First Impressions of the Lee Classic Cast Press and Forster Ultra Micrometer Die

[Prc329]

I tried priming on my press and I just prefer the feel of priming on my hand primer. There is no dought about the position of the primer.

[OptionX3]

The press came with a priming arm that primes the cartridge on a down stroke. Anyone ever use it? It looks like it would work just fine but there must be a reason you all hand prime

That doesnt work too well, I also have Lee hand primer. It works well too but your hand gets tired after awhile. Also you need to purchase separate shell holder kit for Lees Hand primer (~$12 per kit). I found the Lee auto prime 2 to be most effective for priming. Just mount the die, and use lever to prime it. It gives really good feed back so you have full control of seating depth. Also, you can prime all day long and wont get tired. It's same price as the Lees shell holder kit so its pretty cheap. When priming for the first time, I think its good idea to practice/start on brand new brass since its much easier. I started w/ once fired AE, FC stamped .223 brass and I was mispriming 2/10 brass. Didnt know what it was so hard but when I moved on to brand new Winchester brass and once fired Remington brass (RP stamped), I was getting 100% success rate. So some brass is much easier to prime. Last thing, some primers are dirty so its good idea to clean out prime hole with Lees prime hole cleaner (also recheck the flash hole while at it) This will make it little bit easier to seat primers. HTH

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=556149

[proraptor]

I have the lee primer hole cleaner already and it works really well...

Ill look into the auto prime 2 and the lee hand primer...

[StukaJr]

I prefer RCBS hand primer over the Lee hand primer (even though it's almost 75% more in price) - the former has a lot more leverage and saves your hand if you are planning to prime more than 100 cases at a time... I've started with Lee Hand Primer and it gave me long elongated blisters on my fingers and I had to take a break every fifty rounds or so - especially with brass that had tighter primer pockets.

"More leverage" was my only complaint about the Lee's hardware - it seems that the cheaper Lee's tools are not meant for prepping hundreds of cases in a stretch... Unlike the more expensive tools, I often stop when pain in my fingers sets in

[Glock22Fan]

Priming?

I got a Lee Turret press last year and have been using the primer attachment for it. The problem I see is that when I feed the primer into the swivel arm, it often feeds badly and falls on the floor (usually missing the bucket under the press ).

However, if I'm going to hand prime, then I'll have to deprime in a separate stage, so I'll only be using the turret press for two of the actions, and have two wasted strokes each cycle. Or I'll have to remove and reinsert the brass after depriming.

I do still have my old single stage press I could set up for depriming.

How do others manage this?

[Cazach]

Turret

Can you disable the progressive advance on your turret?

[Budd]

Can you disable the progressive advance on your turret?

Only simple way is to not lift the handle all the way back up to catch the twist. When I de-prime - just leave it under the deprime die and don't drop it all the way down - just enough to remove and insert another case.

[Glock22Fan]

Yes

Can you disable the progressive advance on your turret?

Yes, one simply removes the steel strip up the middle that has the twist in it.

However, one of the advantages of a turret feed is lost if one needs to do this.

I still like the idea of replacable turrets, as it saves having to readjust dies all the time, but if one can't prime in situ, then one of the advantages is surely lost. I can't think of a good alternative, I had hoped that the assembled braniacs herein might do better.

[Cazach]

Yes, one simply removes the steel strip up the middle that has the twist in it.

However, one of the advantages of a turret feed is lost if one needs to do this.

I still like the idea of replacable turrets, as it saves having to readjust dies all the time, but if one can't prime in situ, then one of the advantages is surely lost. I can't think of a good alternative, I had hoped that the assembled braniacs herein might do better.

Ahh! I misread your post and see your point. Is your Lee balking at a specific type and/or size of primer or all of them?

[Glock22Fan]

.45acp

Ahh! I misread your post and see your point. Is your Lee balking at a specific type and/or size of primer or all of them?

So far, I have only really loaded .45 ACP with this press. Haven't tried it with other sizes yet. The other sizes I will load in time are .44 Mag and 30/06 - maybe some .40 but I shoot this caliber less and less (I should probably change my user name to 1911fan).

It seems to me that you have to carefully position the feeder mouth over the cup, then slide the feeder mouth slider along, until the next feeder drops into the cup. However, it doesn't seem to be well engineered, it's a bit hit and miss. Once I get a primer properly located, I don't have a problem feeling it seat itself; that bit works fine. Might be faster/safer if I just put the primer in by hand - but I don't like handling them too much as I understand that skin oils can upset them.

Anyone else got experience with this primer attachment?

Let me say that apart from this, I have no problems with Lee presses at all. Not sure at all why anyone would pay more for a press - at least for a single stage or turret press (I haven't used the Lee progressive).

[proraptor]

Well guys got payed again today so I decided to order the rest of the stuff I need to start reloading! Here is what I ordered:

Frankford Arsenal Brass Case Polish 8 oz Liquid
Hornady One Shot Case Lube 5.5 oz Aerosol
Lee Auto Prime Hand Priming Tool Shellholder
RCBS Piggyback Stand for Powder Measure
Frankford Arsenal Quick-N-EZ Case Tumbler 110 Volt
Lee Universal Shellholder .308
Frankford Arsenal Standard Brass Separator
RCBS Uniflow Powder Measure with Standard Cylinder
Lee Powder Funnel 22 to 45 Caliber
Lee Auto Prime Hand Priming Tool

Should have it all in about 1 week.....Cant wait!