When I first started reloading for pistols, back in 1993, I bought a Lee XR priming tool, the one with the round primer tray.

I read somewhere here recently of someone who has been using one for well over 20 years. Mine lasted me until about 3 years ago when the handle sheared in half.

So I replaced it with one of the then square/diamond primer tray tools, But the little corner clips that held the tray cover on broke off one by one, so I bought another. Actually this gave me two complete priming tools, one for small and the other for large primers, without having to swap over the priming trays on a single handle..

Alas the corner clips on the new "large" tray cover also broke. I had seen some covers available online as replacement parts, but when I went to order them they were no longer listed.

I soldiered on until all the clips on the large cover broke, then used the small cover. But those clips started to break too.

A few weeks ago I ordered online a conversion kit to the new triangular primer trays. They arrived a few days ago and tonight I primed 200 .45ACP brass.

It took twice a long as usual, mainly because the two halves of the fitting that the riser sits in had been overtightened and the primers didn't always slide into the riser properly. It took me nearly 150 cases to figure out if I loosened the screws slightly it should work, and it did. The last 50 cases just primers just flowed as normal.

But the triangle tray is a lot smaller than both he square/diamond tray or the round one. 100 primers at a time simply do not flip over without a little human assistance on the last few.

One thing this setup does better than the last version is seat Winchester LP primers properly. The old one would seat Federal and WSP primers but the WLP ones would not seat below the primer pocket and I had to run them through a press mounted priming head to properly eat them. This new system seats WLP's perfectly.

But why, oh why, did Lee change the original design?

It worked so well for so many years!