Hand priming tools

[lee n. field]

This one is interesting; I guess I didn't look at it much before since its average review on Midway is not as good as the others. It does look like it has a nice feature set though... will it work with .223 Rem cases? It says it works on case heads down to the size of .32 auto, but I'm not familiar with the dimensions of that cartridge.

Call RCBS and ask.

My Speer manual shows case diameter at the base for .32 ACP at .3365". For .223, the same dimension is .3773", so yeah, it should work.

 

[GP100man]

+1 for the hornady hand primer, i have mine set up for small pistol primers .
it sits in the hand & you use all of the fingers to seat with ,important when you have itisis in you hands !!!
my lee auto prime sits on a rcbs partener press for seating large primers.
once again the hornady handles the smallpistol primers good enuff for me ,&WWSP boxes will fit inside of the hornady tray.

GP100man

 

[dmftoy1]

The RCBS with universal head has worked for me from .223 - .50 S&W with no problems. I've never tried it with anything smaller than .223.

Regards,
dave

 

[Noxx]

Of the hand primers I've used I recommend the RCBS tool, I was happy with it and it was very reliable.

Currently I let my press do the priming, but I keep the RCBS around in case.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

I have 2 of the RCBS/APS and find them worth the effort. I have the original Lee and an early Autoprime and found each of the Lee a vast improvement as each became available. Much better than priming on the press or the then common RCBS bench mount with the tipping tubular reservoir or priming on the 310 tool I started with. BUT priming odd head sizes or odd size primers or some Berdan takes tools that do that.

 

[RidgwayCO]

I had a Lee hand priming tool and it just never felt "right" to me. I then purchased an RCBS hand priming tool (not the universal model) and have been very satisfied with it for more than 15 years.

 

[Thirties]

I had the Hornady and sold it to a buddy because it only worked with Hornady and RCBS shellholders

Too bad you never saw the instructions or the little spare parts that come with it. They have two different sized pusher tubes. One for Hornady shellholders, another for the rest. They come with all you need to load large or small primers as well.

 

[dmftoy1]

Believe it or not, I read the instructions and it only came with one for Hornady and one supposedly for RCBS and others. The RCBS "and others" wouldn't fit in a lyman shellholder, nor would the hornady one . . .believe me I tried . .even boogered up a shellholder trying to modify it to work with the damn thing one day when I was desparate.

 

[Thirties]

It worked with my Reddings and RCBS. I probably don't have any Lymans.

 

[BigJakeJ1s]

Big +1 for RCBS Universal Hand primer (square tray). I still use my old lee for small primers (only one cartridge I reload takes those, and I don't reload very many of them).

I suggested last week on RCBS' website that they come out with an RCBS Universal hand primer "add-on kit" which would consist of just another handle without the primer punches, primer guides, tools, or tray. That way, one could just use the extra punch and guide from their Universal Hand primer, and have two handles ready to go (the tray just slides in/out of the handle, and could be shared easily between them). Haven't heard anything back... maybe if more reloaders suggested the same thing?... Failing that, I asked how much for the parts to assemble my own extra handle (prolly more than a whole 'nother unit)

BTW, for those who have the older, round tray model, and would like to use the newer square tray (it feeds better from its corner than round trays do), RCBS also offers a square tray upgrade kit. The larger square tray also lets you set a factory sleeve down inside it, so that all the primers come out right side up without even shaking it.

Andy

 

[bl4ckd0g]

I use the RCBS hand prime tool and just use the larger priming rod for all cases.

I purchased it after I returned my Lee hand primer.

 

[Owens]

If you want to spend some bucks, there is the Sinclair model. No primer feed though. A lot of benchrest shooters use these. They say it has a better 'feel' when seating the primer.
Priming tool