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Thread: hand priming with progressive press

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master


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    hand priming with progressive press

    I just got a Lee Pro 1000, and unlike so many others, my primer feed actually seems to work properly. The problem is, like all press priming setups, I just don't like how you can't feel it seat positively. I have always preferred to hand prime, I feel more confident they are seated properly, and it seems safer. I am trying to think of a way to run brass without wasting time. I also like to clean brass in an ultrasonic cleaner, and so far I have been using a universal de-capping die first, cleaning, then resizing before priming (no need to clean primer pockets with the ultrasonic cleaner). I have thought about doing the same thing, but then removing the resizing die from the press when I go to load ammo. It seems like there must be a faster way. I could simply resize, clean, then prime, but I'll be resizing dirty brass. Any ideas from other hand primers out there?

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy


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    I use a Lee Universal de-capping tool first. Then clean, prime, size and reload.

  3. #3
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    Mega: I do case prep on all my brass as a separate operation.

    On Rifle Brass if it came from the range it gets ran for a while in the tumbler which removes any dirt usually this usually happens when the brass comes home form the range and then put in plastic bags until they get used.. Then they get sized and deprimed and any other thing that is needed like primer pocket swaging or trimming to length then tumbled to get the lube off the cases. Then they get bagged up and wait to be loaded.

    When loading you just seat the primers in the first station and don't run it up into the sizing die, or you could also prime the cases off the press with a Lee or Rcbs bench primer.

    Then load as normal.

    The whole idea is to do large batches of each operation so it doesn't seem like you are adding a bunch of steps to the actual loading operation. The work is spread out over literally months. When you load you are starting with primed cases so you don't have to fiddle with primer feeds which may be a problem.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
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  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy

    NC_JEFF's Avatar
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    I hand prime everything, my progressive is an early model Loadmaster that will prime inconsistent. Made the decision a long time ago so I sit and prime large batches of clean, prepped brass for rifle and handgun. Others obviously have superior priming stations compared to my press but I make a lot of pretty good ammo on it, it's just hand primed.
    Jeff

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master GhostHawk's Avatar
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    I start with a Frankford Arsenal hand deprimer.

    This IMO is a nice solid piece of kit that lets me deprime upstairs in front of the TV.

    From there brass goes to kitchen where it gets a Citric acid wash and half hour soak. Followed by a couple of good rinses. After that I like to hand roll each case on a towel laid on my leg, in front of the TV again. And run a small brush in the primer pocket while it is still damp.

    Brass is rolled in a towel and placed on our gas stove that has a pilot. Makes a nice warm place to get it good and dry.

    From there I resize, prime with an RCBS Universal hand primer. No mucking around with shell holders. Switch between large and small primers is all, and it is not hard or take more than 2 min.

    From the priming took cases go into RCBS loading blocks, primers up. Ready to be charged.

    After they have powder they are primers down, in a different block. I watch for double charges like a hawk. My favorite powder is Red Dot and I have never blown up or damaged a gun with a double charge.

    That is the way I do it, YMMV. But I would never go back to depriming or priming on a press.

    My RCBS universal hand primer is pushing 4 years old, I have had 2 primers in that time come up sideways. So now part of the process is just before each piece of brass gets slid into place my eyeball checks the primer coming up.

    Large is never a problem, small rifle seems to happen about twice as often as pistol.

    But I had a small pistol come up sideways 3 days ago. Caught it, raised it up a bit, gave it a nudge with a little fingernail, dropped back down a bit and slid it home where it belonged no harm no foul, no bang, no problems.

    You just have to train the Mark 1 brain and the Mark 4 eyeball to work together and watch.

    That is the job, the serious side of things. I am in charge, it is my job to get it right. Every time.

    The enjoyable part, sitting down there walking through the steps while thinking about my next range trip.

    Really enjoying playing with the little .32SW Longs lately.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I have done this several ways. One is to deprime size then load on the progressive machine, The other that will do what you want is hand deprime and prime. Remove the decaping pin from the stem with just the expander ball on it. Now you can size and expand with the die and not deprime the cases. On Lee dies you may need to by a new rod as the pin isn't removable and will need to be cut off. On most other dies the expander ball is a collet closer also fr the decapping pin it can be unscrewed and the pin removed or reinstalled as desired.
    I normally use bushing dies for rifle rounds so the correct size bushing dosnt need an expander so the whole assembly can be removed.
    I deprimed fired cases with a hand tool. clean in corn cob and any prep work is done. I then prime with a hand tool. With the bushing dies I size with out the expander stem in the die. charge with powder and seat bullets.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master


    Walks's Avatar
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    I have never understood why some folks are willing to do the same job twice. Decap only, then clean and size and clean again. Why not tumble to clean, then decap & size. Then clean again if you need to make it shiny. I have no problem cleaning primer pockets when I do case inspection.
    I HATE auto-correct

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  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    I don’t hand prime with a progressive.

  9. #9
    Boolit Bub
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    Deprime, clean and load. I tumbled for years. Bought a ultra Sonic and recently a drum tumbler. I'll keep the dry tumbler for quick clean, ultrasonic for parts and drum with steel pins for the rest. My new fav.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Thanks for sharing, it's good to know I'm not the only one who likes a set process. I don't want to get away from the ultrasonic cleaner. It's safer (less lead dust), cleaner, quicker, and it cleans your primer pocket. I hate cleaning primer pockets almost as much as trimming cases. This actually gave me another thought. I can buy another turret and use that for both de-priming and resizing. I can't imagine hand de-priming being any faster than loading up the progressive and pulling the handle as fast as I can, but the tv is a bonus. My process would then be to insert the new turret with de-priming die, and cranking them out. Next, clean in the ultrasonic cleaner. Third, swap the de-priming die for the re-sizing die and running them through again. I would then check case length, check for bad cases, and prime them with my hand prime. A benefit of this I hadn't though of before is that it opens up a stage in the press. I could use that to seat the bullet and crimp separate, which is what I prefer to do anyway. If anyone cares, I'm setting up this progressive press for .327 federal, everything else will still be loaded on my single stage.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    I can't imagine hand de-priming being any faster than loading up the progressive and pulling the handle as fast as I can, but the tv is a bonus.
    What does that mean?

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by jmorris View Post
    I don’t hand prime with a progressive.

    Exactly...On any decent progressive, hand priming is a waste of time. But then I only load pistol ammunition on my progressives. I will be loading blasting ammunition for the AR’s as well this year. It will not be hand primed as I am not looking for sub MOA ammunition. The only hard priming I do is for rifle ammunition.
    Don Verna


  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    I deprime first and use stainless pins. That way I don't have to clean primer pockets. That was the biggest reason I went to pins.


    Quote Originally Posted by Walks View Post
    I have never understood why some folks are willing to do the same job twice. Decap only, then clean and size and clean again. Why not tumble to clean, then decap & size. Then clean again if you need to make it shiny. I have no problem cleaning primer pockets when I do case inspection.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
    Dennis Eugene's Avatar
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    Progressivess are not for everybody, or eveything. If you can't bring yourself to prime on your progressive press then why bother with it at all? I also only load my mass quantities of handgun blasting ammo on my LNL. Any rifle ammo, hunting rounds, or target all get loaded on my rock chucker. I don't expect one tool to do every job I need done no more than I expect on gun to cover all my shooting needs. If I had to one press would and could cover everything I need as also could one bolt action 30\06 could cover all my shooting needs, but then where is the fun in that?
    Dennis Eugene "You know why no one panic buys 30-06? Because people who shoot 30-06 don't panic"

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by jmorris View Post
    What does that mean?
    Earlier in the thread, GhostHawk talks about his process. He uses a hand de-priming tool and does it while watching TV. Not a bad way to do it, but I would have to guess loading up the case feeding tubes on the progressive and running it with nothing but a de-priming die being faster. I loaded up 200 today, and it is slick. I might not be using the progressive to its absolute maximum efficiency, it beats the heck out of the single stage. I have 2 single stage presses, and now this progressive. I've loaded on a turret press before, but never saw what it offered over a single stage with quick change dies.

    Dennis Eugene, I can already see the benefit of the progressive press for me. Priming was never the slow part of my reloading, charging cases was. Now instead of charging one by one, fiddling with them to the reloading tray, and repeating by however many I want to make, I pull the handle and its done, all while seating and crimping one for me. I never have to fiddle with them, all I do is verify I have powder, stick a bullet on it, and done. As I said earlier, I just did 200. I de-primed on the press, and it's quick. Then I cleaned them in the ultrasonic cleaner, and let them dry while I went to the range. Came back, primed and inspected them. From that point I loaded 200 in about 45 minutes. To do 200 on a single stage used to take me a good 3 hours at least. I'm as happy as can be.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    He uses a hand de-priming tool and does it while watching TV. Not a bad way to do it,
    That’s what I thought you were saying.

    I don't want to get away from the ultrasonic cleaner. It's safer (less lead dust), cleaner, quicker, and it cleans your primer pocket.
    I don’t think it’s safer when your sitting in your Lazyboy getting stuff all over you and where people hangout.

    I would argue using just about any progressive press in a place where people don’t lounge would give you less exposure to the elements in primers.

    I may never even touch a component until after it is loaded and postload tumbled and I pick it up to case gauge before boxing.


  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    We need some kind of 'BrassStuffers Annual Rodeo' where we can all meet each year and test all these 'My way is better' & 'I save more time' methods...then have independent parties inspect our works with attention to detail and then, test the quality of the rounds on the range.
    You will be handed a bag-O-dirty brass, 20 pounds of miscellaneous Pb, powder, primer and preferred lube method...then we all go at it from the start.
    Two classes...people like Morris with fuel injected progressives and regular people who have to peddle their presses, that would surely generate some new material for 'Handloader Magazine' too.
    That oughta settle this once and for all.

    Until then...I'm doin it 'My Way'! ...
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  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I collect brass in a given caliber until i have @1000 and SS tumble them.
    Then i set up my Pro 1000 to size and deprime only using the case feeder, it's done in an hour or so.
    SS tumble again.
    Hand prime in batches of 100 in front of the telly with a cold brew.
    Then i reload with a powder die first.
    Bullet feeder and seater next and last a FCD
    Between filling case collator and bullet feeder i can churn out a solid 500/hour that way.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by 17nut View Post
    I collect brass in a given caliber until i have @1000 and SS tumble them.
    Then i set up my Pro 1000 to size and deprime only using the case feeder, it's done in an hour or so.
    SS tumble again.
    Hand prime in batches of 100 in front of the telly with a cold brew.
    Then i reload with a powder die first.
    Bullet feeder and seater next and last a FCD
    Between filling case collator and bullet feeder i can churn out a solid 500/hour that way.
    This is exactly the way I just did my first real batch on the pro 1000, except I used a second seater as my crimp die instead of the FCD. It would be nice to see how other people do it, you could learn a lot that way. I'm sure it would be faster by seating primers on the press, but I'm not after all out speed. I was only after more speed for this one caliber for now, all the others I still do in 20-50 rounds at a time. If I can put out 200-300 in an hour I've already met my goal. I couldn't do that on a single stage or turret press.

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I'm not a progressive user/owner (but I did help a friend make up some ammo on his Dillon) so my post is prolly worth what you pay for it. Anyway, isn't this "hand work" prior to using the press defeating the purpose of a progressive (auto priming, auto charging, auto, everything else)?
    My Anchor is holding fast!

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BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
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