hand prime vs press prime?

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using a LCT now and curious about press priming vs hand priming.

I'm new to reloading so want to be as simple as possible. I'm using a lee hand primer now but the press comes with a priming tool.

whats your thoughts and why?
 
RCBS Hand Primer here....I can prime 100 cases in 6 minutes

RCBS primer on the Rock crusher is 20-30 minutes...picking those slippery little suckers up is the worst part!

Did a check of seating depth and both are equal !

Hand primer is the only way I'll ever go!

(I do 500 to 1500 reloads a week)
 
I have a Hornady hand primer and it has never really worked out for me. I find either the primer doesn't fully enter the chamber causing it to catch as I try to seat it or the brass moves a little and it won't seat or maybe the primer flips over somehow. I dunno, just haven't been thrilled with hand priming. Plus, if I were to catch a partially inserted primer while squeezing the handle and have it go off, I'm thinking there are going to be a number of other primers very close by in the tray when that happens. I'm not so much worried for myself, but I have a dog that sticks to me like glue when I'm home. A kaboom at the reloading bench and he'd never help me reload again in his life. The Lee Safety Prime seems about the safest method ever thought up. I find priming as the ram goes down from belling the case mouth is the way that works for me.
 
I prefer hand priming. It takes a step out of loading letting me concentrate on that more. I also size before loading on the LNL as well.
 
Hand prime. Use rcbs and lee. Lee pinched unil I covered the slot with some elctrical tape. The only thing I found the priming arm useful on lct was when decapping, with it in place the spent primers go where they are supposd to instead of spitting out.
 
ansel - I have the hornady primer now too.. I definitely prefer lee hand primers, but mine does work, with 2-3% primers flipping over, not ideal in my behavior
 
Hornady hand primer. The 2 or 3 flipped primers shake right side up easily. Occasionally one will flip on pressing the handle but I deprime it and put it in right.

It is fast and easy and I like checking the seating in the finished case.
 
I prefer the feel of the hand primer.

I actually bought a couple of the OLD style Lee hand primers, just in case I broke one. I don't like the newer Lee hand primers (Ergo-prime, etc.).

I never use the primer on the LCT press.
 
With arthritis in my hands I press prime. I use my LNL-AP press for the most part to do this, some time my Redding Boss II with the auto feed setup. My LNL has not missed a lick in 10's of 1000s primers. It all about developing the feel. You can do it on most press just have to learn what it feels like with the primers bottoms in the pocket. And what is a miss que.
 
Priming

I have used the RCBS Bench Primer for so long, I can't remember when I got it. As far as handling the primers, I have a set of tweesers that are about 8 inches long. I have the primer flipper trays, and pick them up easily without physically touching them. There is just something about the LCT seating the primer 4 times with the 4 pistol die set.
 
I like hand priming instead of using the press to do it. I have a much better feel of what's going on when I hand prime.
 
Reading the post above, I'm the odd one, in that I prefer my progressive to prime with. I also have a RCBS universal hand primer.
 
I usually size then prime my brass to be loaded later so i can quickly load up rounds starting with primed cases. I use a hand primer for this since I can sit on the couch watching a movie and prime a whole bunch of cases.
 
I prime on the press. Using a lee breech lock single stage. I can feel them fine. Its nice to mass decap then prime my 9mm especially since I store my cases ready to go.

I can see a hand primer being nice for the rifle stuff. I tried it for the first time recently for 223, it's defiantly not the same feel as the single stage, but again nice to just send the case thru each die.
 
I'm in agreement with the majority and hand prime all my brass. Twice I have got the urge to reinstall the press priming tube on my RCBS turret press and give it another try and twice I have removed it. I just prefer the "feel" and the consistency that you get with hand priming.
 
I have only primed on press with a LCT. I do not own a hand prime so obviously its the only way I know. I've wished I had a hand prime as it might be easier to do a batch fast, esp for pistol. I have no issues running 100+ rounds in under an hour so I'm not concerned about speed. I get a decent "feel" though the press, and I've never had an issue.

All that said someday I'll have a hand prime.

jeff
 
I first bought the RCBS hand primer. It works, but it's a pain in the tookus to change shellholders and gate slide can and does hang. So I bought the new Lee bench primer and love it!
 
scythefwd said:
another option to look at is a bench top primer. RCBS makes a nice one, and lee has introduced one as well...
Click to expand...
That would be my suggestion. Either way its best to have 2 ways to prime in case one fails.

I have a hand primer but i use the progressive press for pistol caliber priming.

I'm gearing up for rifle loading and i am going to prime those on a single stage. To start.




Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk
 
I only use the Lee Safety Prime attachment with my LCT. Don't even own a hand prime tool. I find it more than sensitive enough to feel when I have a seating problem or loose primer pocket. If I only had a single stage press or was reloading extreme precision, benchrest rifle ammunition, then I'd consider hand priming, but using the turret and then going back to hand-priming seems to defeat the purpose of having the turret to begin with. Of course, I don't even bother with cleaning primer pockets for pistol ammo..........but that's just me.
 
RCBS press mounted primer system. Been using it for about 25 years now, loading thousands or pistol and rifle rounds every year. Never an issue or problem. My system uses the tubes to pick up and hold the primers.
 
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