Problems seating small pistol primer

orpington said:

To say I am frustrated is an understatement!

Tried seating small pistol primers using RCBS universal priming tool, which I never really like using for small primers as it seems to work better with large primers. Used a Redding #1 shell holder for which .357 Magnum seems to fit snugly. I had thought this was appropriate for .357 Magnum and I do use it for .41 Colt. I now see the #12 shell holder is for .357 Magnum, but there is no wiggle room at all. I visualize each primer to ensure not crooked and placed in the right direction. Nonetheless, at least 50% crushed, improperly seated. I would think it IS the wrong sized shell holder, in hindsight, except it seems the fit is so snug that the #1and #12 shell holders seem virtually the same.

Advice?

I mostly load large primer rounds—and now I see why!

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The Universal hand priming tool? Mine has a spring loaded snap "ring" that holds any cartridge from 32 to OMG. The only thing I make sure to do is switch out the setup from Small to large and back, have had perfect luck with that one for years.

Glad you found your problem and are working again.

orpington said:

I now see the #12 shell holder is for .357 Magnum, but there is no wiggle room at all.

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I was thinking the same thing as @LiveLife, in addition to your primer holder, there needs to be a minor amount of wiggle room for the primer to self center in the pocket. Good luck.

Ironicaintit said:

With practice it gets easier. And it doesn't hurt to have spare shell holders laying around.

I appreciate the design of the thing. The ergonomics are good, and it gives you a very fine sense of feel as to when the primer has bottomed out. Those are important qualities!

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Totally agree with that. A great tool compared to the rest. I started out with tubes on my RockChucker. Somebody blew one up somewhere in America, and all hell broke loose. About that time Lee invented the hand primer they used on their Lee Loader Target Model. Worked great so they decided to sell it by itself.......but they did require that you buy two, one for big and one for small. Only problem was they were not ergonomic, I got Lee Primer thumb in no time, and they wore out fast. RCBS decided to make one that lasted longer and was way more comfortable, and they came with parts included to do both sizes. Guess they assumed we would use the right ones for each size.........how dumb of them to think we could do that.....

I expect most of us who bought them, at least once or twice, forgot what was in them and tried priming with the wrong size rod. But in my case at least, it was my own fault for not remembering that I didn't buy another tool and mark each with with the words, "small" and "large".

As for shell holders, They were designed around RCBS shell holders....don't blame RCBS unless you use RCBS shell holders. That said, I've cussed them out for MY memory lapses too. Redding too, Lee too.

I use the LEE AUTO PRIME BENCH PRIMER loader and I love it, although it does have its problems with primers slipping down between the head and the tube, and sometimes they seat sideways so you have to check often how they are in the seat die tube. I love it because after 60 years in the sheet metal trade my wrist strength gives out and this mounts on a board with a leaded bottom and I can do it on my desk while watching TV. I have the RCBS hand primer and the RCBS Rockchucker II and the Supreme Press with the primer seat on it but I have problem with that one also so I use my Lee AUTO PRIME, Love it, about the only thing Lee makes that I use. Glad you figured it out!! Sometimes it pays to keep instructions and read them.

orpington said:

The RCBS priming tool I have, this not being the universal one, what a POOR, AWFUL, (insert your negative word of choice here) design!!! You have to take your shell holder off the press, put it on this tool, after you ensured the rod slid down, make sure the support to the rod is aligned, which usually isn’t the case, insert that arc piece, and use the screw piece to affix that, this piece often rolling across the floor with regularity, as opposed to the other multitude of pieces which do the same, but with less regularity!

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I felt exactly the same when I first got mine.

I've done the swap quite a few times since then. Far less aggravating now that I've learned how to overcome some of it's little 'tantrums'

orpington said:

WOW, I can’t believe the rest are worse!

Dirable, yes it is! Many parts and a pain to work with, no doubt!

I’m convinced if I had an engineering degree I could design something better.

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Just practice with it a bit omg.
I can swap it out from large to small or vice versa in like 20 seconds, without even swearing at it.

Walkalong, FWIW I have an RCBS bench primer mounted on a board that I C-clamp to my bench when I use it. I don't use it often, as I mostly prime on press while making pistol range fodder. But, I do use it for priming batches of rifle brass and it beats the devil out of a hand primer for doing more than just a few cases. I think you would enjoy one for batch loading off press. I opted for the strip feeder style since I already had an RCBS Pro 2000 press that uses strips, but I'm sure the tube style is just as easy to use, arthritis-wise. I don't know if RCBS still makes the strip feeder style or not, or if that's the style you would be interested in, but I did see where Midway has the tube feed style on sale for very nearly half price.

P.S. I haven't tried Forster's bench primer, so I can't offer a comparison, but I'm sure it's top notch as well.

RCBS has finished off APS completely this year. So unless you can find one on Ebay, that's no longer an option. I have both the bench and the hand versions of APS primer machines, my trusty Pro 2000 press and the APS loader that came with it.....slightly modified if you remember. I no longer can get CCI's in strips either. But with the loader, I don't care. It'll load any brand of primers in strips faster than I can load a tube, anyway. I've reused my strips over and over....but you have to store them flat. RCBS still sells the strip loader and strips direct...how much longer who knows.

Walkalong: If I ever see one of the old style hand primers, I'll let you know. They were indeed great ones.

Your 'Mod' partner, 9mmepiphany, has the new Lee ACP, he seems to love it.....I may get one just for fun. Maybe it can be converted to use the RCBS hand primer trays...even.

Walkalong said:

With my age and arthritis it's only a matter of time before I go to a bench mounted primer..

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When I have a small number of cases to prime, I still use a hand priming tool. When I gear up for a large reloading run on the progressive press, I have an RCBS bench priming tool that I c-clamp to the table.

Arthitus in the hands suck.

For the general forum population, my hand priming tools are RCBS with the universal shell holder. They work well for the most part but some cartridges like 25 ACP do not work well in the universal shell holder.

My bench mounted priming tool is an RCBS APS priming tool. I have obtained RCBS shell holders for the priming tool.

Finally, I have two priming tools of each type, one set up for small primers and one set up for large primers. Besides not having to change the primer tools between the different primer size, I have spare parts should I need them. I’ve found priming tools are more likely to have failures more than any other reloading tools.

I peeked in on Ebay tonight....someone is selling an APS primer tool, but it's a press-mounted one, so you'd need a little cheap single stage to use it....it's used so who knows what shape it's in........looks okay from the pictures, but that's no guarantee. I saw no early RCBS hand primers....but gobs of the new ones with the new trays...and even a Universal. And there's even a Hornady hand primer. Lee bench primers. Didn't see a Forster....

Not sure what this thread is about any longer since OP has addressed his original issue. But, as everyone is still posting about their preferred priming technique so will I.

I use Lee’s Safety prime mounted sideways on their Challenger single stage press as my exclusive method for both small and large. I have a Redding T-7 and could use their tube thing but why, it’s clunky and no where near as efficient as Lee’s. In fact, all other brands are equally clunky and in some respects dangerous (that’s a provocation for your entertainment).

(Picture only intended to show general configuration not an actual setup given decap/sizing die being installed.)

One of the most important operations in reloading is priming. Yet still people have trouble too often with it. Walkalong's trouble with Arthritis is also not a rare thing, so I think it's important to educate the pluses and minuses of each brand and method, to help people see all the options..

And there are minuses to each brand and method....no perfect method yet. The safest is APS, but it isn't perfect either.....and it is about dead, I think due to poor marketing, and lack of interest at RCBS to update and improve it. It's history, except for those who already have lots of strips and a strip loader to go with their primer, whether hand or bench or press.

To think RCBS went back to ugh tubes! One thing I won't do anymore (maybe age related, certainly patience related) is load them one at a time by hand, but tubes are a close second.

Your post about the latest Lee folding tray is welcome. It isn't perfect either.....less dangerous than tubes, but Lee still provides a "clunky" protection shield for their newest primer incarnation, the ACP, I assume for a reason. Your picture and description is a start......would like to know more about people's experiences with it and other folding tray applications plus and/or minuses. If we have to start a new thread, so be it, but I don't think anything to make primer loading easier, better, more safe is off topic. And loading small primers especially, since they seem to have the most bumps in the process.

I love my RCBS Bench Primer. 100 primers in the tube that I load with the FA Vibra Prime, put on a standard shell holder, drop in the right priming rod and ready to go. Takes about 10 minutes to prime a 100 cases, including filling the primer tube. Works incredibly simple, easy on your hands, and you can use the same tubes from pretty much any press on it.

I agree with Kaldor, Ive never had a problem with my RCBS bench priming tool. And I've never blown up a tube after loading them for many years.

orpington said:

Walkalong said:

Yep, I had to mod a couple of non RCBS shell holders, and just break down and buy RCBS ones as well.

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WOW, I can’t believe the rest are worse!

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LiveLife said:

orpington said:

RCBS universal priming tool ... Used a Redding #1 shell holder ... I now see the #12 shell holder is for .357 Magnum ... at least 50% crushed, improperly seated ... Advice?

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Sounds to me the snug shell holder is not allowing proper alignment for primer to enter pocket mouth and being crushed

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orpington said:

I corrected this problem and the rest loaded fine. My guess is the Redding shell holder #1 is slightly more snug than desired, causing the round to seat ever so slightly off center and too much wiggle room with the large primer setup caused the problem ... I had simply forgotten to switch this out, and I was in the wrong.

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So the solution is to use RCBS shell holder with this hand primer (And to use small primer setup for small primers)?

Are other members having the same issues of using non-RCBS shell holder with the same hand primer?

LiveLife said:

Are other members having the same issues of using non-RCBS shell holder with the same hand primer?

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Not as far as alignment goes.... but I have some Hornady shell holders that must be just a tad thicker across the bottom, because the tool bottoms out before the primer does.