Originally Posted by gnoahhh
Originally Posted by alpinecrick
After breaking two of the Lee Autoprimes, I learn to clean the pivots and keep them lubed. I have three of them. But these days prefer my RCBS Bench Priming tool.

For future reference it would be good to know if there is a viable hand priming tool alternative though.

This. I cling to my Lee tool mainly for nostalgic reasons, it was one of the last things my Dad gave me a long time ago right before he died. When the squeeze handle broke 10 years ago I was mortified and tried several repair methods, none of which held up. I was advised that the "new" Lee parts wouldn't fit the old tool but I bought a new lever anyway to see for myself, and it dropped right in and works to this day. (I put a dab of grease on the friction points periodically to forestall future breakage.)

This isn't the subject of the thread, but because I tried a couple of replacement hand held priming tools and they failed, I bought a Lee Ram Prime. It's a cheap, one primer at a time tool. It has good seating feel and is easy to use. They are about $15 USD.

I think it's hard to recommend a hand held priming tool because everyone has different size hands. It's one of those "try it and see" things.

https://leeprecision.com/ram-prime.html

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
www.303british.com

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - Mark Twain
Member - Professional Outdoor Media Association of Canada
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]