A better way to prime?

Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Messages
4,310
Reaction score
4,940
Location
CNY
I have always used the primer feed tube that came with my Hornady 00-7 single stage reloading press, seating the primers in the press. It works. I'm just wondering what are the quicker, easier ways to prime? Would mostly be used for .38, .357, .41, .44, and .45.
 
Register to hide this ad
I also prefer the RCBS hand primer for rifle ammo.

I do use the on press system and a Lee Safety Primer that comes with the Lee Turret press for handgun ammo. (the older Safety Primer, not the new one)
 
Another fan of the RCBS hand primer for handgun cartridges because I can dump a whole box of primers in the tray and prime two boxes of cases. The tube system is set up on the press for rifle calibers where I only need 20.
 
Last edited:
I am still using my first Lee priming tool. No, that's not quite accurate. My first one was the old one-primer-at-a-time Lee tool. Still have it, too. But I mean the original Lee tool with tray. I have a NOS one as a backup if it ever fails. The newer model with the "safety improvements" is a pain in the derriere'.
 
A hand priming tool that has a tray and auto feed the things into position instead of having to put the primers in the little cup one at a time on the press does speed things up.
 
I am still using my first Lee priming tool. No, that's not quite accurate. My first one was the old one-primer-at-a-time Lee tool. Still have it, too. But I mean the original Lee tool with tray. I have a NOS one as a backup if it ever fails. The newer model with the "safety improvements" is a pain in the derriere'.

I started with the Lee single-primer model also and slap wore it out. But when I went to replace it, I found all the shell holders had to be replaced also. Seems Lee does a lot of that with each "new & Improved" version. I said the heck with that and went with RCBS and standard shell holders.
 
I have used the Lee hand priming tool with satisfaction for many years. I have not checked to see if it is still made. The Lee bench primer sucks! My worst reloading tool purchase ever. All it does is jam up.

It is! And for better or worse, LEE is pretty much responsible for all the others. Maybe y'all have heard the term "whack-a-molie," but that's how I started out in 1986, and the LEE priming tool was definitely a "single-shot." I love to hate the AutoPrime, but since I don't plan to own a progressive press, and the original Safety Prime was a dog, I guess I'm stuck with it, and at least No 5. They work, and they'll work longer if you lube the internal contact points. I've used white lithium grease with some success until a buddy who shoots benchrest turned me on to a boot polish sold by Tractor Supply, with Beeswax as a case lube, I'm using it for my latest iteration of the AutoPrime. Might try the new version of the Safety Prime, but sure wish that LEE would give up their obsession for making hard wearing parts with inferior matl's.
 
Hand priming , off press with hand priming tool , beats priming with bench mounted press .

The first time I set up my Pacific Super Deluxe "C" press , filled up the auto feed tube with primers and went to rime a case ...
all the primers spilled out onto the floor ... I put that tube thing away and placed the primers in a small steel dish ... next to the press
my thumb & forefinger would place a primer in the cup for seating ... they work perfectly ... and touching a primer with your fingers does NOT kill it ... Boy was that myth ever passed along as "truth" for years ... but it ain't so !

I now prime off my bench mounted big press with a Lee Hand Press and the Lee Ram-Prime unit that came with it ... think of it as a larger Hand Primer ... just all metal construction , no trays , no plastic parts to get wonky !
Gary
 
It is! And for better or worse, LEE is pretty much responsible for all the others. Maybe y'all have heard the term "whack-a-molie," but that's how I started out in 1986, and the LEE priming tool was definitely a "single-shot." I love to hate the AutoPrime, but since I don't plan to own a progressive press, and the original Safety Prime was a dog, I guess I'm stuck with it, and at least No 5. They work, and they'll work longer if you lube the internal contact points. I've used white lithium grease with some success until a buddy who shoots benchrest turned me on to a boot polish sold by Tractor Supply, with Beeswax as a case lube, I'm using it for my latest iteration of the AutoPrime. Might try the new version of the Safety Prime, but sure wish that LEE would give up their obsession for making hard wearing parts with inferior matl's.

True, and a little more on that... I've used these over the years including the early "dangerous" model with the round tray. It worked well, far better than than the later and "safer" version with the square tray, something much discussed here and elsewhere because of its shortcomings.

Some have said these tools will last longer by lubing the points of wear and I can't refute that advice. I'd only lube them when I thought about it using Vaseline, something I read somewhere long before the Internet. I'm not sure the lubing procedure really enhanced tool life by very much.

As mentioned already, the soft material these tools were made of was the real limiting factor to their longevity. Many say they have used the early Auto Primes for thirty or forty years and they continue to use them. I wore out several of these, one or two may have lasted twenty years at best, but I probably wasn't priming much then. I'm pretty sure other users aren't priming a great deal, probably under, maybe way under 10,000 rounds per year. It's just hard to see these tools lasting long with continued heavy use - they weren't made for it.

I never wore out a square tray version; I just threw them away after quickly discovering they didn't work very well.
 
I use and have used the original Lee priming tool, another priming tool sold by K&M, and a bonanza bench rest priming tool. Less than a 100 cases I will use a single tool like the Lee or K&M. Over 100, I use the Bonanza. If I am bulk loading pistol ammo on my Dillon, the in press method on my Dillon 550 works fine. I have an primer feed system for my A2 but I haven't done in press priming since 1970.
 
The tube feeder on my Lyman turret press was a disaster...setting primers by hand in the press was a little better, but i have my press on a small stand so the reverse action to set the primers required a foot on the base of the stand...bought a lee hand primer tool and will not look back.

Robert
SWCA #2906
 
I'm an advocate of hand priming also. When I first started out with a Lee turret, it didn't take me long to realize how much the on press priming system sucked. I had an older style Lee hand primer that I got along with a bunch of other stuff I had bought from a guy selling all of his reloading equipment. I used that for several thousand cases before it broke, then bought the new style Lee. I hated that thing and returned it. Then I bought an RCBS universal and never looked back. I had to add an RCBS that used the shell holders because the universal tool didn't like the .32 cases or the .45 AR cases. I like being able to prime cases in air conditioning while watching tv or interacting with the family. When I switched from the Lee to a Dillon 550 a few years ago, I completely removed the primer tube assembly for a cleaner looking press. I use a Lee APP for depriming.
 

Attachments

  • 59BB8185-0ECD-4645-8A21-0A7F73EFD873.jpg
    59BB8185-0ECD-4645-8A21-0A7F73EFD873.jpg
    83.3 KB · Views: 29
I also gave up the RCBS universal press primer in favor of the RCBS Posi-Prime hand tool which has now been out of production for about 30 years.

The Posi-Prime uses no tray, allows for the quick changing of shell holders and feels great in the hand.

Bayou52
 
Another fan of hand priming here. Although my very earliest metallic reloading was on a Lyman TruLine Jr using that press' priming system, I got started hand priming with the old Lyman 310 (often used when the other steps were done on a press). For Schuetzen I developed a preference for the copy of the Harry Pope style re- and decapper made by the late Jake Simmons. When I discovered the first generation of Lee priming tools (with screw-in shell holders) that became my go-to for everything except progressive loading and the aforementioned Schuetzen loading.

I guess it really comes down to personal preference, what you've become familiar with and what you're comfortable with.

Froggie
 
Back
Top