Primers go everywhere during punch out

T

TwoSeventy

Inactive
I wanted to pass this tip on that I happened to stumble upon one day when I was doing the operation on my rifle brass where when done, the used primer is punched out. I have the basic Lee press where the primer catch tube when facing the Lee press would be to your left. 90% of the time when the old primer was punched out, it went every where except in the primer catch tube.On my work bench or on the floor ect.
I also have the Lee Precision primer seating tool. This seating tool you can use for either small or large primer,s and the tool that actually seat,s the primer fit,s on a open hanger catch on the ram. I had completed pressing in new primer,s with my brass. And then I removed the top fill tray that hold,s and feed,s the primer,s to be seated in the tool hanging on the ram. We,ll I forgot to remove the primer seating tool all together. Now at this point I needed to re-form the neck of some fired reload,s. I was working along at reforming the neck,s of the brass and I suddenly noticed all my punched out primers were going right into the catch tube. The reason was, was, I forgot to remove the primer seating tool that was hanging still in the ram. Turn,s out this tool being there was kicking the punched out primers into the catch tube about 95% of the time. I clearly am not advertising Lee product,s here, ok. Any one who reload,s and has the Lee basic ram and the primer seat tool can use this little idea and that,s all I,m putting forward.
 
Aye.
That's likely the intended method of operation. It depends upon which press is in the spotlight, but many are designed that way.
 
Primers go everywhere: I expected to hear from a reloader with a Rock Chucker. I solved that problem many years ago with 3M electrical tape and when I wanted color coordination my wife solved that problem with 3M green and or red tape. Others took an easier route; they purchased 3-D printers.

F. Guffey
 
I discovered that on most of the presses I've used that dispense used primers on the floor that most fall within a 2' area, so I just put a 5 gal bucket on the floor and caught 99% of the "flying primers".
 
Primers go everywhere: I expected to hear from a reloader with a Rock Chucker. I solved that problem many years ago with 3M electrical tape and when I wanted color coordination my wife solved that problem with 3M green and or red tape. Others took an easier route; they purchased 3-D printers.
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Thats me! Except I have this weed whacker and I have some really gnarly cutting string for it that sort of has knots in it and a piece of that and off we go. Of course some of em still go on the floor but that is what a fox tail and a dust pan are for!

The artistic tape thing would be my wife, but at least that is one area she seems to not have a directive on.

I did it my way (cue in Frank Sinatra) maybe LW on the Accordion.
 
I have never had a primer pop out on a Lee as long as I had that little primer seating arm in place.

My Rockchucker was a different story. I tried vasrious pieces of foam etc behind the primer catcher with varying results until someone on this forum suggested using a magnet to cure the problem. Picked up a 6 pack of small neodymium magnets at the dollar store and glued a couple to the primer catcher and as soon as the ram raises the primer catcher gives the ram a bear hug. That and a soda straw/aluminum arrow in the ram tube to keep the occasional primer from popping out the front eliminated 99% of my RCBS primer puking woes.
 
My little RCBS RS3 drops them right in the little container. I was a little piqued when my mighty new Hornady press pukes them all over the place... pretty poor design, Hornady. Contrast that with my Hornady ProJector that sends them right down the tube into a 8# powder can I have for that purpose... no muss, no fuss.
 
For primers that go into the RC primer catcher but then pop out, I simply cut a piece of thin cardboard to fit in the primer catcher at the back. Any primers that would otherwise pop out hit the cardboad backstop and land right back in the primer catcher.

It's so simple, it's about 100% effective...

Bayou
 
Yeah, on a Lee Press, the primer arm stays in to direct spent primers into the tube. I wish the Lee instructions explained it better...took me a whole day to figure it out the first day I purchased one. But it’s not an unknown discovery, , it’s a feature!
 
At first to catch the primers as a helper ,I added the bottom cut off of a gallon jug talked to my work bench. It did make a big difference to help catch them but still a few missed and were floor bound or on my table top.
Guy,s , I had no idea that the primer tool was to be used for that. Thanks for your added comments and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
 
I had no idea that the primer tool was to be used for that
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Don't feel bad because you ain't the first one to make that mistake nor will you be the last. The Lee instructions could be improved
 
Primer fly is my only complaint with my Dillon 550BL.

Small primers tend to fly - about 15% of them, or so. At the end of a brass prep session, the floor needs a sweep or my chair and its rollers will run over them (not good for the wheels). I've just learned to live with it. Not really that big-o-deal - which is why I never previously posed about it.

Large primers seem to behave much better.
 
Thanks for sharing. It’s always reassuring to know that other folks do the same silly things I sometimes do.
I had no problems until I decided to only deprime some crimped .223/5.56. Only took about 25-30 cases to realize that putting the primer arm on my Lee single stage would direct the primers to the proper location. ??????
 
Yeah, on a Lee Press, the primer arm stays in to direct spent primers into the tube.
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That's the same way my Hornady LNL single-stage works... the problem is the primer arm pops out quite often... as I said, poor design. Hornady needs to make an insert you could drop in that better directs the popped primers into the catch, rather than using the primer ram.
 
Try a RCBS universal decapping die in a Rockchucker. The die has a spring loaded decapping pin and the primers can fly 10' when they come out. Nothing can catch them all.
I ended up using an old 30-06 die to decap all my small primer brass to help mitigate the problem. Those suckers can hurt when you step on one in your bare feet.
 
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