A couple topics have made me think about priming on my progressive press(metalic, Lee Load Master). It was brought up that there is a danger of chain fire detonation of the primers on the Load Master and to a lesser extent, another progressive press that primes on the down stroke.
I've been loading shot shells for about 30 years and pistol calibers for about 15 years. I started my pistol rounds with a turret press and went progressive about 6 years ago. First the Lee Pro 1000. Then, and currently on a Lee Load Master. I don't load thousands of rounds per month but I do load several thousand per year. I'd estimate that I've loaded well above 20,000 rounds of different calibers on my Load Master and probably as many on the Pro 1000. I have had many crushed primers, primers seated side ways and even had more than a few large pistol primers stuffed into small primer .45 cases.
I've never had a primer detonate on a press.
Is this really an issue? One poster related a personal experience with this so it, obviously can happen, but is it a problem that your average hand loader should be worried about? Lee actually makes a "blast shield" for the Load Master but I've always looked at it as massive overkill.