Originally Posted by
rototerrier
Ok guys, I'll try to do the best I can to explain this so it makes sense. I went thru this search several months ago and bought and returned several units before stumbling on the holy grail. My original Lee hand primer failed and they no longer offer parts. I needed something new and this is what I did.
1) Bought the Lee Auto Prime Ergo. This is the one that you use your entire hand. This thing was the worst of the worst. It was big and bulky and felt like it was purpose built just to put blisters on your fingers. Primers would flip in the tray, flip in the body, get hung up. Just a horrible tool. Returned it immediately.
2) Bought the Lee Auto Prime. This is the one that just uses your thumb and is the replacement for the original. I wound up keeping this because it is so cheap and does do a decent job, but the little plastic inserts for large/small primers are garbage. Already broke one and had to get them to send me another. Primers will flip in the tray, get jammed in the body, etc. I've managed to tweak it to get it to work fairly well, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original, much more simplistic, version that they no longer offer parts for. I don't love it, but I don't hate it enough to not keep it...if that makes sense.
3) RCBS Universal. 3 Major Complaints with this one that resulted in me returning it.
a) Pain in the butt of switch from small to large primers, compared to other primer systems.
b) The primer tray has a little post in the center of the lid that has to snap into the bottom tray where the primers lay. At least 9/10 times it will snap with enough jolt that primers will flip while trying to put the lid on. Absolutely the most horrible tray design ever.
c) That universal shell holder is way slower to use than a regular shell holder. 45-70, which I load often enough, requires a lot of effort to get in. I also found 9mm was hard to get centered up once put in and I'd have to jiggle to get primers to line up with the case. When doing thousands of rounds, it just became very cumbersome and isn't nearly as smooth and quick to operate as a regular shell holder.
4) RCBS Hand Primer. I figured I liked the design of the universal well enough that if I just eliminted the univeral shell holder, I'd be happy. Well, turns out that wasn't true. The regular one has this horrible plastic large/small primer assembly that will only fit RCBS shell holders. I was able to dremel out the base of my lee holders to get them to work, but yet more frustration. Then there's still the same issues as above with the slow large/small primer swap and the same stupid tray design that causes primers to flip. Returned it!
5) The holy grail. Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Perfect Seat Hand Priming Tool. It's a mouth full! This thing is beefy, smooth, and feels great in the hand. Comes with all the shell holders you'll ever need and even comes in a nice case to keep everything organized. There's not a single thing I dislike about it, so I'll just tell you about all the things I do like.
a) The primer tray is the best in the business. It doesn't snap straight down, but rather slides from the top down onto the base and snaps together at 2 corners. Nothing ever jostles and jolts to cause primers to flip. The ridges are perfect and it flips primers better than any other primer flipper tray I've ever used. It has a shut off that has enough built in resistance that it doesn't shut itself off from your hand movements and the tray is removable.
b) Swapping from small to large primers is a breeze. Just push down on a little spring loaded button and remove the shell holder and out comes the body, pin and spring. Replace with the other size body, spring and pin and pop in the shell holder. Takes seconds and no unscrewing of parts of having to fiddle with delicate plastic bits that can break or bend or get lost.
c) The primer seating adjustment. I didn't think this would be nice at first, until I used it. Wow. Not having to pay attention to how much pressure you are applying is kinda like having cruise control on a car. You don't have to have it, but having it sure makes things nicer. Once you get that depth dialed in, you just squeeze all the way and the primer drives home where it needs to be. You don't have to think or feel. Just squeeze till it stops and move on. Perfect seat every time.
d) The body is super smooth and has no rough or square edges. It's just fits the hand perfectly and doesn't have any edges that will dig in or mess up your hand over a 1000 primer session.
I never tried the hornady or the lyman. I have friends that have used them and told me to not even waste my time. I also checked all the reviews and found the same sentiment.
After letting one of my reloading buddies borrow the FA, he went and bought one for himself. It's that good compared to the rest. I don't work for FA or any of these other companies. I pay for the products just like everyone else. I know I've shined a pretty bright light on the FA in this mini review, but it's just how I feel and what I've found.
These are just my findings and I'm sure there could be disagreement.
On a positive note, while at the NRA event this year in Atlanta, I visited the RCBS booth and told the guys there all about the pitfalls of their hand primers. They said I wasn't the first person to mention these issues. One of the guys was very thorough and took notes to pass along to the engineers. Hopefully, someday, they'll sort out their issues. But, in the meantime, just be warned. RCBS makes a nice hand primer but it's not the best and isn't without issues. They are aware of those issues and the ball is in their court to correct them. With this FA now out there, they will have to correct the issues to compete. It's really raised the bar.