accurate priming??

[nra-for-life]

hi everyone, im trying to figure out what priming tool to buy.

id like to get the most accurate tool i can but not trade off too much for speed either. i was looking at the rcbs bench auto prime, the forster bench primer seater, and the km hand tool with the guage.

the km hand tool seems like the most accurate as it actually measures the seating depth, but the negative is that you have to load each primer individually, which seems like it would be pretty time consuming and also this tool is the most expensive.

both the rcbs and forster seem to have a lot of happy users, these tools seem to go off of feel? the forster is the cheapest and has some additional safety features that the rcbs doesnt have. also since my press is a co-ax i dont have shell holders and the forster would be convienient as i wouldnt need to buy the shellholders just to prime.

if anyone has any experience with any of these please give me your thoughts, or if you have any recomendations on another model, then im all ears. also im curious about how important a consistant seating depth is, or, more particularly how it pertains to accuracy.

 

[jcwit]

I have and use these priming tools:

The OLD Lee one at a time with the threaded shell holders, have 3 of them dedicated to caliber

Lee Auto Prime w/round primer tray

K&M single prime tool (My Favorite)

Hornady Hand Priming tool

Yes I would say the one at a time tools are slower, but not by much and when loading accurate ammo speed is not a concern of mine. Plus I usually prime while watching TV so again time is not a consequense.

BTW the K&M and the Sinclare Priming Tools are very similar with the K&M being much more reasonably priced. IMHO

 

[res45]

Old Lee hand priming tool,have one each for L & S primers. One is 25+ years old and and the other is about 10 both have worked perfectly and had no primer issues.

 

[Walkalong]

I have an RCBS that I have used for over 20 years. I like it a lot. If the primer seating stem is too long or two short, the only way to adjust it is to make a new one the length you need. My Sinclair has shims to adjust it with, but the only thing I ever used it for was 6PPC in my Bench gun.

After over 20 years of use the slack from wear (I guess) made it so the large seater stem in my RCBS was not seating large primers, especially in .45, deep enough, so I made a new one a little longer. Works like a champ.

 

[BYJO4]

I have also used the RCBS bench priming tool for over 30 years. It does a fantastic job and is very fast.

 

[Michael R.]

i use the rcbs hand primer. it works very well. however, changing from large to small is kind of a pain, so i reccomend buying 2, one for large and one for small.

 

[BinRat]

I load on the Rock Chucker and prime solely using the RCBS bench top Automatic Priming Tool, which I've had for 35+ years. I really like it because it gives a good feel for when the primer is seated properly, it's quick once you get the rhythm, and it's ultra simple to change from small to large primers. I attach it to the bench using a small C-clamp, which holds it securely for operation, but allows me to reposition it or completely remove it if I desire. I highly recommend it.

This is my first post since joining. I've been visiting every day and finally decided to throw in my 2 cents worth. I've found a lot of very interesting and useful information on this forum.

 

[BinRat]

Sorry...post repeated...like I said, my first post

 

[Searcher4851]

I can't say much about the others. My RCBS auto prime has worked well for me for the last 30 or so years. I get a good feel for the seating of the primer with it. The only drawback is loading the tubes.

 

[mdi]

I have found that I have a better "feel" when I use a Ram Prime set up on my press. I've used the Lee hand held primers (new), and a Hornady hand held, but I am more accurate Ram Priming on my old C-H...

 

[Revolver218]

I have 2 priming tools, an RCBS Hand Primer (the one with the square tray) and an RCBS Auto Priming Tool. Of the two I like the Auto Tool best. Very fast and seats the primers well. It's so sensitive you can tell which primers you're using (ex. CCI seat harder than Federal). Tube holds 100 primers and is easy to load. Very well made and easy to switch between small and large primers (the hand tool is not as easy, as others have noted).

 

[BADUNAME37]

I like my RCBS Bench-Mounted priming tool.

I prime my cases the way I seat my bullets, that is, start the primer, go in about half way, lower the ram and turn the case half a turn (180 degrees) then fully-seat the primer. Does it help? Maybe, but it certainly cannot HURT anything!

 

[medalguy]

I use the RCBS bench mounted autoprime tool. In fact I'm on my third tool, having worn out the first two. One great thing about RCBS is they will replace anything that wears out.

I load lots of both rifle and pistol. I prep all my brass, prime it on the RCBS tool, them go to the Dillon presses to load it. I much prefer the feel of the RCBS tool over the Dillon, and if for some reason a primer doesn't seat correctly, it's no problem to toss it aside, much easier than trying to remove a case during the Dillon cycling of the press.

 

[gamestalker]

I've been using an RCBS priming die since I started reloading over 30 years ago, and I'll never change to anything else. Since I load only on single stage presses, time isn't much of a factor for me, but precision is important to me, and in that regard a priming die is about as good as it gets, in my opinion. I can understand not wanting to touch primer's also, but to remedy that I just put on a pair of latex gloves when I'm reloading because I don't like to touch any of the components.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

RCBS hand primer for rifle rounds, for pistols I recently started priming on the press with the Lee Classic turret press and the Safety Prime.

I've been using that RCBS hand primer for years with no issues...I just wanted to speed up my pistol reloading a bit so I got the turret press for that.

 

[Jdillon]

I have used the majority of those listed above and they all work but these days exclusively use the Sinclair priming tool for all my rifle loads that are loaded on a single stage press.

 

[FROGO207]

I have several and use them all.
Lee Ram Prime
Lee hand held primer, one large one small (round style)
Lee single one with threaded inserts, four of them
RCBS press mounted
RCBS turret press mounted, takes time to fill the tubes and I feel is unwieldy to use
Lyman Spar-T press mounted
All work well but the most used one is the Lee hand held round tray type. I find that I can feel the primer seat with more sensitivity when using this type. YMMV

 

[JimKirk]

I love the primer seater built into the CoAx press... I've not found any hand tool that will seat primers any better... it is somewhat slower, but I batch process my brass anyway... been using it since early '70s....

 

[41 Mag]

I'm not sure just how accurate your accuracy needs are, but for about the last 25 years I have used the Lee hand primer for about 98% of my loading, some have been seated with the little primer deal on my Rock Chucker, and the rest being loads from my progressive which really don't count as to what your looking for.

I have found no issues with the Lee, other than my thumb getting sore during big batches, and that is more from it being dislocated years ago and it simply don't hold up to the repeated pressing for too long.

As for accurate loads, I usually can get my loads easily worked into an inch or less with a little patience, but in my case, I have found this has more to do with seating depth or powder than with what the primer was seated with.