Hand priming or Press priming?

[silver2525]

Good morning all.

I have heard about feel sensitivity while priming. this is the same as a chevy / ford debate im sure, but i am either getting a

lee auto prime / hand primmer

or


lee auto prime 2 / press primer

this is reloading 30/06 and 40s&w.

Give me your opinion?

 

[cfullgraf]

For 30 years of loading on a single stage, I have always hand primed. First with a Lee Auto Prime and now with and RCBS Universal and RCBS Universal APS.

By batch processing the priming process, it goes faster than fooling with the press mounted system. I clean the cases after sizing but before priming so handling on the hand primer is more efficient for me.

On the progressives, the press mounted priming systems and I do not get along. Since I prefer to clean cases after sizing, I hand prime those cases as well.

I bought a bench mounted priming system 6 months ago and have put it back in the box. It was too cumbersome to use for my liking. But other folks like a bench mounted priming tool.

 

[RandyP]

I only prime on the press with my Lee Safety Prime (single stage or turret) - never a significant issue.

 

[8mmman]

Hand prime

For almost 40 years I have always hand prime with a Lee Auto Prime. Tried them all and go back to the Lee auto prime as I like to feel them seat.

 

[jcwit]

I like to hand prime, I even have acquired the old style one at a time hand primers that do not use a tray. Its how I like to do it and is relaxing to me.

Not even suggesting others to do it this way, just passing along what I like to answer your question.

Unless you're shooting Benchrest I doubt it makes much difference so do as you wish.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I do it by hand with the Lee Autoprime. I usually do it in front of the tv.

 

[TxBobS]

I do it on my LnL press only. Just one less time I have to handle the brass.

 

[LiveLife]

All of my match grade, SD/HD, and rifle cases get hand primed. The primer seating "feel" is much better to achieve the proper seating depth of .004" below flush and to quickly check afterwards with my finger tips.

For range practice/plinking pistol rounds, I press prime but all the finished rounds are loaded on bullet tray upside down for inspection of the primers. Any questionable/high primed cases get hand/press primed again.

 

[capreppy]

I hand prime my rifle brass with a Lee Safety Prime. I can do it while I watch TV and have basically primed all of my LC 5.56 NATO brass (3k worth). Now all I need to do is charge and tip.

 

[USSR]

I hand prime with the RCBS unit.

Don

 

[JohnM]

I hand prime, always have.
I recently moved up to an RCBS unit for the blistering speed I can get out of this new fangled machine!
If I live long enough I might even get past a single stage press and find out what it's like to put the primer in with the press.
Sounds pretty high tech to me

 

[MrBorland]

I mostly prime on my Lee turret.

Most of my shooting is directly or indirectly geared toward match shooting, and since I've tuned the actions of my match guns to be pretty light, I only use Federal primers. Reliability is fine when priming on the press, but for big matches, I'll hand prime (RCBS) for the extra insurance.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Either one will work well.

I tend to hand-prime large amounts of brass w/ my Lee hand primer, while small amounts get done with an old Lachmiller priming press or a press-mounted primer arm.

 

[amlevin]

If I were loading on a Lee progressive (like I used to) I would absolutely hand prime. Now that I have a Dillon 650 I don't even think of hand priming except for my .308 "accuracy loads" but those are loaded on a single stage anyway.

A good old Lee Autoprime, hand primer tool has served me well for well for going on 30 years. Over 2,000 primers through it in just the last year. If Lee would only make their progressive presses as reliable and trouble free as this tool

 

[LiveLife]

Lee's 2012 catalog pdf is showing the new ERGO hand priming tool on page 16.

 

[MARKMALL]

I Primed on a Rockchucker press using the arm from 1981 till about 2 years ago , when I bought a Lee auto prime II.

 

[Josh45]

99% of the time, Hand prime. Just better IMO.
Tried it on the press and it was going great until about the last 5 of the primers wouldn't feed thru the system. Plus, I almost lost one or two.

Probably my fault, But I still rather do it by Hand Priming.

 

[Miata Mike]

I do it by hand with the Lee Autoprime also, even though I have 2 Lee Pro 1000 presses and a Lee Classic cast turret that are capable but not infallible.

 

[amlevin]

Was talking to one of our club's Bench Rest competitors about his new Lee hand pimer tool. He was less than impressed with the new design. Said he'd never had so many inverted or cocked primers with a hand tool as the "new design" that elevates the primer in two steps.

He keeps the old one around for when he gets too frustrated to use the New One.

Only useful feature in my mind is the square tray. No more need to add primers in two stages like the round tray required.

 

[gamestalker]

I've been using an RCBS single stage press and an RCBS priming die since I began relaoding 30+ years ago, and have yet to experience a single mis-fire from one of my reloads.

A priming die is as fast, if not slightly faster than using a press mounted priming arm, so speed isn't much to compare with. But the primary reason I use a die rather than any other method, is once the die is properely adjusted and the adjustment ring nut locked, I can be 100% confident every primer will be seated to the same exact depth case after case. And it's not all that slow of a process, at about 6-8 minutes to seat 100 primers.

 

[BYJO4]

Normally I prime on my LNL AP press. However, if I do hand prime, I use the RCBS bench mount priming unit which is extremely fast and consistent.

 

[BinRat]

I've never even attached the priming arm to my Rockchucker. I only use the RCBS bench mounted priming tool. I like it because it's fast once you get the rhythm and it has a good feel as to when the primer is properly seated.

 

[Flash!]

I hand prime so I can take the time to visually inspect all cases before loading..... sure it takes longer, but it gives me something to do while relaxing in front of the tv....

 

[JimKirk]

I have been priming on my CoAx since I got it way back when... it is not the fastest... but it seat them just as they are supposed to be seated .004/.005 below flush...

Quoted from the Forster web site....

The unique top priming device seats primers to factory specifications. The seater is always at right angles to the case head. Primers will not flip or tip. They will be seated straight, level and at a uniform distance below the case head. Primers cannot be crushed, nor will they protrude from the case head and cause premature firing.

 

[Hondo 60]

I do 99% of my reloading on a progressive.
Almost seems like cheating to hand prime.