Federal Primers in hand primer

[anweis]

I just noticed that Lee advises against using Federal primers in their hand priming tool.
How serious is the danger? How different are these primers anyway?
I suppose that i have to prime on the press. Would that be safer? 
Has anyone ever had a primer blow up in a hand priming tool?
Thanks

[stimpylu32]

anweis

I have primed 10,000's of Fed. primers with my Lee Auto Prime and have never had an issue , depending on who you talk to , some say that its because the Fed. have a softer cup than the others ( they do ) and some will say its because of a spat between Richard Lee and the boys at Fed. some years ago .

Its one of those choices that you will have to make the call on , myself , I don;t see a real problem doing it , Most of the gun companies say to never use Handloaded ammo either . 

stimpy

[Glanceblamm]

Ditto on Stimpy's post but I have only ran 3-4k of those federal primers through my Lee Auto prime.

I have never popped a primer while using this tool. The thing to watch out for would be to never bump and release the handle. If you do this, it is possible to pick up two primers in the ram chamber & one could go off if not caught. This is not something to be fearful of as it is an easy tool to use.

[Trapper-Jack]

+2 on Stimpy's answer.  I've used my Lee hand primer on all my primers, Federal included, and never had a problem.

[johnjohn]

About all the small pistol primers I have ever used were Federals with the Lee Auto Prime.

[jhalcott]

I only KNOW one person who had an incident with the Lee Auto-prime exploding a primer. He was using WW primers and military .308 brass. Apparently ONE of the cases hadn't been prepped correctly. The primer crimp stopped the primer and he squeezed a bit harder. The explosion set off MANY other primers in the tray. He was wearing glasses so his eyes were not hurt, he DID have many small pieces of shrapnel under his chin and in his face. They tried to re create the incident with out success. The investigation showed that as many as 25 (or more) primers detonated.
  I have used few Federal primers as CCI and WW's are easier to get around here. I HAVE had a primer or two turn side ways on the anvil and crushed them trying to seat it, OR clear the Auto-primer. Those crushed primers never popped(YET)!

[charles p]

Never knew you weren't suppose to use the Federal primers.  I'm sure I have used them anyway and I've never had a problem with any primer.  I think you can safely use the Federals in your Lee.

[Ladobe]

Another who has ran 1000's of Federal's through his Lee hand primer without a hitch.   

[anweis]

I think you can safely use the Federals in your Lee.

Thanks for your replies. I did. I loaded the tray 10 primers at a time, i used goggles, i put on leather gloves, AND, i stood behind a door and extended my arm with the priming gizmo to the other side of the door.  It worked, and nothing went wrong.   
But, the slick and slippery handle and body of this Loader makes it somewhat tricky for me to learn how much pressure to put on the handle. I also noticed that half of the primers where not completely flush with the case head or bellow, and that got me worried. So, i switched to priming on the press. 

[goodconcretecolor]

I have always loaded just ten primers at a time just to minimize the hazard if something does go wrong. Primer packages make it pretty easy to do. I've done that even with CCI ana WW, the brands Lee recommends. I load in pretty small lots anyway so it is little if any extra time. I hve not used Federals but they have been all I could find lately.

[stimpylu32]

I think you can safely use the Federals in your Lee.

Thanks for your replies. I did. I loaded the tray 10 primers at a time, i used goggles, i put on leather gloves, AND, i stood behind a door and extended my arm with the priming gizmo to the other side of the door.  It worked, and nothing went wrong.   
But, the slick and slippery handle and body of this Loader makes it somewhat tricky for me to learn how much pressure to put on the handle. I also noticed that half of the primers where not completely flush with the case head or bellow, and that got me worried. So, i switched to priming on the press. 

The biggest reason I have found for that is crud in the primer pockets , Lee along with about all the other comp. sell a tool to remove that , I have found that a small pocket screwdriver works just as well .

stimpy

[Yankee1]

Hi
  I use a RCBS bench mounted primer seating tool that I threaded the handle on and installed an egg shaped handle on. Its actually mounted on a wooden base that I clamp to the bench.  It gives good feel while seating primer. Its steel and cast iron. Works well.
                                 Yankee1

[jhalcott]

Anweis, I too feel that the Lee tool is to slick and needs a slight body style change to work better. I have Carpal tunnel AND arthritis in my hands, so this tool seems to be getting less and less use. I generally reload in batches of 100 cases at a time of one caliber. OFTEN I do more than one caliber in a sitting. This makes for a tedious chore with a press seating one primer at a time. I MAY get a Lee auto prime 2 that mounts on the press head,but...!

[Catfish]

The only reason I can see why Lee would not want you to seat Fed. small pistol primers is that they are quite abit softer than any other small pistol primer. I know afew compation shooters that Fed. primers is all they will use in their ammo because they have their hammer drops so lite that their guns won`t fire the other brands.

[Steve P]

My Lee primer tools have seated thousands and thousands of primers.  I sized about 1000 cases in the last two days and will be using it quite a bit in the next few days in fact.  Never had a primer blow up.  Never had a problem with any brand of primer.  Only had problems with military brass where I didn't properly remove all of the crimp. 

I have only ONE fault with using Federal primers on the Lee primer tool.....the ^%$# box the primers come in is larger then the primer tray so I will drop one or two primers every time I load up my tray.  Guess the Federal guys could take a good look at the Remington boxes....    Yep, I load the tool up with a full hundred and fly thru the seating process.  Gotta do something when those blasted ads come on between innings.... 

Steve

[carbineman]

The packaging that the Federals come in keep me from using them. If they are all you can buy, that is a different story. Hard to beat Remingtons packaging when it comes to storing a quanity of primers.

As for the Lee Tool, why use what they advise against? Again if that is all you can get, then go for it.