Have owned an old round tray Lee priming tool for many years and loaded many fine rounds with it. Bought it probably back in the 70's and still use it occasionally today. Also have an old (about the same age) 3 hole turret press by Lee which has large and small primer levers with it that primes on the down stroke of the case at the resize/decapping hole of the turret. It works very well, has never done a bad seating and has literally primed tens of thousands of cases. Primarily .38, .357, .9mm, and some short rifle rounds. Tried a couple other presses too but never found one I liked or trusted any more than that old Lee.
As I sit here writing this I'm actually contemplating ordering a new Lee 4 hole turret press. Why?... I don't know, I sure don't need it. My loading needs have slowed way down over the past few years, but I still enjoy trying to find that one magic load for each of my guns that will shoot through the same hole every time, no matter the wind, the weather, the rain, the bullet weight, the bullet shape, the caliber, and even the shooter. Haven't found one yet, but I'm sure it's out there.
BTW, that old Lee 3 hole turret press has loaded probably several tens of thousands of handgun rounds over the many years. Primarily competition rounds and always did a fine job. I won as many shoots as some of those who were using presses costing way more than my simple little Lee.
And here's a real kicker! Back when I first got into reloading, I used a simple Lee hand tool for my long gun ammo. Only had a couple, maybe two different calibers. Always thought it so ironic that I could sit and load rifle rounds by hammering and banging on those rounds, when all my young growing up life I was taught to handle all ammo with reasonable care.
After I bought my first Lee hand tool for my .270 Win I think, I told my dad all about how I was beating on rifle ammo with a plastic hammer .......... he told me just how crazy I was. I invited him over to see it for himself and he declined the invite. LOL! Finally made a believer out of him after several years, then he also started banging on his rifle ammo. Fortunately we didn't require nearly as many rifle rounds as hand gun rounds. Back then we considered rifles for hunting and hand guns for competitions. After a few years it became almost 'even steven'.
regards,
jumpinjoe
gundigest.com
