RCBS Hand Primer Tool

This hand primer is simple to use and I have used it to push in thousands of primers. I don't like to prime on my presses, just the way I like to do things. I also have the RCBS bench primer which also works great.

I learned on a 650, taught myself with zero experience. Teach him patience and how to use it.

I believe you should have two trays. The chute into the priming tool would be a different width. One for small and one for large primers.

But I've slept since I set mine up and I am not at home to verify.

I have only one tray and use it for both large and small primers. Be sure that the top is mashed all the way in in the center or the small primers can turn on you. Small primers are a general pain...

I have one and it is a pain to use. You have to watch very closely what is going on as you use it. You don't want to tip or tilt it too much. And converting to different size primers is a pain so I don't use it very often.

Mine is very easy to use, and like my Lee priming tool, comes with two separate assemblies for large and small primers. It sounds like the large primer block may have been used for smaller primers. The instruction manual is very comprehensive. I use my Lee priming tool for pistol, and the RCBS for rifle.

I have the RCBS universal tool, I liked it so much I bought a second one so I would not have to convert it from small primers to large primers.

I would be lost without mine!

cfullgraf said:

I believe you should have two trays. The chute into the priming tool would be a different width. One for small and one for large primers.

But I've slept since I set mine up and I am not at home to verify.

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OK, I looked at my RCBS hand priming tools and yes, there is only one tray. It is my old Lee Auto-Prime that has two trays, one for small, one for large primers.

As judgedelta said, you have to have the cover completely installed. I make sure the primers are clear of the center post and carefully push the cover home. If the cover snaps in place, primers can get flipped.

The cover keeps the primers from tuning over inside the tray but only when installed properly.

My RCBS hand priming tool is the one with the universal shell holder. I do not find it to be a pain to use with either small or large primers.

I removed the plastic gate that shuts off the tray, not the gate that the handle engages during priming. I am not sure it would cause any problems but it looked like a problem waiting to happen.

A few small shakes of the tool work better for feeding primers into the priming area than one or two big ones. I keep it angled so that the primers flow to and down the chute.

You do have to make sure a primer is in place before inserting a case. It is easier to shake the tool a little to get the primer in place when you can see what is going on. Then, you have seen that the primer is properly positioned for seating.

If the primer does not start properly, don't force it. I rotate and wiggle the case which gets the primer centered and then it installs properly and easily.

I have two of the priming tools, one set up for large primers, the other set up for small primers. In part, it saves time, but in decades past when I was using the Lee Auto-Prime, I'd break a part on Sunday afternoon when stores were closed. (Remember the blue laws?) With two tools on hand, I had spares to keep going.

Over the years, Lee improved the parts that wore out or broke so it became less of an issue. I have yet to break anything on the RCBS tool.

I have one of these that I use, and it works well. However, it is a lot of work to simply replace a shellholder. Okay, still relatively simple, but it seems to me that there could be a better one of these devices engineered by RCBS to make removing and installing a shellholder not such a multi-step process.

I had one, sold it. Now I use the Lee primer tool. I bought 2, one for L primers and one for S primers. fits my loading set up quite nice.

mikemyers said:

'orpington' - those parts are supposed to be disassembled every 500 rounds for lubricating.

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Guess my RCBS priming tools are past due for lubrication.

I have the RCBS tool.

I definitely, every so often, have a primer end up in the "priming shoot" sitting on its side. I've developed the habit of squeezing the handle so the primer gets raised and I visually inspect that the primer orientation is correct prior to inserting a case into the shellholder. When it is not I can get it oriented correctly at the top of the primer tool stroke - when the primer is sitting just under the shellholder.

I've also learned to adjust/wiggle the case as the primer approaches case. You can "feel" the optimum case placement in the shellholder to get it aligned. Before doing this I would occasionally have cases that were slightly misaligned and I'd end up mashing the primer.

Changing the shellholder is a pain. I've found if you let go of the squeezing handle while that black retaining bar is removed makes it really hard to get it all back together. I've learned to squeeze it half way and do the entire shellholder replacement exercise while never letting go of the handle.

Lastly, always ensure the flat end of the priming rod is up - so it is the surface contacting the primer. The other end of that rod is rounded. That needs to be down towards the base of the tool.

OR

Learn to use the primer feed system on the Dillon. It is a lot more efficient.

For single stages (think rifles) I use the RCBS so I don't have to handle primers with my fingers.

Forget Lee. they make a lot of good products, but the hand primer is not one of them.

Just goes to show you, everybody interacting with a tool of whatever nature will have impressions unique to themselves. I used a Lee hand held auto prime since sometime in the 80s. It would flip primers or seat them sideways or whatever, from time to time, but the feel on seating primers is unsurpassed even all these years later. Used the RCBS bench primer for awhile, used press priming, etc. over the years. They are all capable of doing a good job.

Today I adore the RCBS APS hand priming tool. Never a flipped primer. Ever. A magnificent tool. Not the same feel as the Lee AutoPrimer, but in all a better setup. Same said too for the Lee Safety Prime on my turret press. It is far from perfect, but if one does his job, takes his time and verifies that a primer is indeed in the little cup on the ram, it works every time.

Maybe 10 years ago I bought a Dillon Super 1050 setup. It was a nice tool for sure. When it ran right I could load many, many, rounds. I'm still shooting ammo made on that press all those years ago. I seem to remember disassembling that darn thing many times to correct some issue with the primers, or to clean the mechanism that slid them from the tube to the primer punch. Too, the primer seating consistency was maybe not all that I thought it should be.

Just the compatibility issue forced me to fix that 1050 primer setup rather than hand prime off the press. So, as Jaysouth suggests, it would perhaps be better to learn to use the priming system on the press to speed things up, once your buddy figures out the basics.

I think the RCBS priming tool is great. I have tried others, on and off the press. I still use the RCBS. It has great “feel”. I can tell if a primer is going in too tight or too loose.
It sets up easy. Whats not to love. I would rather prime pistol cases on my press but I have never got it to run “one hundred percent”. The hand primer isn't 100% either but
when it screws up the case is in my hand not in a shell plate stuck between sizing and belling.

Bad choice of words, the tool doesn't screw up, I do. I think, and Hornady has told me, my priming issues are because I don’t sort my brass well enough. Fair point. When I
run into a case with a crimped or otherwise tight pocket (think S&B) the tool just stops. I pull the case and set it aside till later. Without screwing up my powder drop or
otherwise confusing me.

Most importantly it allows me to prime sitting on the patio or at the kitchen table.

I really like and prefer using the RCBS hand primer. When I first set up my RCBS turret press I soon removed the priming system that came with it after many headaches trying to get primers to seat consistently.

Only problem I ever experienced was that the cover on the hand primer would not stay down tight and primers would flip inside the tray. RCBS quickly sent me one of the newer "square" covers that snap in place and I haven't had a problem since.

My take is that you try whatever you want and move on if it is not "good enough". I started with a Lee single hand primer. Then to the Lee hand primer with the round type tray. I still have three of these, one for spare parts and use 2 of them set up LP/SP to this day. I also tried a couple brands of ram primers, a RCBS hand primer with tray and some others I forget but always gravitated back to the Lee hand primers because I believe the "feel" is more sensitive when seating. I do have the problem with flipped primers if I do not pay attention but I should be paying attention anyway. I have given away several hand and press primers to others to get them started because I feel they were not best for me but still serviceable to somebody that had none.

I have no experience with the new Lee or RCBS hand primers with the cutout however so no help there.

There is a long, long, thread here about someone who was quite familiar with the Dillon and reloading, and didn't do something most of the rest of us might have done, but it still went 'boom' and hurt him quite badly. It could have been worse.

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I do not know what event you are referring to but there was a reloader using a 550 B that folded a primer tube full of primers. The primer tube opened up at the fold. He posted pictures of his hand, most blamed static electricity. I have no ideal how static electricity would jump from primer to primer instead of around the primers through the tube, something like anti magnetic watches.

F. Guffey

cfullgraff has it right, if the top clear plastic cover isnt all the way on the primers can turn on you.

Also gently squeeze with the small primer attachment. For some reason, I have a tendency to "over do it" applying so much pressure the primer is seated and then crushed in the pocket causing ignition problems. I dont have this problem with large primers, only small.