Bair Press gift from a good friend, help needed

[Eastex]

I have a good friend who gave me this old extra press that he had taking up space. It's a old Bair and it seems to be in good working order, nothing's loose and the only missing part would be the primer assembly and maybe a primer catcher, if it came with one? It also has the set screw for the shell holder if that helps with dating it. I'm hoping ya'll can help me fill in some blanks about it.
My goal with it is to load 38 special for my wife, daughter, and I to use when practicing with our revolvers. I found some Bullseye powder and am on the lookout for some 148 grain wadcutters, really hard to find that load here in East Texas so loading my own would really help.
As far as the press goes I mostly just want to clean it up and use it as is. I figure it's earned its wrinkles and grey hair. I've already learned a lot from reading older posts here, the rare earth magnet to hold up the handle sounds like a pretty good idea. A primer catcher and possible priming assembly are two other things I'm looking at although I may just decide to hand prime, thoughts? Thanks for any help and looking forward to getting going soon.

[jugulater]

Welcome to the Forums! Thats going to be a great press to get started with, it will serve you well for loading .38 special and for most other purposes, although it has its limits because its a C frame press and only has single link linkage, so it wont handle well with major boolit sizing or case forming.

On presses like this the primer arm was very simple and i think someone makes a universal replacement that fits most presses that used the type, but im not sure about this press as its a brand that i dont see very often.

I find hand priming to be faster and less of a hassle than priming on a press mounted system, it also might be cheaper than trying to find original parts for this press if it happens to use a proprietary priming system.

ill have to dig through my library to see what type of Bair press this could be and about its accessories and construction, although im sure someone more knowledgeable on the subject will chime in soon.

[lightload]

Welcome. PM me your address. I may have a couple items for your press among my 45 year collection of such stuff. I live in Waco.

[Wayne Smith]

Dave Davidson at CH4D makes the universal replacement primer arms.
I have a similar press with the Large Primer arm. I probably need to call Dave to get a small primer arm. I also need to ask if they will fit my Echo press.

[seagiant]

Hi,
The cheapest way to get priming is the LEE Hand Primer!

[bear67]

I am pretty sure that the universal priming arms will fit your press. I had a neighbor, now loading in heaven, who loaded on a Bair and a Herters and I think he moved primer arms back and forth. I don't know where you are in East Texas, but I have a Lee hand primer that I would give to you if you need one. I am at Whitehouse. PM me if you need something to prime with.

[Skunk1]

Here is mine. Universal priming arms work and they do come with primer catchers but I would imagine that would be hard to find. You might be able to rig up the straw trick to funnel spent primers into a can.

[Eastex]

Thanks for all the generosity offered. I've seen that factory primer catcher in a couple of old Ebay auction pictures I've found in my searching. Does it seem to work well? I'd love to figure a way to duplicate that piece, I guess in a few years I can ask some of my wife's Second graders to 3-D print one!
Thinking about dissembling it for a good cleaning, it looks simple enough from the outside. Are there any pitfalls I need to watch out for on the inside?

[Skunk1]

Try were all made pretty simple back them. Take your time and not too much hard rubbing on the ram (just clean it up). I guess I've never looked for the primer catcher as I have it. I'm sure they are out there just not very many of them.