Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Two Lee Equipment updates

Updated and/or improved doesn't always have to be about the tool or device itself, as is evident with Lee's packaging change. Okay, this isn't brand new, but worthy of mention. I received a couple of collet dies in the spring and found that they ship single dies in rectangular boxes now! A few days ago I received a couple of QT (Quick Trim) dies in boxes rather than the round, clumsy and hard to open roundish containers.

It's about time! Do you remember when they ditched the round die set containers and put everything in a box?

Case in point: This is an equipment drawer in one of my toolboxes. Their original, round QT die containers were bad. They were difficult to open and didn't fit into drawers or sit on shelves properly. That's changed for the better.





The second update concerns Lee's Auto Bench Prime. I'll wring it out like I did with their first version. The original was a good idea plagued by bad execution. Briefly, primer feeding from the tray was bad. I posted my observations in a thread called, I just ordered a Lee Auto Bench Prime. After futzing with it, and not being able to correct the jams and misfeeds, I tossed it in the garbage - literally! Like many companies, I believe they put it on the market and waited for consumers to grumble. They evaluated the complaints and made changes.

Several months ago, I bought the updated version after speaking with Lee. They told me that improvements were made because of some initial problems. Yeah, I remember...The new one looks like the original, but Lee improved the feed. The problems I had with their original ABP showed up after 100 or 200 cases. Did they fix things? Well, I put everything together, mounted it on a board and started priming cases. So far - after approximately 1400 primers - there have been no misfeeds from the tray, or jams in the body of the primer. The feel is better as well. It appears that they might have corrected the deficiencies. If it makes it through 5000 primers, I will declare it officially fixed.

Time for a poke at the Internet fan boys. If you check Youtube, you will see several reviews from 2016 that praised the original Auto Bench Prime. I think they got a free one to try. It was painfully obvious that they didn't actually check the unit out and test it properly. If you're bored over the holidays, search the reviews. It's one of the dangers of the Web. These folks must think they are television reporters or product evaluators.

"Hi youtube. Welcome back to Doofus Outdoors. Today, I thought I would do a review of..."

These Interweb evaluations aren't all crap, but ABC - always be careful!

Believe all my QT dies came in the new boxes, but I’m a recent (and enthusiastic) convert.

The QT system is a good one for sure. It's fast to set up too. Especially when you only need a few cases trimmed.

Are you using the hand cranked trimmer or are you powered?

I ordered some Lee single die boxes. It will make storing single dies of any maker easy for shelves, drawers or tool boxes. These are black, but I don't care. The round die containers are a pain.



Here's a Redding die in the box.

White out pen makes it easy to identify


Pentel(R) Presto(TM) Jumbo Correction Pen

The white out pen is a good idea. I just left the label sticking out of the box. I will have to do that.



Having them in squared boxes makes everything so much easier and neater in the drawer.

Lee FL die ordered separate from the set affordable, has a vent which I love, ordered several for each 6.5 Creed Moor, set for individual chamber. E Bay carries them.

You gotta love it when things work out like you want!

About the Lee Auto Bench Prime

Earlier today, I finished up reworking 600 5.56x45mm cases. They were not processed and needed to be deprimed, the crimp removed, resized, trimmed and primed. That took a couple of days. Boxing Day, I primed 500 222 Remington cases made by Winchester. For those who panic over Remington and Winchester made cases, the five bags I primed had been on my shelf for at least 10 years.

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The priming of both the 5.56x45mm and 222 Rem cases went without a hitch. In the past two weeks, I have primed about 3400 cases with no problems. It would appear that Lee got the feeding problem solved. I've got some other cases to do up, but all is good. I don't expect any hang ups.

Just received my random-manufacturer 9mm die set. The sizer is a Lee Carbide. Somehow the ham-handed shipping company managed to break the box that die came in. It’s a gift, I suppose.

You said you have the new version of the lee auto bench prime. Anything to look for when ordering one so I don't end up with an old one?

Thanks for the review.

Yes. The quickest way is to check the back of the primer adapter. The older, unmodded adapters have a spring on the back. It appears to be a tensioner that probably was part of what buggered up the original adapter feeding cycle. The newer one has no spring.

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No problems. This is the link to the original review from 2016.

Original review

Thank You

No problem. All the best.