Problems with new Lee Safety Prime

[1sailor]

I've been using Lee turret presses for years and always used them with the Lee safety prime. I was using the old style which is the round black ones. They worked perfectly. The return spring or something finally gave out on one of them so I bought a new set. These are the newer style with the triangle shaped trays. I cannot get them to work on my turret press. This is not new to me I had my old ones off and on numerous times without ever having a problem. These new ones are actually slower than simply inserting the primer in by hand. I read a bunch of the reviews on Midway and noticed that a lot of guys mentioned that they would not work with their turret presses either. Anyone here having better luck. The old style that worked like a charm are no longer available. Not sure why they changed 'em since the old ones worked just fine.

 

[smithrjd]

I recently bought a new Lee Classic Turret press, and it came with the new style Safety Prime. The triangle folds out to a square, and no issues with a full primer tray of any brand. I have found one has to push firmly to get it to work well, at the top of the ram travel only. What it does not do is feed the last two primers, not enough gravity I guess. Have to remove those and do it manually.

 

[1sailor]

I don't think any of them ever fed the last two primers. Maybe I just got a bad one this time, I don't know. Like I said, I have loaded honestly tens of thousands of rounds using my old ones but I cannot get the new ones to work well at all. Out of every 5 attempts I end up with one that feeds, two times that doesn't dispense a primer and a couple on the floor. I've tried everything I can think of and it's just a no go.

 

[dpierce02]

I gave up on mine and just load by hand a lot faster than picking them up off the floor and missing loading one into the shell case! Everything else works great! I watched all the videos to and nothing I could get to work!!

 

[1sailor]

Are yours the new style or the older black round ones? I found my old style large primer feeder and swapped out the return spring into my old style small primer feeder and now it's working great again. I'd sure like to know what in the heck is going on with this new style they have now.

 

[smithrjd]

I had some issues with it not working rom the start, found the ram had to be all the way up (I just take the shell plate out) and push firmly forward and down. It is a wobbly setup.. It works, but no better than several others, except for the last two primers..

 

[smithrjd]

Not sure, my two are black for small primers, white for large primers. The tops are the same triangles.

 

[1sailor]

You have the newer style. Sounds like they're working for you. I just read your follow up post and it sounds like you're having issues too. You shouldn't have to remove the shell plate in order to prime.

 

[smithrjd]

At the top of the ram travel a brass case would have to go into a die, I usually prime as a separate operation. So I take the shell plate out, as they are already sized and belled. Perhaps I should get modern and prime on the belling operation.. They are more rectangular in shape than round.

 

[1sailor]

Yeah, round is the old style. Yours sounds like the newer style.

 

[Peak53]

My new safety prime works just fine. I do everything in sequence on the press. Four pulls equals one finished cartridge. No intermediate steps required. Just make sure the safety prime is adjusted so the priming mechanism goes straight in to the seater. And the ram is fully up, of course. I love this set up.

 

[medic15al]

On my new Classic Cast Turret my old round ones and the new triangle ones work equally as well, But I had to buy the new Safety Prime as the old bracket that worked on my old budget turret would not work, Had to use the new bracket for the difference in the height of the press opening was shorter. New bracket holds the Safety Prime higher.

 

[1sailor]

I was able to install the new spring in my old safety prime so everything is working fine and I'm back in business. According to the Lee website the new safety prime will only work on presses made after 2006 so maybe mine was made prior to that. Not sure.

 

[medic15al]

I was able to install the new spring in my old safety prime so everything is working fine and I'm back in business. According to the Lee website the new safety prime will only work on presses made after 2006 so maybe mine was made prior to that. Not sure.

That makes sense as to why my old priming bracket on my turret would not work for the new Classic Cast Turret.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I prime as a separate operation. Had the safety prime and gave it away after I used it one time.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[1sailor]

Before getting my old safety prime working again with the new return spring I had considered priming by hand. The problem with that is that all I would be doing is adding more time to the job. Why have a turret press if I'm going to start doing individual steps separately. According to Lee I can upgrade to the new style return spring (actually looks much improved) on my Gen1 safety prime as long as I update to the newest plunger spring also. Up until getting the new "improved" version I had no complaints about the Safety Prime at all. I have loaded many thousands of rounds using it and now with the new spring I can hopefully get several thousand more. I think I'll buy a few extra springs though.

 

[Wise_A]

I had some issues with it not working rom the start, found the ram had to be all the way up (I just take the shell plate out) and push firmly forward and down.

Your resize/deprime die needs to be loosened slightly.

I don't think any of them ever fed the last two primers.

Mine feed the second-to-last primer.

Most of the time.

 

[DumpStick]

I had to adjust mine a few times, and read the directions closely. After that, it works well.
Except for the last one or two, it won't feed those. I take a paper clip and poke 'em down. Sometimes that works.
Mostly, I just leave two primers in it.

 

[carpriver]

I had the same problem, then I moved the washer to the top under the bolt head, I do have to adjust it some times, it works fine now. I do hold the primer arm as I push the primer sitter thingy.