Issue with Lee hand priming Shell holder

I just started a batch of .223 and while priming I'm having issues with the Lee #4 shell holder, it's been a PIA for sometime, so I purchased a second shell holder and it's much better, but still gives me fits.

One shell holder barely works at all and the other works about 90% but I still have to fight about every 4th piece of primed brass to get it out of the shell holder.

I've tried working a file to smooth out any burr's in the shell holder.

I'm using mixed brass, some is worse then others, other times there doesn't appear to be any difference in which head stamp gives me grief, and the rims don't appear to be that badly beat up.

CCI-450's, but I don't think it's the primer, it appears to be the rim of the case being slightly out of spec...or the shell holder itself out of speck.

Solutions appreciated.

Lee hand priming tools have worked fine for me in many other calibers, it's only .223/5.56 they give me issues.

If it's time for a new hand priming tool recommendations would be appreciated.

its most likely the brass, take a close look at the rim.

I feel ya, one of my 223 holders was like that too. I forget the brand tho. 1000 peices of mixed brass cant ALL be wrong. Luckily theyre cheap and (hornady trimmer aside,) interchangable.

I had some that were stepped on on concrete and the rim was ruffed up and they were a bear to get in the shell holder. I pitched them into the recycle bucket.

If they go in easy its gotta be the primer not seating properly. If you have to dick with the brass or push hard to get it in its not the shellholder its the brass, the extractor on my AR used to bend the case rims on anything remotely hot, wasted allot of brass that way, once I figured out what was wrong.

I use a Lee #19 shellholder for priming .223, not the #4 they suggest.

I have had the same problem with the Lee #4 shellholder but only with one lot of brass. I had some LC 05 brass that was hard to insert/remove from the Lee shellholder but fit fine in the RCBS shellholder. I chalk it up to a tight holder and some dinged up case rims but thankfully I have cycled through that lot of brass. It's probably been made into candle holders by now.

Thanks Pumpkin, I just tried the #19 on about 25 cases including some "sticky" ones I'd set aside, it works fine.

After doing some Googling, I was set to head out and drop $40.00+ on a RCBS priming tool since it takes the standard RCBS shellholders which work just fine. But I read elsewhere that the #19 Lee shell holder will work in place of the #4, so I figured I'd give it a try one primer at a time...as smooth as butta.

I tried some brand new L.C. brass in both my Lee #4's including the one that is really tight, it's till tight with the new L.C. but works and with the other #4 which I worked with a file its very smooth.

Bottom line, this is 3 times fired mixed brass I'm working on, obviously the rim gets dinged up a thousandth here and there in the process, the #19 while being over sized "seems" to have solved the problem for now.

Another solution might be too just pick up the RCBS priming tool which had somewhat mixed reviews on Midway. But it takes a standard RCBS shellholder which works just fine even on my somewhat out of spec three times fired brass.

I have two of the Lee priming tools, one dedicated for small and the other large, both are ancient and do the job, excepting 3 times fired mixed .223 brass unless I go with the #19 instead of their #4

Thanks again for tip Pumpkin ya save me $40.00

Cool, glad I could help you.

I'm using the same thing and straight up LC milsurp brass. I found that if I swagged the primer pocket too large on some of them they would stick. The rest ran through like butter.

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