LYMAN - Lyman E-ZEE Prime Hand Priming Tool

I reviewed several "hand priming tools" I chose the Lyman Be careful when you "seat" the primer tray into the tool so you don't break off the plastic guide for the shell holder. I would purchase again....I have been using Lyman product since 1965.

Since my very old Lee hand priming tools were starting to break parts beyond my capability to replace them, I looked for a replacement tool. Finally settled on the Lyman E-Zee Prime. I immediately liked the sturdy feel of the new tool, and the ease of changing from large to small head assemblies. Also, being able to use any make shell holder is an advantage. Having read the instructions and set-up the tool, I began priming with the large primer set-up for 7.62x39. After ascertaining that the large set-up worked fine, I switched to small primers (9mm) where the proper hand positioning and rythm of tool use is more critical. Follow the instructions regarding proper positioning of hand and tool and all will be well. In summary I like the new tool, and find it works well if used in accordance with instructions. Once you get in the groove it operates smoothly. You can get a primer sideways if you lose your groove particularly with small primers.

I received this as a gift, the ram, or pushrod doesn't have enough travel to seat a primer close to being correct.

Instructions say to be careful when seating primers as the priming tool will not bottom out and you can crush or detonate the primers. The instructions also say the to set the primers between .003" and .005". The issue is that the tool bottoms out and the primers are raised above the face of the case head by .008" to .009". The ram is to short and needs to be at minimum .020" longer so that a person can feel the primer seat and not run out of ram. I will be returning priduct.

I load hand gun rounds by the hundred. I like to use the handheld style priming tools. My old Lee has hundreds of thousand of rounds through it and is 37 years old. I wanted to try something new and I have Lyman press and several sets of Lyman dies so the new tool looked good. It isn't. There is a real issue with flipping primers between the tray and the ram. Even with care it's easy to lose 1-2 primers per 100. Mine has the lid LYMAN lettering painted in heavy orange paint making it hard to see into the tray to track flipped primers. Also there is no hole in lid to replace stray primers and you will have stray primers as you fix the flipped ones. You must make sure that you make a full stroke with handle every time or it will fail to pick up the next primer. The reach on the handle is pretty wide even for my big hands. (I wear 2X shooting gloves). So it takes two hands to work it to avoid dropping it. This all boils down to SLOW. It works a little better with large primers but it's a pain with small pistol primers. It does seat the primers well and if you are loading 20 rifles rounds it might be ok. But when your looking to load 1000 .357s it doesn't get it . I think I'll just get a fresh new Lee...that should get me by for the next 30 years.