Author Topic: Hand Primers (Read 2138 times)

Old Iron · « **on:** March 03, 2012, 01:37:30 PM »

Hello first post!
Been looking a long time,its been around 20 yrs since I last reloaded,still have all my equip.except I can;t find my hand primer,since it's been so long thought I would ask you fellows which hand primer you like best,will be using it mostly for 243,22-250,308,7mm Rem mag.Thanks for the help
Old Iron

Luckyducker · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2012, 03:29:38 PM »

I have two of the Lee Auto-prime (one set up for small primers and one for large) and they work okay but the shell holders are a pain. My S-I-L has the RCBS if I remember correctly and it doesn't require shell holders and works very well. The integral spring loaded universal shell holder on his was somewhat stiff until it got limbered up from use. I think the Hornady looks like a very good unit also but I have never used one.

luckydawg13 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2012, 03:43:51 PM »

Quote from: Luckyducker on March 03, 2012, 03:29:38 PM

I have two of the Lee Auto-prime (one set up for small primers and one for large) and they work okay
i use the same one is set up for lage primers one is set for small primers
works ok for me

cwlongshot · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2012, 03:57:26 PM »

WELCOME OL'Iron!
I bought a Lee hand primer a long time ago... It did not last too long before the "toggle" broke off... I bought another and a short time later the same thing happened.. The garbage "pot metal" its made form failed twice. I am done with them...

I was given a RCBS hand prime a couple years back and have used it quite a bit, no problems and its still working great.

Between the time the LEE's failed and I got the first RCBS I used a RAM prim in a small single stage press.

BUT what I really like is a bench mounted RCBS APS primer! Its expensive, but easy to use and adjustable so there is no human error. Each primer is seated exactly the same.

CW

sr sawyer · « **Reply #4 on:** March 03, 2012, 04:11:23 PM »

Welcome aboard. Lots of good info on this site.

The only Lee products I own are hand primers both of which use the dedicated Lee shellholders and they do a good job. Also have an RCBS that uses the same shellholders as used in the press and I like this aspect, and it works great.

There are pros and cons to both and you will get different opinions and mixed reviews on each. Since I have heard a lot of good reports on the Hornady I will probably try one of these when I buy again.

Ken

swifty22 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 03, 2012, 04:25:40 PM »

CW- I have 2 RCBS , 1 set up for large rifle and one small rifle, The small rifle one has 223 size shell holder head and has never been changed (cause I don't have a Hornet/Bee ect). The other is used for 220 Swift,30-30, 308 (ect), 30-06 (ect) and other larger cases. All you do is simply change the RCBS shell holder heads to change calibers. I used my Lyman Spartin press since the early 60's and the factory primer seater till both broke 30 years later and finally got the RCBS hand seater (and Rock Chucker press) and never looked back. You can use it for single primers (say if you are only loading 3 rnds. or use the tray for however many you want (have used it for more than a thou. in the 223 before going to MT to shoot gophers which I also did w/the press mounted one-Ouch). I bought the first retail and the second at a yard sale and will never go back.-Muddy

Ranch13 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 03, 2012, 04:32:34 PM »

The rcbs universal priming tool works very well for me. I have the old style RCBS for the big bpcr cases that won't fit in the universal tool. I also have the new lee tool and a box full of busted older styles...

cybin · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2012, 06:31:14 PM »

I have been using the same Lee since it first came out--about 40 years or so ago--I really need to upgrade to the newer version--may some day in the near future. Had the cam break one time in the beginning--was using CCI primers in Federal brass (.38 and .357 mag.) I have since learned that doesn't work well--Federal primer pockets seem IMO to be a bit tight on the tolerance, and CCI are a bit on the large size. May just be the batch of brass I have, but has carried over to 9mm and .380 which I started reloading for in the last couple of years.

I think it all depends on how much reloading you intend to do. Thousands of rounds or just a few hundred a year. If it is thousands --then by all means I think I'd spend the extra money and buy a RCBS , Hornady, or equal to them priming tool.

I only load about 1000 to 2000 rounds a year-sometimes less, seldom more, so the Lee is good enough for me for the money.

cybin

cwlongshot · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2012, 12:45:29 AM »

Quote from: cybin on March 03, 2012, 06:31:14 PM

I think it all depends on how much reloading you intend to do. Thousands of rounds or just a few hundred a year. If it is thousands --then by all means I think I'd spend the extra money and buy a RCBS , Hornady, or equal to them priming tool.

I only load about 1000 to 2000 rounds a year-sometimes less, seldom more, so the Lee is good enough for me for the money.

Cybin

Excellent point Cybin!!

Volume defineately dictates!!! I think this applies to most of the LEE line. LO volume beginners or people only needing occasional reloads. The acception is LEEs powder measurers and dispencers. They are simply garbage... JMHO

Swifty,

My RCBS hand prime has universal case hed but you need to change up the seating rod and bushing between large and small. I used the stock seater on my Pops Spartin too.. Seating on the down stroke by "feel". I discovered the RAM prime that screws in like a die and uses an extension on the ram to allow seating off the top of the press. Then a std shell holder fits into the ram prime and you adjust as if a die so the primers seat to the same depth eliminating the feel.
Adj by feel in new or freshly clean brass is pretty consistant once one gets the proper feel. BUT dont clean the pockets and tahts when seating by feel is a bad thing... I much prefer seating to a dead stop like you get at the top of the ram stroke on your press or as you do with a number of other primer seaters like the RCBS APS system.

CW

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2012, 02:17:57 AM »

ive been using lee handprimers since day one. Probably well over 35 years. Sure ive wore them out and broke them but for the money there tough to beat. Im not a big fan of lee stuff but ill allways have a lee primer in the shop and usually youll find a number of them. Im no expert on the others. Im sure some work great and some work probably better but the lee has done the job for me long enough that this old dog doesnt need to learn any new tricks.

tobster · « **Reply #10 on:** March 04, 2012, 03:17:30 AM »

My first hand priming tool was the Lee and I don't think RCBS, Lyman, etc. even offered oneat the time. Buying the special shellholders is a pain. I bought a Forster Co-Ax model a couple of years ago and it seems to offer the best of both worlds- you can feel the primer seat and it is still relatively fast. Mine is dedicated to a specific caliber because it takes a bit of time to adjust the universal shell holding design. I think if I was starting out again I would buy something like the RCBS that uses standard shell holders.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2012, 03:21:05 AM »

Welcome to Graybeard Outdoor Forums. GBO is a friendly place with a lot of experience, talent, patience, and opinion. We hope you will post frequently and get to know us as we get to know you.

I use the RCBS Posi-Primer, a hand held one-case-one-primer-at-a-time unit no longer manufactured. It continues to serve me well.

I tried the primer unit that came with the Rock Chucker press. It worked, but I didn't achieve a tactile feeling for seating primers and the ram has the capability for crushing things. Same experience for priming with the RCBS Piggyback II Progressive...no tactile feeling, the potential for crushing, hangups, and another distraction in that "progressive-style" of reloading for handguns and the AR 15 (223 cal.).

I try to shoot (so as not to waste) and have found that even crushed, hung up, or insufficiently bottomed primers will still ignite, in most instances, and therein lies a deadly potential that if "counted upon" and when needed, the round may fail to fire from something that should have easily been avoided. There is no necessity to load a defensive weapon with substandard rounds. Just keep those for plinking at the range.

Lloyd...199 and counting down.

drdougrx · « **Reply #12 on:** March 04, 2012, 03:28:58 AM »

I also have 2 LEE handprimers. One set for small and the other for large. I generally load ever week and for hunting rifle loads, I generally only load 12 per rifle per week and shoot for group. If I need to prime in great capacity (as in almost all pistol calibers not used for hunting and 223), I use my Dillon press.

oldandslow · « **Reply #13 on:** March 04, 2012, 04:04:59 AM »

I have one of the Lee's that I bought when it was the only one available. I still have it and it still works just fine. Trouble is shellholders are no longer available. I replaced it with an RCBS before they brought out the universal so I have to change shellholders which isn't a problem to me.

The RCBS hasn't been glitch free but I've just learned what to watch for and live with it. Once in awhile a small primer will turn over in the tray. Also I've learned to look and see that every small primer is right side up before seating it. I've had them turn sideways going down the tube to the seating pin and even had a couple turn upside down. It only happens with the small primers.

LanceR · « **Reply #14 on:** March 04, 2012, 04:12:17 AM »

Welcome to the forums. It has been 7 years since I was seriously competing in pistol and rifle matches so I can't speak to what most competitive shooters are using today but as of 2005 I suspect that the Lee hand primer was far and away the most popular priming tool for the same reason I have them. They are portable, work well and I can feel the primer seat with a great feel for the condition of the primer pocket and the bottoming of the primer in the pocket.

For years I was fortunate enough to be heavily subsidized to compete but I still loaded most of what I was shooting. On an annual basis I went thorough roughly 300 rounds of .45 ACP and 9mm ammo a week and roughly 130 rounds of .308 and 30-338 Win Mag loads. Week long matches like Camp Perry would drive those figures right through the roof. I have used the Lee tools for so long that the clear covers are now almost opaque. I've never broken one. I also can't ever remember anyone else braking one but that could just be a time and distance memory lapse.

I only reload 2-300 rounds a year now so I doubt I'll ever go looking for something else.

Lance

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #15 on:** March 04, 2012, 04:19:12 AM »

RCBS with the plate/dish for primers

LanceR · « **Reply #16 on:** March 04, 2012, 04:23:51 AM »

Quote from: oldandslow on March 04, 2012, 04:04:59 AM

I have one of the Lee's that I bought when it was the only one available. I still have it and it still works just fine. Trouble is shellholders are no longer available.

I just typed "auto prime shell holders" into my search engine and got back ifo on several outlets selling individual holders and sets. Did Lee change the dimensions somewhere along the way?

huntducks · « **Reply #17 on:** March 04, 2012, 09:51:34 AM »

Use 2-RCBS. bought them both used and cheap.

tacklebury · « **Reply #18 on:** March 04, 2012, 12:36:22 PM »

Got one of the Lee Autoprime AR's. It works well and is a lot faster than priming on the press for me. I think if I were to get another, I'd look at the new Lee ErgoPrime though. I have arthritis in my right thumb, so it gets a little painful or I have to use my left hand if I'm priming a lot. Been thinking about this ergoprime soon though. hehe

http://fsreloading.com/ergo_prime-90250.html

cybin · « **Reply #19 on:** March 05, 2012, 03:57:36 PM »

I guess I wrote too soon--in my post above (march 3rd) I said I only broke one cam--the very next day I broke my second one. Lucky for me that when I bought the replacement many years ago--I bought 3--they were only about $.30 or so. I put the new one in and now it works like a new one. The one that broke had a lot of wear on it--I should have replaced it a long time ago. No telling how many primers I have seated with it.

cybin

coyotejoe · « **Reply #20 on:** March 05, 2012, 04:31:44 PM »

I bought the Lee tool maybe 30+ years ago and it still works great. I also got their shell holder kit which includes holders for almost everything, the only one I had to buy separately was for .45 auto rim and understandably that is an odd ball. I can't understand people breaking them. The whole point of hand seating primers is to feel them seat and no primer requires anything like the pressure needed to break the tool. I never saw any need to have separate tools for large and small primer, although the tools are inexpensive, heck, it takes maybe 10-15 seconds to switch primer trays while you're switching shell holders anyway. I guess if you were only loading two calibers it might save a few seconds to have a dedicated tool for each, but over the years i have loaded dozens of different rifle an pistol calibers all with the one Lee auto prime and the shell holder kit. Dumping the primers into the primmer tray, shaking it around till they all turn open side up is so much quicker than filling primer tubes I'm sure I could have 20-30 cases primed with the Lee tool in the time it takes to load 50 primers into a tube feed.
Spending a lot more money doesn't always mean you get a better tool.

Ranch13 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 05, 2012, 04:40:30 PM »

Primer trays.... that's the thing I really like about the universal rcbs handprimer is it's square shaped primer tray that is just the right size to hold a full primer box or partial and catch them all. I also like the sliding cutoff gate , if I want to lay the tool down I can simply slide the gate shut and not worry about primers falling out.

Old Iron · « **Reply #22 on:** March 07, 2012, 04:30:37 PM »

Well I ended up ordering Rcbs bench mdl,I have a old lee i'v had close to 30 yrs when I come across it.Thanks for the help and welcome!

Larry L · « **Reply #23 on:** March 07, 2012, 04:39:11 PM »

I guess this makes me the oldest reloader here that has experience with the RCBS. Ya see, the old shellholders don't fit, they're too thick at the base. After I bought the RCBS and none of my shellholders would go in the thing, I called RCBS thinking I had a bad hand primer- not so. The little lady asked what shellholders I did have and she sent me a whole double handful of shellholders to work in it. But being an ol' coot I guess, when it comes time to prime, the old Lee Auto Primes come out. Yeah, I have several. I've never had any issues with mine but unfortunately they don't make it anymore and I understand the new design is a real pain. YMMV.

mechanic · « **Reply #24 on:** March 07, 2012, 04:39:28 PM »

I have two of the Lee hand primers. One dates from about 1980 or so, the other relatively new. I have broken a dogbone a time or two, but only when I didn't clean and uniform the primer pocket, and tried to force the primer in anyway. I bought some extra dogbones years ago, and still have some in a drawer. At the rate I load, the kids one day won't know what they are and will throw them away.

My Pop loaded hundreds of rounds every week with one of these, the older one I'm still using.

Ben

.22-5-40 · « **Reply #25 on:** March 13, 2012, 07:42:13 PM »

Hello, Old Iron..welcome to the forum! I started out with the lee back in 72', bought the RCBS around 76'..gave up on both..too mushy with that die-cast/zink alloy. in 1990, bought a K&M..uses Lee auto-prime shellholders & never looked back..solid steel..no primer tray..but hey, I'm a single-shot guy anyway! (I do use it for all my revolver loadings).

RobertInIowa · « **Reply #26 on:** March 17, 2012, 05:29:42 PM »

I use the RCBS APS Bench primer and the optional strip loader. It costs a bit more than the hand primers but I feel it gives very consistant results. I can quickly load the primer strips and then prime a case as fast as I can pull the handle. IMHO it is a highly underrated system.

cwlongshot · « **Reply #27 on:** March 18, 2012, 01:41:31 AM »

Quote from: RobertInIowa on March 17, 2012, 05:29:42 PM

I use the RCBS APS Bench primer and the optional strip loader. It costs a bit more than the hand primers but I feel it gives very consistant results. I can quickly load the primer strips and then prime a case as fast as I can pull the handle. IMHO it is a highly underrated system.

WELCOME Robert!!

I completely agree, I feel the LONE problem with the system is its high cost! I have the same one as you and ONLY have it because when it was offered as a "field test unit" from our RCBS rep. I do like it allot!

I don't much like the little plastic bushings you need to stick in the shell holders, but the "action is smooth" and very controlled as you mentioned.

CW

Not the 10th Man · « **Reply #28 on:** May 27, 2012, 02:51:40 PM »

For what it's worth, I've recently gone through three of the hand primers.

I had a Lee for about seven years. I loaded a few thousand rounds on it. My Father in Law whom I had gotten it from had been using it since the mid 90's, so...when it died on me a few weeks ago, it was an honorable death. It always felt...kinda....chintzy? not real strong, tight, secure, but...it was very user friendly, and as I've mentioned, it had already more than earned it's keep. a slight PITA was that the primer tray was smaller than most primer containers, leading to lots of touching and fiddling, and spilling over of the primers.

The problem was that I was right in the middle of loading a few hundred rounds of .45 Colt to take my wife to the range for her first time in many moons, so I didn't have the time or inclination to wait for new parts. I trucked off to the local sporting goods store to replace it IMMEDIATELY.

I saw an RCBS, and remembered that my closest friend uses one. I called him on the cell real quick, and asked his opinion. He bragged it up and said it was the greatest thing since sliced cheese, so I bought it. As much as I like other RCBS products, dies, presses, etc. I HAAAAATED that damn thing!! It was NOT user friendly at all, it was a pain in the butt to change around, kept getting primers tangled up, stacked, etc. It did have a nice big tray, and the cut off was nice. When it was "in the groove" it worked very smoothly and positively, but those times were rare.
Finally, one morning I had MORE hassles with it double feeding primers (Incidentally it seemed to work smoothest with one primer stacked on top of the other!

) No, that was not a deliberate thing, but rather a disturbing finding.

Anyways, I resisted the urge to throw it out the window and shoot it, so...I trucked back over to the Sporting Goods Store, and traded it back in on a Hornady hand primer. I've only primed a couple hundred rounds with it, but so far it's the best of the bunch, very user friendly, large primer tray, positive feed, primers stay like they're supposed to...it's all around smooth as all get out. I don't know if it's in my head, or for real because of the smoothness, but I primed a hundred rounds in the fastest time I'd ever known of with that thing.

For the price, I'll probably get another Lee one day for back up, especially since I already have all the inserts for it, but I'm darn happy to have my Hornady.

Judging by how many people brag up the RCBS, I'm guessing that's more of a personal taste/ subjective thing. In any case, I'm happy to have another "major" issue to argue about with my friend over morning coffee. He's very brand loyal to RCBS, where as I'm a bit more of an RCBS/Lee/Hornady/Redding/ whatever else works good or is a bargain kinda guy. It keeps things fun and interesting.

davem270win · « **Reply #29 on:** May 29, 2012, 07:00:42 AM »

I used a Lee hand unit for many years before it broke. I replaced it with another Lee, but as I've gotten older, I found it harder to operate, and I was concerned about the safety of having all those primers together in a tool I could conceivably drop. I've switched to the RCBS bench unit, using the plastic strips, and after some initial problems getting used to the operation, I am quite happy with it.