APS Strip Question

[tred1956]

Getting close to setting up my pro 2000 and am going to be using APS strips for the first time. I assumed they were all just Large or Small and that the colors were to distinguish at a glance what you had. When I did a google search and went to CCI website it says small rifle and large rifle are BOTH in Yellow Strips. Is this correct? Seems to me like this would defeat the color coding purpose. Please educate me.
Thanks
Doug

[jmorris]

Originally RCBS intended:

White is standard pistol
Red is magnum pistol
Yellow is rifle standard
Blue is rifle magnum
Black is bench rest rifle
Orange is Military rifle

All colors could be had with small and large primers. However, because they charge more than $5 for a pack of eight strips, they get reused a lot. So unless they were in an unopened original CCI primer box, I would not trust strip color to indicate what was in them.

I sent you two different colors just so it made it harder to mix up the small and large strips. Bad enough we have to sort brass by size, no need to make things harder than they need to be.

[tred1956]

Thank you sir. That is what I figured.
Safe shooting
Doug

[L Erie Caster]

I use White for large pistol, and Red for small pistol. It is hard for me to tell small from large at a glance anymore cuz my eyes are as old as I am. I don’t use the APS for rifle.

[Taterhead]

Jmorris is right on. I keep large and small strips segregated, and don't really pay attention to color since, if not using pre-loaded strips, I only load the specific strips for a given session.

Hopefully your Pro 2000 runs as well as mine. It has been, and continues to be, a reliable press. I last encountered a problem with APS priming 18 months ago, and that was due to a strip that was out of spec. Tossed that strip and back in businesses.

PM me if I can help with your press or APS priming.

P.s. once in a while, there will be good deals on CCI primers with preloaded strips. Those are nice, and will bolster your onhand supply of strips, that I consider to be a wear item.

[Valley-Shooter]

P.s. once in a while, there will be good deals on CCI primers with preloaded strips. Those are nice, and will bolster your onhand supply of strips, that I consider to be a wear item.

Where are you buying your primers with strips at? Always looking for a good deal.
I have a ABS Bench Primer that I will set back up one of these days. I really liked using it back in the day, but I moved and back it in the box it went. 15 years later, it's still there.

[Taterhead]

Powder valley typically has them for best deals. Combine with an order od powder to spread the hazmat fee. Midway recently had free shipping/hazmat too.

A few years ago, of all places, Cabelas had them in stock and priced less than the non-APS CCIs.

[mikemyers]

Wow, I was wrong. You guys are telling me that for any given size, there are multiple colors?

I'm only using small pistol primers and large pistol primers, both from CCI. I'm surprised to see that I can still buy the primer strips - it's a year since the last post, are they still available?

I was hoping to buy some strips from someone here, maybe 20 small and 20 large, in two different colors. I'm now using white strips for both - From what I've read here, I can maybe use white for small, and red for large.

How many different size holes are used in these strips? Is it only two sizes? If I separate my small bag of strips into two batches, the smaller holes, and the larger, is that all I need to do?

I won't be home until mid-July. Maybe I can send one of you a check, and you can mail me a bag with primer strips. Maybe just those two colors, white, and red. I'll add to the small collection I have now.

[Taterhead]

The strips are sized small and large. The colors merely serve to identify the type of primer. No need to pay attention to colors unless you want to load and have a method to identify the type of primer.

Best way to load up on strips is to buy CCI preloaded strips. 40 in a box of 1k. If a little patient, deals can be found from time to time on CCI APS primers.

I continue to love APS on my press. Too bad RCBS took a strength on their prior progressive press, and turned it into the Achilles heel on the new Pro Chuckers.

[jmorris]

it's a year since the last post, are they still available?

Yes, I have a number of 5 gallon bucket still full of them.

[Taterhead]

Yes, I have a number of 5 gallon bucket still full of them.

How many do you think you'll use?! PM me if you need to free up some room in the shop.

[mikemyers]

If I had 25 each of two "different" colors, whatever those colors might be, I think I would be set for a lifetime. If you have thousands, then make that 50 of each, which is FAR more than I can picture ever using.

Can I still buy more of the protective paper "labels" that they are supposed to be attached to for storage? Or isn't that important?

Gee, I never realized that there were only TWO physical sizes of holes.

Once loaded, can the strips be safely stored in a zip-lock bag, or is there a better way?

[mikemyers]

The strips are sized small and large. The colors merely serve to identify the type of primer. No need to pay attention to colors unless you want to load and have a method to identify the type of primer.

Best way to load up on strips is to buy CCI preloaded strips. 40 in a box of 1k. If a little patient, deals can be found from time to time on CCI APS primers.

I continue to love APS on my press. Too bad RCBS took a strength on their prior progressive press, and turned it into the Achilles heel on the new Pro Chuckers.

To me, RCBS really blew it. All they needed to do to promote the Pro 2000 was to promote the safety factor. All they needed to accomplish that, was to set up another style press, disguising whose it was, and video tape it as the primers exploded. (They'd need to film this in a safe manner, of course.) They would include my words, "pipe bomb". At the beginning of the video, they would record the effect of just ONE primer exploding. If they got permission, they could have also showed what happened to people's hands and glasses.

Now it's too late.

The more I read about their new presses, the more appreciative I am about what I've got.

[mikemyers]

With all the reading I've been doing lately, my head is spinning. I deliberately avoided auto index when I bought my Pro 2000, but the more I read about it, the better it sounds. For me, it would speed up my reloading (unimportant), it would minimize the chance of a double charge (good to have, even if I'm already careful), and I'm using such small amounts of powder I don't think I'll have a problem of it spilling powder as it indexes. The cost is not an issue. I'm happy with what I've got.

One other thing I've learned in these discussions. If I have to go away from the press to take care of something urgent, I should stop with the press in the UP position, so there is never any confusion as to what state I left it in. I need to thank whoever posted that.