what's the Favorite Primer tool ?

[Walks]

RCBS Std Priming tool.
No tubes just mounts to the bench. RCBS hasn't made it in years.
Usr RCBS Hand Priming tool for most priming thses days. Sit the the recliner and watch old Westerns while I prime cases.

[TNsailorman]

I mostly prime while watching a college football game, baseball game or a good western. I use an older RCBS Posi-Prime or an older screw shell holder Lee style hand primer and load one primer at a time. I am in no hurry. james

[guzma393]

RCBS hand priming tool for 9mm and things that don't really have tight primer pockets. Lee Ram prime for things I really want to bottom-out on the seating...ginex primers are seated exclusively on the ram prime because of their slightly oversized specs. Was looking at the RCBS auto bench prime, but I think the RCBS hand priming tool and the lee ram prime does the job.

[schutzen-jager]

old style Lee auto prime has performed with complete perfection for over 5 decades priming apx. 1500 assorted rifle + pistol cases per year - since Lee discontinued them + replacement parts i buy spares whenever i see them at yard + estate sales - jmho the new style Lee auto prime is totally inferior -

[porthos]

all that i have used for close to 50 years is the older lee hand priming tool. this tool is adjustable for seating depth. since this is all that i use; someone school me on what other hand tools are adjustable for seating depth???

[Mal Paso]

Another RCBS APS Bench Mount here.

I'm still trying to get the hang of that thing. 500 cases in and I wonder if it's worth the hassle of loading the strips.

I've had mine about 8 years now and getting the strips out of the loader was getting near impossible. I noticed the row of locating pins was higher in the middle. I put shims under the clip on the back and slipped the steel clip off. There were 6 spring positions 4 of which were used. The 3 springs in the back were fine but 1 strong spring in the middle of the front was distorting the row of pins. I removed that spring and put 3 light springs from a HF assortment in the 3 front positions. Works fine now.

[lightman]

I use the Sinclair tool that altar linked in post #40. Its expensive but very high quality. I'm another that primes while sitting in front of the TV.

[Hickok]

After using up all the parts for the old model Lee due to breakage, I know use the RCBS hand tool. Had a bit of struggles until I realized the older RCBS shell holders wouldn't fit the hand tool, due to a smaller chamfer/bevel where the plastic do-dad goes into the shell holder. Newer shell holders have a larger chamfer/bevel that works perfectly.

I can say this much, the RCBS shell holder are VERY hard, as trying to enlarge the bevel on the bottom is difficult.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

It just depends on what I'm loading, and how much. Normally I'll use the primer arm on my RCBS Rockchucker press. I had one of the old original RCBS squeezer priming tools, but after the handle broke for the 3rd time I ended up buying the new version which works, but not as easily. If you happen to luck into an old Lyman 310 tool and the appropriate priming chamber they work well.

DG

[Rich/WIS]

Hand held doesn't work for me due to arthritis. Never liked using the primer arm system on the downstroke because it was hard to tell when the primer was fully seated. Settled on the long discontinued Lee Auto Prime II mounted on the small Lee C press. The APII is picky about what brand of primers used, works best with Remington or CCI which is not an issue for me, seldom use R-P and all my primers are CCI. Changing from small to large primers takes only a few seconds. When they discontinued them bought replacement trays and feed arms and even found a new one on E-bay as a spare.

[Three44s]

I have some question please.
What the difference of RCBS hand tool and, RCBS Universal hand tool?

Are all pickup tubes the same? How do you load them? (for the bench tool)

Here you go:

https://www.rcbs.com/priming-and-pow.../16-90201.html

And:

https://www.rcbs.com/priming-and-pow.../16-90200.html

The Universal uses a spring loaded set of jaws to grip the case. The 90200 uses post 1980 shell holders same as your press to hold the case.

I use the 90200 and an earlier bench mounted tool called the RCBS Standard as a back up to seat stubborn primers deeper.

Here is that one:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...10&vt=4&sim=11

Three44s

[TimD]

I don't know if all the tubes are the same, but this video shows the tube being loaded.

https://youtu.be/brK7xtoCde4?t=238

Its easier to watch than me trying to describe it!

[GWS]

Another RCBS APS Bench Mount here.



I've had mine about 8 years now and getting the strips out of the loader was getting near impossible. I noticed the row of locating pins was higher in the middle. I put shims under the clip on the back and slipped the steel clip off. There were 6 spring positions 4 of which were used. The 3 springs in the back were fine but 1 strong spring in the middle of the front was distorting the row of pins. I removed that spring and put 3 light springs from a HF assortment in the 3 front positions. Works fine now.

Interesting.....I had a different problem or two on my strip loader. I noticed the primers were too often "proud" on a loaded strip causing loading hangs during feeding into the priming tool. RCBS suggested placing loaded strips on a flat surface and rolling something on top to press them all down evenly. I went a step further redesigning the outlet with a "marble" that rolled them all slightly recessed when I pulled them out. Worked great...no more proud primers.

Also added a tool on the intake side to make strips easier to slide in..... Push it in, press the handle down and it stop just where the strips slide. Pull it out and you can then seat the primers.....then push them out past the sprung marble....and they all seat slightly recessed.



Added an oak base to make it usable in my easy chair. Love the loader now.



I posted a complete how-to thread on another forum.....

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.ph.../#post-8836525

[greenjoytj]

Started my priming with the priming arm that came with my LEE classic cast iron press.
It worked good.
But fear of over seating and getting the correct seating depth spurred me to try a LEE ram prime unit.
It worked good.
But I didn’t like the fact the tool was made of aluminium.

So I bought the steel version a ram prime unit made by RCBS.
It worked good.
But slow tedious and I had to handle each primer to put it in cup on the tool just like the LEE version.

Bought an RCBS Universal hand prime tool.
It worked good.
But priming over 50 cases a one time was too much pain in the hand for me.
Plus I had some cases that would slip out of the spring loaded jaws.
I liked the tray loading feature to hold the primers. I could get just 50 primers deposited into the tray without spilling any.

RCBS APS priming system was tried.
It worked but was too fiddly to load empty APS strips and I never found pre loaded APS strips for sale.

I didn’t want to try the type of priming tool that required all the primer to be stacked in a tube.
That system would be too easy for me to make a mistake.

The LEE Auto Bench Prime tool looked interesting, easy to understand advertising copy so I bought one there not expensive.

Priming nirvana has finally been reached.
The LEE Auto Bench Prime to is here to stay.
I had an early issue model so I did have a breakage on the plastic part.
No problem I had bought a spares kit a few years after I got mine after reading about parts breakage.
The new part is going strong.

This tool does have some idiosyncrasies:
The unit needs to be secured to a base board or bench top.
The operating lever must be fully raised to its stop on the up stroke, no short stroking.
The primer tray must be gently tapped about every 5 primers to get more to slide down the tray into position.
The tool does require you to purchase special case holders, not a problem their cheap.
This has been the best priming tool I have found.
If any major part breaks I’d buy another immediately and get LEE to send a replacement.

[Rockzilla]

Sounds about right same here. Old Round Trays..Lee Autoprime, my goto priming tool still use
my original 2, one LP, the other SP, thousands of cases later,still going strong, used Lubriplate
anti seize (that silver stuff that gets on everything) to lube the contact parts, just a touch.
Then always on the look-out for xtras, everywhere.

-Rock

[dverna]

Off the press, I used both Lee and RCBS hand primers until I got the RCBS bench prime tool. I like it.

[kens]

I just got the Lee bench prime, got it setup, didnt even got 20 rounds 45acp and it is a big disappointment,
the worst Lee item I ever got.
WOW!!

edit, I tried it a second time and I now see the handle must be FULLY raised up every time.
much better now

[ofreen]

I had one of the old original RCBS squeezer priming tools, but after the handle broke for the 3rd time I ended up buying the new version ...

I had the same experience with the original RCBS hand tool back in the late '70s and early '80s. Broke many handles. I sent the tool back to RCBS and they sent another one back. Hard to imagine how they made any money on those! Then out of the blue circa 1981 or so, I received a package from RCBS containing their new hand priming tool with the flipper tray. They must have kept track of those sending the older ones back. I have been using it since. I had to modify my older shellholders by deepening the bevel underneath, which was no biggie. I still have the original somewhere as a memento of how great RCBS customer service can be.

I also have the RCBS bench tool from the same time frame, and is probably my preference for feel and speed (once the tube is loaded). But I have to admit loading the tubes gets a little tedious when priming a lot of brass.

[wilecoyote]

Sinclair

[rustyshooter]

Wow! I guess I’m in the dark ages still. I like to use the RCBS positive ram prime unit. I have it in one of the stations on my turret press. Loading the tubes is annoying. Lol