Lee presses and spent primers

CrazySanMan · Aug 15, 2019

I have a Lee turret press and one of the small Lee single stage presses. Last night I unbolted them from my relaoding bench and was surprised to see 100's of spent primers come pouring out of the press bodies all over the work bench and carpet.

Is there a way to deflect the primers so they don't go inside the press body when you are de-priming brass? Nowadays I mostly use one of the handheld de-primer tools, but I still don't want all that build up inside the presses when I do use them to remove primers.

Robertjeter · Aug 15, 2019

Wait, that happened out of the single stage?

With the primer arm inserted, they should pop down into the collection bin and into the tube. Don’t think I have seen a spent primer that didn’t end up there on mine.

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jrumann59 · Aug 15, 2019

Robertjeter said:
Wait, that happened out of the single stage?

With the primer arm inserted, they should pop down into the collection bin and into the tube. Don’t think I have seen a spent primer that didn’t end up there on mine.

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My experience also. Mine pops them into a chute that goes to a clear hose which I empty every so often into a old Gatorade bottle.

onedash · Aug 15, 2019

Same here, mine all fall in the tube.

CrazySanMan · Aug 15, 2019

I don't have a tube on any of my Lee presses. The two presses, the Lee Classic Turret Press and the Breech Lock Reloader Press both seemed to be full of spent primers that came from inside of them when I unbolted them and lifted them off of the workbench.

Robertjeter · Aug 15, 2019

CrazySanMan said:
I don't have a tube on any of my Lee presses. The two presses, the Lee Classic Turret Press and the Breech Lock Reloader Press both seemed to be full of spent primers that came from inside of them when I unbolted them and lifted them off of the workbench.

Ah. Makes sense then. I have the Breech Single Stage Press.

Guess the primers have to go somewhere. I’m sure someone has figured it out.

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w2kbr · Aug 15, 2019

I have the same Lee Turret press and it came with the clear plastic tube mentioned above. Check with LEE to get the "catch tube"
R

Buster Brown · Aug 15, 2019

You must still have the little red cap on the bottom of the ram where the tube is supposed to slip onto. If not theyd be falling on the floor.

CrazySanMan · Aug 15, 2019

Buster Brown said:
You must still have the little red cap on the bottom of the ram where the tube is supposed to slip onto. If not theyd be falling on the floor.

I keep one of those round tins from Dansk cookies on the floor under the press and the primers usually drop into it. I guess not all of them did and built up inside the presses over time.

cstone · Aug 15, 2019

I've seen where people have drilled a hole in their bench in the middle where their press sits. They put a small funnel in the hole and then mount the press. At the bottom of the funnel and under the bench they attach a piece of clear tubing and put the other end into a milk jug or some other container.

I use a Harvey deprimer to remove primers prior to their first run in the tumbler. It saves me from unknowingly throwing a Berdan primed piece of brass in with all of the rest. Once in a while I will send some brass out for processing (.223 to .300 Blk conversion) to someone who runs a Dillon 1050 with an autodrive. He doesn't charge for the first broken decapping pin, but does for any subsequent broken pins. Hand depriming and cleaning prevents me from sending him bad brass.

Balzer94 · Aug 15, 2019

I bought this off of ebay for my Lee turret press. You would not be able to use the press mounted priming system with this installed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Lee-tu...=372668365004583bf5a978e24aaf88c62ab60e918506

LGood48 · Aug 15, 2019

w2kbr said:
I have the same Lee Turret press and it came with the clear plastic tube mentioned above. Check with LEE to get the "catch tube"
R

The old model "value model" turret did not have the primer tube. The new model does. The build up of spent primers was why I changed to the new edition.

The "Classic" turret always had the primer tube.

CrazySanMan · Aug 15, 2019

cstone said:
I've seen where people have drilled a hole in their bench in the middle where their press sits. They put a small funnel in the hole and then mount the press. At the bottom of the funnel and under the bench they attach a piece of clear tubing and put the other end into a milk jug or some other container.

I use a Harvey deprimer to remove primers prior to their first run in the tumbler. It saves me from unknowingly throwing a Berdan primed piece of brass in with all of the rest. Once in a while I will send some brass out for processing (.223 to .300 Blk conversion) to someone who runs a Dillon 1050 with an autodrive. He doesn't charge for the first broken decapping pin, but does for any subsequent broken pins. Hand depriming and cleaning prevents me from sending him bad brass.

I may end up doing this, thanks!

CrazySanMan · Aug 15, 2019

LGoodwin said:
The old model "value model" turret did not have the primer tube. The new model does. The build up of spent primers was why I changed to the new edition.

The "Classic" turret always had the primer tube.

Now it's starting to make sense. Thanks!

j8064 · Aug 15, 2019

Balzer94 said:
I bought this off of ebay for my Lee turret press. You would not be able to use the press mounted priming system with this installed.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Lee-tu...=372668365004583bf5a978e24aaf88c62ab60e918506

For years I too have dealt with cleaning up spent primers. A PITA for sure. One of the presses I use looks to be the same as in the E Bay auction you posted.

Obvious questions: Does it work and did it solve the problem for you?

:shrug:

Balzer94 · Aug 15, 2019

j8064 said:
For years I too have dealt with cleaning up spent primers. A PITA for sure. One of the presses I use looks to be the same as in the E Bay auction you posted.

Obvious questions: Does it work and did it solve the problem for you?

It did solve my problem. I have a Dillon xl650 so I basically converted my lee turret press into a single stage for loading 45-70. I’ve deprimed alittle over 100 rounds with this and all of the primers went into the chute and down into the tub. I purchased an adapter for my 650 as well that lets the primers fall in to my tub.

Muleskinner · Aug 15, 2019

I have 2 Lee turrets and lee single station and none of my presses came with any sort of tube to catch primers. I put a large cardboard box under the press I am currently using and it catches about 90% of the spent primers. Can someone post a pic of this tube you're talking about?

ras_oscar · Aug 15, 2019

I like to watch the tube fill up with spent primers. When it's full It's time to close up and go to bed

LGood48 · Aug 15, 2019

Muleskinner said:
I have 2 Lee turrets and lee single station and none of my presses came with any sort of tube to catch primers. I put a large cardboard box under the press I am currently using and it catches about 90% of the spent primers. Can someone post a pic of this tube you're talking about?

Circled area shows the tube extending from below the press arm.

j8064 · Aug 16, 2019

Balzer94 said:
It did solve my problem. I have a Dillon xl650 so I basically converted my lee turret press into a single stage for loading 45-70. I’ve deprimed alittle over 100 rounds with this and all of the primers went into the chute and down into the tub. I purchased an adapter for my 650 as well that lets the primers fall in to my tub.

Thanks for the input. I ordered one to try on the Lee Turret press. :thumbsup:

I load longer rounds like 45-70, 7mm RM and 270 Win on that press. Since the catcher mounts on the ram handle side of the press it looks like the assembly and tube would be in the way of the handle and not permit it fully retract the ram. That shouldn't be an issue when sizing empty cases and catching spent primers. And I suppose the catcher could be removed when seating bullets.

We'll see how it works on my bench...

:fingerscrossed:

Lee presses and spent primers

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