Range Report.. NOT!..Stuff Happened..UPDATE

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:51 pm

Well stuff happens..Didnâ€™t make it to the range today due to a couple of reasons..My Lee priming tool lever bustedâ€¦.Naturally it was two cases after I had been musing to myself that I had never had one break!.. Heh heh.. no prob I had a spare on hand â€¦ bought it a couple of years ago for just in case..Retrived and installed it and was ready to go in 5 minâ€¦But what really upset me off was that the new one broke on the first stroke!.. & the primer wasnâ€™t even half way in the pocket!! That sucker broke like it was made out of a Saltine cracker...I moved on from loading the 44-40 to putting together 20 rounds for the 300 Sav to test & clockâ€¦Some how the seating depth adjust ment was off.. The upshot of that was a bullet stuck in the rifling & powder (2460) dumped in the magazine when I ejected the round..With the cock on closing feature of the 99 I couldnâ€™t feel the bullet engage the rifling..Now I have to disassemble the gun .. remove the rotary mag.. clean things outâ€¦Oh well.. the mag did need to be relubed at some point .. The lube Iâ€™m sure is factory lube on this circa 1960 carbineâ€¦Hopefully Iâ€™ll get to the range next week end..
UPDATE
Well I just finished up the job of cleaning out the action of my 99. I ground a couple of screw drivers to fit the screws just right and so I didnâ€™t booger any, the Kroil I put on them the other day let them turn loose nicely.. Now the powder that contaminated the action is the very fine grained AA 2460. I was pretty sure it was going to be bad, but I was holding out some hope that the magazine would be where most of the contamination was â€¦I was positive it was really bad when I saw powder running out of the stock bolt hole!! Powder was everywhere, total disassembly requiredâ€¦never done it beforeâ€¦That was the easy part.. Getting the powder granules out of all recesses turned out to be waay more than I anticipated. Having no compressed air was a real handicap, take my word for it guys..So my approach was tying to douche it out with WD-40â€¦.Well that was dumb..Yeah it got a bunch out alright, but what remained were little clumps stuck in various screw holes and cornersâ€¦. but dark colored powder in all the recesses inside of a blued steel receiver was not gonna work for these sad old eyes.. OK Iâ€™ll degrease everything with Brake cleaner!!â€¦Well the upshot of that was a well enough dried out receiverâ€¦ and the remaining powder kernels were easily visible because they were now transformed into a bluish dot encircled by a paler shaded residue that stuck like poo to a shoe.. Man I picked at that â€œcrapâ€

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:04 pm

I replaced the lever on my Lee priming tool once and the second one failed shortly after just like yours did. It went straight into the garbage can and was replaced with an RCBS hand tool ( early one without the feed tray.
I love that one and it works just great for me.

marlin shooter · Post by **marlin shooter** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:37 pm

My lee priming tool broke also, sent it to the garbage can and bought a RCBS (has the priming tray) and no problems since.
Karl

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:06 pm

marlin shooter wrote:My lee priming tool broke also, sent it to the garbage can and bought a RCBS (has the priming tray) and no problems since.
Karl

Same here ( my third!).

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:13 pm

I won't give up on the Lee priming device as yet...As I said it worked fine for many years I'm more worried about getting the rotory mag out & back in.. The screws on the action are pristine..Iv'e doused them with Kroil in preparation for the job..Keeping my fingers crossed!

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:32 pm

I must be lucky (I know I am now cursing myself for sure) - I've been using mine for years without a hitch!

Marlin .35 · Post by **Marlin .35** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:54 pm

I bought my Lee over 15 years ago in Tennessee, and am still using it. No failures of any kind!! Art

Leverdude · Post by **Leverdude** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:11 pm

I bent mine a little & bought one in anticipation of it breaking. Never did break tho.
I think I got a lot of fat CCI primers. Never had any trouble with any other primer but 2 boxes of CCI I got from the same place, theyre old but that shouldn't matter.

Anyway I know its cheap & i'm not surprised some break, but I like it.

w30wcf · Post by **w30wcf** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:29 pm

Ben,
Call Lee. They will send a replacement....no charge. Been there, done that.

Good luck,
w30wcf

Wolfy · Post by **Wolfy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:40 pm

The Lee hand-priming tool comes with a set of directions.....read them, if you did not chuck them into the wastebasket when you took it out of the box. It clearly states that that little pot-metal dogbone or link needs to be lubed with a light coating of grease every now and then.

I broke the thumblever on my first one and sent away for a replacement. The letter which came with the lever said that I had most likely galled the dogbone and built up a ridge of metal that kept the seating plunger from going full depth in seating the primer. Upon examination of the link, I could see that was exactly what had happened

Lee also sent a replacement dogbone link along with the lever...AT NO CHARGE

I've used that replacement link and lever for years now, but pop it apart now and then, wipe the black crud out of it, douche with a shot of brake cleaner, re-lube and go back to work. I have no doubt the tool will outlast me...just read the *******' directions and stop blaming the tool

Wolfy · Post by **Wolfy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:05 pm

Judging from the number of responses to my last post....I guess I was right

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:11 pm

Wolfy wrote:Judging from the number of responses to my last post....I guess I was right

Cleaned, lubed and whatever. I broke three of them and not one RCBS ( 10,000+ rounds later) . I like LEE and some of their products but the Auto prime is a joke.

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:28 pm

I had mine lubed from day one..The replacement however was defective & thanks for the input fellas.. I'll give Lee a holler & we'll see what we see..

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:39 pm

Wolfy , I did read the F----- directions and kept it lubed. I found out later Lee had redesigned it and the newer ones were much improved. OH WELL that was 30 years ago.

Wolfy · Post by **Wolfy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:42 pm

Maybe you're trying to put large primers in small primer pockets

The only wear that I can detect on mine is the "nubs" on the plastic magazine lid for the tray. Doesn't lock quite as solidly as it did when new, but other than that....NO problems. I use mine for re-priming .45-2.6-.540 Sharps cartridge brass that is, by necessity, cleaned thoroughly after each firing. Maybe that's the difference. I've found it to be a great tool that works as advertised....when the directions are followed. They are NOT junk

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:59 pm

I think we are talking about two different priming tools. The one I threw away was the old one that had no primer feed tray. You had to put them on one at a time. The handle was cast out of pot metal and snaped off easily.
I have been loading since the early 60`s and my brass is cleaner than factory. No LR primers in SR pockets!!

Ben_Rumson · Post by **Ben_Rumson** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:40 pm

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:50 pm

I've got two Lee Auto-Prime tools, broke on thumblever right away, and just the other nite broke one of the trays off! I've been meaning to call Lee for a replacement, but now have LOST the thumb lever! Guess I'll have to ask about that also!