer. Spoke to Lee. Their "I told you so." was most polite. They said I was lucky that they other 100 did not go off.

I will buy the new model....