I presently use my RCBS single stage press (green one) to seat my primers. It works fine, but is a bit slow. Now that I'm shooting more, I'd like to upgrade to something faster. What do you fellas use (or not). Would appreciate comments both ways.

RCBS hand primer that uses the strip CCI primers.

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Old paratrooper in NC

The old Lee Autoprime

I use several different tools, but my pick for the best is the RCBS bench mounted tool. I uses regular shell holders and is quite fast.

An old fashioned RCBS hand primer.It was my upgrade from using the press about 30 years ago.

Depends on what I'm loading and how many I'm loading in that sitting. If I'm going progressive, I let the press do all the work, but most of the time I batch load a lot of 50 or 100 or so, and for those I hand prime, usually with the old aluminum Lee priming tool with the threaded shell holders or with a Lyman 310 Tool and the proper priming die.

Then again, what one of us is totally happy and comfortable with might be a total disaster for the next guy. It's good you are exploring what others are using, but ultimately you'll get your best results with whatever makes you most comfortable.

Froggie

Press mounted Lee Auto Prime II that's no longer made.

+1. Well built and works great.

I will also use an RCBS Ram Prime for priming larger (mostly rifle) cases.

I have 6 of the Lee Auto Prime primers labeled for the different size or brand primers and 1 of the new "ergonomic" Auto Prime II's. These are used for all my loading not done on a progressive press. Yes they use a special shell holder but a 11 piece set is less than $20 and leaves your standard shell holder at the press so someone could do a different step while someone else primes. Ivan

I use the RCBS Universal Hand Primer. BTW, I actually have two, one set up for large primers and the other set up for small primers. One reason I prefer to use a hand primer is that it allows me to have a better "feel" for how loose or tight the primer pocket is. Another reason is I've seen the stories about primer explosions on a progressive press. Yeah, the odds of that happening are pretty darned low but a bit of paranoia sort of goes hand in hand with being mildly OCD.

I use a Hornady hand loader, and I too like to feel how the primers seat. I only do about 100 rounds at any sitting, my cat gets to pesky for me to do much more.

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Not enough space

I use my single stage RCBS press, and flare and prime in the same step.

RCBS AUTO PRIMING TOOL for me. It is outstanding.

I use the old Lee hand priming tool that has the screw in shell holders that you can't find anymore. Watch tv and prime cases.

Another huge fan of the RCBS Automatic Bench priming tool. My arthritic wrists appreciate not having to use a hand primer.

I use one of the new Lee ergo hand primers - I love it! Works great and is fast.

I use my RCBS JR3 press with their auto primer tubes. It's all I've every used & I like the feel better than with my compound press.

This. On my Hornady but the same thing.

RCBS hand primer. Works great.

I use the Lee Auto prime
It has been working well for me since the mid 90's
I liked it so much I bought a spare and have never needed it
I use Moly EP on the internal friction points.

Another huge fan of the RCBS Automatic Bench priming tool for rifle ammo other than 223 Rem. My arthritic wrists appreciate not having to use a hand primer.

All pistol calibers are done on my Dillon 450 & 550.

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S&WHF 366

I use the hornaday. It came with the LNL classic single stage kit.

I have an RCBS bench-mounted tool but use two of their hand-held tools, one for large and one for small primers, for my rifle cases. I load my handgun ammo on a Dillon progressive, so it primes those cases.

Ed

I have an RCBS Partner press that I use this way. It is much easier on the hands than hand priming tools. And I'm usually in no big hurry as I consider hand loading my time to myself.

For single-stage loading, Lee Auto-Prime. Been using one since 1980. For automatic loading, I use the Hornady LnL AP.

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for handguns I use the Priming on my Press'

For .223 i use a Lee hand Primer... works great and Fast and much easier to Feel the primers seating since even reamed primer pockets can be a bit of a pain...

Like others... sit and bust out a hundred watching TV for a few Minutes..

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--Stav--

Off the top of my RCBS not the fastest but safe and very consistent seating depth as press ram stops at top of motion.

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Len

The ergonomics of each of the hand primers depend on individual fit, but none of them are difficult to use.

Having said that, in my experience, the Lee has the best tray (primers flip easieist), the Hornady has the best ergonomics (fits my hand best and stands by itself), but the RCBS Universal is the one I use.

The RCBS does not require shell holders, so all my shell holders stay with the dies they belong to. It has never jammed a second primer at the ram, never flipped a primer at the ram, and never flipped a primer sliding them back from the throat into the tray.

Finally, as you bring the ram up to seat the rpimer, a metal bar slides in between it and the primer tray with the intent of shielding those primers from incident. I've not tested this lol, but it looks like it would work. Because of this feature it takes 2-3 minutes to change primer sizes - mostly spent finding the other parts lol - so being incredibly lazy I set up one for small and one for large like Scooter123.

Bench primers are terrific for those who can't or don't want to squeeze, who don't mind the handling of primers required, and who don't mind spending more time right at their bench.

I have the old style Lee hand primer. I wish I could find another one, as I've nearly worn mine out.

I'm probably the only reloader left who uses the priming tool that came in my Lee Turret Press, the little T bar with the priming cups on the ends. I tip one row of primers out onto my primer flipper and pick them up one at a time.

I use the K&M Priming tool. It's what I use for my BR loading, and it works just great for priming pistol rounds as well. I switched to this around 8-10 years ago after using the Lee hand primer for 30+ years. It's much more robust and has a much better feel than the Lee tool.

K&M Shooting - Primer Deluxe K&M Shooting Primer Seater

It depends... MOST of my rifle case priming is done with the older RCBS hand primer, the one that holds 100 primers at a time. And occasionally I will prime using the primer arm built into my Rock Chucker. But some of the rifle loading (5.56, 6 X 45) and all the handgun priming is done as a part of the progressive handloading I use the RCBS Piggyback II for.

Lee Auto Prime. Inexpensive, simple, reliable and effective.


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I like ANYTHING called a "hand prime" because they provide "feel" when seating primers. No matter how well designed or built any "machine" priming system is, it will never match the human hand.
The rise of progressive loading, along with the reduction in cost that allows "newbies" to start out with a complex progressive setup is responsible for the equal rise in reported gun "kabooms." The reaon is because progressive loading is ALL about speed with everything else being secondary, where as "single-stage" loading focuses the loader on the step in progress...including primer seating.
It is worth nothing that bench-rest shooters don't "machine load," they do it all by hand because at each stage of the process they are physically handling the case and components. This is why I prefer to HAND PRIME. This is also why I moved from single-stage, to progressive, and BACK to single-stage loading over the years.

I like the RCBS bench mounted tool that uses regular shell holders.

RCBS hand priming tool.

I now have 3 presses that I prime on, in addition to the older Lee Auto Prime tool. I have an older RCBS Reloader Special (1978) and older Lee 3 hole turret with T arm primer and a brand new Lee Classic Turret I just set up/started using. I am comfortable priming on all of them. Oh, and I have Lee Classic Handloaders for all my calibers, so yes, I use the mallet priming on these also!

I have the older style Lee Turret Press & added the primer feed they came out with a few years back That's what I use but the primer feed is iffy at best


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I use an old style Lee hand priming tool for .38s, .357s, and 9mm, and I have a dedicated one for 5.56x45.
I also use the Lyman 310 tong too & priming die for several others. The lymans are the best.
My presses are all equipped for priming, but I don't usually run 'em that way.
I would jump on the old style Lee stuff if it became available.
The ones with the threaded shellholder that screws into the main part of the tool.

There are about 20 of them to cover every imaginable cartridge. I've made an effort to get as many as I could, but mostly just have the ones that came with 310 die sets I have acquired... fortunately that takes in most of the calibers I load for!

There are a couple that go beyond the pale such as the #s 1, 2 and 6 that will make it possible to prime about 1/3 to 1/2 of the commonly used cartridges in America. There is an online store called the 310 Shop that will probably be able to provide most sizes of the priming chamber so you don't have to chase down die sets.

Froggie

PS Upon rereading my response I see I should have made it more clear that it was the Lyman 310 tool I was referring to. OTOH, the very early Lee priming tools (screw-in shell holders) are also very popular on my bench as well as a couple of the custom made units that both decap and recap that I use primarily for loading at the range for shuetzen. If I were restricted to only one "system" it would probably be the early Lee, but I sure would miss the others!!

1997 RCBS hand priming tool.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

RCBS hand priming here too. I just like the feel of the primer seating.

I didn't mention this because it is from the specialized schuetzen game, but I also frequently use the so-called Pope-style re- and decapper. It has the advantage of both taking out the old primer and installing the new. This is especially useful when loading at the shooting bench on the range. I also like to use it sometimes for a couple of cartridges I load at home as well. Like I said before, it's what work best and is most comfortable for you that counts.

Froggie

Lee Classic Turret and Lee hand primer.

K&M priming tool. Very sensitive and built like a tank.

For pistol either Hornady hand priming tool or LNL press, depending on size of batch.

For rifle, Forster Co-Ax bench mounted tool. More leverage than hand tool but still good feel. Also can adjust primer seating depth. Important for service rifles with floating firing pins.

RCBS Ram Prime mounted in a Rock Chucker.

Have both RCBS and Lee hand primers, The Rcbs worked great for a while but tends to get jammed up a lot now so I keep it for backup. So far Lee auto prime has worked out great.

RCBS ram priming unit for "match grade" stuff
RCBS hand priming tool for everything else

Use the old version of the Lee auto prime.