New priming tool recommendations please

[sundog]

Thanks to y'all who set my memory straight on the fed primers.

[gc45]

Like the OP said, my old lee round handhelds failed and no replacement. Why has lee done this to reloaders? does anyone out there have fist hand knowledge why Lee stopped producing them? I use my press now for priming, an old Rockchucker with tubes that work well just slower is all. I refuse to give RCBS my money for their overpriced tools, especially after they would not stand behind my defective electric powder measure. All is well in the reloading room.

[schutzen-jager]

Like the OP said, my old lee round handhelds failed and no replacement. Why has lee done this to reloaders? does anyone out there have fist hand knowledge why Lee stopped producing them? I use my press now for priming, an old Rockchucker with tubes that work well just slower is all. I refuse to give RCBS my money for their overpriced tools, especially after they would not stand behind my defective electric powder measure. All is well in the reloading room.

iirc - they had a few reports of primer detonation - watch the S+S forum here - you just missed 1 yesterday - when Lee discontinued them i started buying them at estate + garage sales, usually for $5.00 or less - now have spares but my origial still going strong - you also see them on ebay at mostly inflated prices - again iirc one of the detonations was cause by trying to seat large primer in small pocket - never a problem with mine in decades -
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...nd-other-stuff

[deces]

Like the OP said, my old lee round handhelds failed and no replacement. Why has lee done this to reloaders? does anyone out there have fist hand knowledge why Lee stopped producing them? I use my press now for priming, an old Rockchucker with tubes that work well just slower is all. I refuse to give RCBS my money for their overpriced tools, especially after they would not stand behind my defective electric powder measure. All is well in the reloading room.

Lee prides themselves on safety, but I think they overdo it sometimes.

[farmbif]

I found the lee with the folding tray to work pretty well as long as you only put about 10 primers in it at a time. for bulk reloading I just do it on the hornady LNL AP

[uscra112]

I haven't worn out or broken my round-tray Lee yet, (after using it since about 1996), but waiting in the wings is a near identical hand-held tool sold by Hornady. Uses regular shell-holders, and is better-stronger than the Lee.

https://press.hornady.com/assets/pct...iming-Tool.pdf

Bench mount and press mount leave me cold. I like to sit comfortably in an easy chair while priming a batch of cases.

[pertnear]

+1 for the RCBS bench priming tool

++1

[engineer401]

I tried the Lee Ergo prime that came with the square trays. It's gone now. it didn't take long for me to get tired of that. I wasn't of the mood to pay for the fix. Then, I bought a FA hand primer. It works well but I still prefer the RCBS bench primer.

[Land Owner]

Forgot to mention - the Sinclare SST primer uses its own shell holders and NONE other than Sinclare will fit. I called and talked to the "Sinclare Guy" (owner), asked him why not allow use by other Mfg's shell holders and his reply was, "Why should I?"

OK. Have it your way. For more than other primers, you can own a stainless Sinclare, provided you purchase an additional stainless Sinclare shell holder for every caliber (some brass being equal) you intend to prime. I would have bought a Sinclare SST primer, if it had accepted my existing shell holders...

[TNsailorman]

Not familiar with Sinclair SST but I have one of the older Sinclair primer tools and it uses Lee shell holder, the flat type. james

[Lloyd Smale]

The Frankford Arsenal hand tool is adjustable for seating depth.

i used lees for years and bought the frankfort arsenal unit and love it. its built like a tank. ive worn out many lee's but i doubt anyone could wear this thing out. five star rating from me.

[45_Colt]

Tried out the RCBS Ram Primer unit (mentioned a few posts back) in a single stage RCBS JR3 press last night. Did five .223 cases with Win SRP, worked a treat.

Set the ram height to allow for the 'feel' method of priming. I'm used to that as the only other priming tool I've used is the 550B.

Needless to say it worked a treat. It isn't real fast as each primer needs to be manually placed into the ram cup. But the feel to seat the primer was there, and they seated without issue. Smooth light easy down push on the handle was all that was required.

For small lots I can recommend this priming device. For larger lots, I'll just use the 550B. It has the primer feed system that is also enclosed in a steel blast tube. This is important to me as a primer is an explosive device.

Get a tray of them, or an aluminum tube of the them going off in your face/lap. Well, it isn't a good thing. And it has & does happen. About a year ago I did a 'net search on primer blow-ups. Not good, occurred way too many times for me to take a chance.

Happy reloading, stay safe.

45_Colt