rcbs hand primer?

[Axis II]

well I think I'm going to give up on lee with priming.

I took the shells I had issues with to the reloading shop and 3 guys all said the primer wasn't seated all the way. I explained that the LCT press stops and wont let me seat them anymore. they suggested I stop using the rcbs shell holder and try the lee shell holder and see if that helps.

the safety prime wont stay lined up for the arm and wont set a primer consistently and I was priming while sitting watching tv.

I had a lee autoprime round tray and lee said they want it back and half off their new hand primers. all the reviews are saying junk! plastic breaking, not seating right, etc.

I'm interested in RCBS and see they offer several ones.

what do you guys recommend?

 

[Reloadron]

There are several of them from RCBS, RCBS Hand Priming Tools. I have the Universal flavor which works fine but I still use my old Lee with the round trays and will till it breaks. The merit to the RCBS Universal is there is no need for shell holders. That is the $51 flavor. They all do the same thing. The merit to hand priming as you have learned is the "feel" seems better to many of us. There are literally dozens of hand and bench type priming tools out there. Some guys even like the RCBS strips. Just a matter of getting something and becoming proficient with it. I like the RCBS Universal, does that mean it is great? Nope, just means I like it.

Ron

 

[tallwalker]

I have a Lee (junk), RCBS (better but finicky when they get a little wear), and a Sinclair priming tool. If you want to sit and watch TV and prime, get the Sinclair for sure. You will have it the rest of your life and it will be consistent with the same feel the whole time. Pricey, but buy once cry once. Personally, I started using the priming system on my Forster press and found that once I got the feel for it I love it. Just switched from watching TV to listening to the radio now!

 

[Axis II]

I really wanted the lee safety prime to work but after the rounds not going off, the priming tool not staying in place and having to click it 2-3 times to get a primer I got a little irritated. you guys are right as I could feel the primers seat with the hand tool I had. I got an inkling to see just how strong gorilla glue is and glue the broken handle back together.

I told the guy at the shop the handle and ram bottom out and if I push anymore to seat them I'm going to snap the press handle. I'm going to give this new shell holder a shot tomorrow if it works it works but either way I'm still getting a hand primer.

I seen rcbs made several was just wondering why so many and what you guys like. the universal seems good that it does all shells.

 

[Cheesemaker]

My Lee hand primer from 8 or so years ago works for me - and has for ~4k+ rounds. If I was to get another RCBS would be my first choice.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I have a Lee Safety Prime that I don't use, I still use the old Lee Auto Prime.

I couldn't get the Safety Prime to work properly on my Lee Classic Turret, so I took it apart and with a razor knife and a 4" file I knocked the burrs off and it worked fine on the one job I used it on. Have you looked closely at the Safety Prime, it might just need deburring.

 

[JO JO]

I have both the RCBS Universal and the standard RCBS that uses shell holders I like them
both the universal is really nice but i found with small case heads like .223 the universal
sometimes has a poor grip on the case head so I use the standard one with a shell holder
for .223

 

[Shaq]

I have both the RCBS & Hornady hand primer tools. I prefer the Hornady. The primers are perfectly seated & not distorted; they look like factory ammo.

 

[Axis II]

I have a Lee Safety Prime that I don't use, I still use the old Lee Auto Prime.

I couldn't get the Safety Prime to work properly on my Lee Classic Turret, so I took it apart and with a razor knife and a 4" file I knocked the burrs off and it worked fine on the one job I used it on. Have you looked closely at the Safety Prime, it might just need deburring.

what did you debur? I could deal with the tool not staying inline with the ram arm but not seating all the way doesn't work for me.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have and like the RCBS Universal shell holder hand priming tools, both standard tray and the APS strip model.

The universal shell holder works well except once in a while if you push too hard the case will launch across the room. Also, I have one or two cartridges that just does wont work in universal shell holder. Brass .410 hulls is one and I think 25 ACP may be the other. For the former, I still have my Lee round tray priming tool and it primes the .410 hulls just fine. I use an RCBS bench mounted priming tool that uses press shell holders for the other.

I like the APS strip system and use it for pre-priming cases when loading large batches of ammunition on a progressive press. I do this on the bench priming system. But, it can be a pain if you do not get pre-loaded strips. My hands cannot handle priming larges batches of cases anymore with a hand priming tool.

For small batches, the hand priming tool is quick and great.

Finally, I keep two identical priming tools on hand, one set up for large primers and the other set up for small primers. Back in the early 1980's, I'd wear out a Lee priming tool about once a year and the failure would invariably happen on a Sunday when stores were closed (remember the Blue laws?). Since I had "spares" on hand, I could keep going.

 

[Reloadron]

I have and like the RCBS Universal shell holder hand priming tools, both standard tray and the APS strip model.

The universal shell holder works well except once in a while if you push too hard the case will launch across the room. Also, I have one or two cartridges that just does wont work in universal shell holder. Brass .410 hulls is one and I think 25 ACP may be the other. For the former, I still have my Lee round tray priming tool and it primes the .410 hulls just fine. I use an RCBS bench mounted priming tool that uses press shell holders for the other.

I like the APS strip system and use it for pre-priming cases when loading large batches of ammunition on a progressive press. I do this on the bench priming system. But, it can be a pain if you do not get pre-loaded strips. My hands cannot handle priming larges batches of cases anymore with a hand priming tool.

For small batches, the hand priming tool is quick and great.

Finally, I keep two identical priming tools on hand, one set up for large primers and the other set up for small primers. Back in the early 1980's, I'd wear out a Lee priming tool about once a year and the failure would invariably happen on a Sunday when stores were closed (remember the Blue laws?). Since I had "spares" on hand, I could keep going.

And this is why I have several priming tools. Something always breaks when you can't easily replace it. I remember one Sunday morning when I could not find any of my powder funnels. I have like 5 of the things and could not find one! Try to find powder funnels in Cleveland, Ohio on a Sunday morning!

Ron

 

[Reefinmike]

It is very likely you just arent pushing em in hard enough, I had issues with high riding primers when I first got started loading. certain brass- lc, win, sb, and a few others give more resistance and before I developed a technique, I really had to put a lot of umph into the press, tipping my chair back putting all my weight into it.

The lee on press primer design is certainly more than capable of pushing a primer in well below flush. I just measured my primer ram to shell plate base when the press is bottomed out and the primer ram travels .074" deeper than flush.

I recall having to use a provided(with the press) spacer when switched out my old style delux turret press for the nicer classic cast press. The spacer allowed the priming lever and safety prime to meet up properly height-wise. Sometimes primers will hang up in the hopper area of the safetyprime, I just occasionally shake it to move em down and keep an eye out to make sure that I have a sufficient number of primers at bat.

I would still recommend getting a hand primer, I prefer it even though my lee press does a fine job. I have the aps strip model with universal shellholder as well as the non aps model without the universal shellholder. I slightly favor the aps strip model but you will also need to buy cci aps strips of primers and the tool to reload your own primer strips.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have used a Lee for a long time. Yes, it is pot metal junk, but it works until the little metal arm thingie breaks, so I have spares.

I recently bought an RCBS hand primer to prime 50/70 brass because Lee does not sell that shell holder. The RCBS is difficult to setup and I immediate lost a tiny part, rendering it inoperative. They sent me a couple replacement parts for free, so I will set it up for that caliber and leave it there, as the thing is wayyyyy to finicky and hard to setup. RCBS should be ashamed for designing and selling the kludgey thing.

 

[bbqreloader]

Hunter, just to throw it out there, RCBS does make a bench one, the Auto Prime, that is really nice. Have used it for the last year and love it! Just a suggestion.

 

[2011redrider]

Have both the RCBS hand primer and bench primer, bot are in the APS strips. The hand primer works fine with the universal head without she'll holders. My hand gets tired after a 100 or so cases. I usually use the bench primer for larger batches and it works great, adjustable for seating depth too. Takes a few strips to get used to loading the strips in the RCBS loader. Bought the loader off eBay and got a spare when I bought my pro 2000 press.
All my priming is with APS now and very pleased with it.

Also started with a Lee hand primer, RCBS just feels better built. Lee was one with round trays that just sits now.

 

[Walkalong]

I have an old RCBS hand primer and it works great. I can prime a few hundred cases at a time without issues. I have an RCBS strip primer and while it works great, the leverage is different, you have to bring the handle in much closer to the main body than you do on the other one, it's harder to squeeze and hurts to prime more than a couple hundred at a time. Youngsters would have no problem.

 

[Parman]

I had the Lee hand primer and I decided to go with this one from RBCS. I really like it and have had zero issues with it. No shell holders required with this particular model.

 

[ajandrs]

I have the RCBS hand priming tool and I have had no real issues with it. To be fair it's the only way I've ever primed so I have nothing to compare it to, but I think it's great. The only complaint I have, if you want to call it that, is that the plastic cover doesn't attach securely to the tray. The first couple times I used it it wiggled up just enough for some primers to flip over. To fix this I simply use a couple of those black paper clamps, the ones you'd use to clamp together a big stack of paper. I throw one of those on each side and it's been perfect ever since. I can sit on the couch with the TV on and blow (not literally) through cases very quickly. Link to the one I have below.

http://www.amazon.com/RCBS-90200-Hand-Priming-Tool/dp/B000PW71LO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1464354235&sr=8-3&keywords=rcbs+primer

 

[doubleh]

I am using an RCBS hand tool that uses shell holders and it does an excellent job. If the universal model had been available at the time I would have bought it but I see no reason to change now that it is.

 

[joem1945]

I agree the "new lee hand primer" is poor at best. The older round one was way better. I thought I'd try it after the round one wore out. I will not buy another. I have a RCBS bench prime tool. I'll use that from now on.

 

[fotheringill]

I decided to take the human factors, such as touch, out of my priming regimen.

I have an unopened hand primer (I think Lyman or Hornady) but use exculsively a RCBS Ram Primer. Set and lock the die to prime to the desired depth. No "feel" is required or desired. I am not endorsing RCBS over other ram primers. It is just the one purchased.

 

[GBExpat]

... I had a lee autoprime round tray and lee said they want it back and half off their new hand primers. all the reviews are saying junk! plastic breaking, not seating right, etc.

I'm interested in RCBS and see they offer several ones.

what do you guys recommend?

For many years, while I was using my RCBS JR3 single stage press, my preferred method for priming cases was an RCBS Hand Priming Tool (90200).

I added a few steel washers to the Safety Gate Assy so that the Primer Rods cannot extend too far when pressing in the primers.

Sorry to hear that the LCT/Safety Prime isn't working for you ...

I haven't used my RCBS Hand Priming Tool since switching to an LCT ~18 months ago.

I got 2 sets of the Lee Safety Prime pairs so that I can have one/each always loaded for small & large, pistol & rifle primers. They work great for me.

 

[Parman]

I had their old Lee press and it worked great. I wore it out to the point that the cover wouldn't stay on the primer try. Bought the new Lee and didn't like it. So I elected to go with the universal RCBS

 

[Reloadron]

Top left corner is another priming tool I like. Not as quick as the hand held units but really seats primers well. Does require a shell holder. Have to hand feed one primer at a time but it is safe and gets them in there bottoming out the primers no problem.



Ron

 

[Axis II]

I think I'm going with one of the RCBS hand primers. I try and go with lee cause I'm poor but having this cheap plastic, pot metal stuff breaking isn't flying.

I'm going to test out the lee shell holder in the classic turret tonight and if it doesn't work I'm done messing with it.

Midway has both hand primers on sale, going to see how much fin feather fur wants and go from there.