Reloading primer pickup tubes...

[33jayman]

I use a RCBS flip tray and peck away at it. I have 6 Dillon small primer tubes and I can fill them all in 10 minutes or less.

I know a couple of guys who have the Dillon tube filler and they complain of backwards primers all the time.

Jay

 

[sweetagony]

I enjoy loading and shooting my own rounds. There are a lot of steps that we all find tedious but it is part of loading. I don't mind using the pickup tubes, intact I only fill one at a time, it gives me a short break from pulling the handle.

 

[Jeff423]

I reload for 3 reasons: 1) it's cheap, 2) I can get the loads I want an 3) most important to me, it relaxes me. Time? who cares. I load 50 rounds of 45 ACP in 8 minutes if I want but I don't care if I do. I'll generally load 2 or 3 hundred then take a break and box up what I've done, record the loads and relax my back for a minute or two then go back and do some more. Like I said it relaxes me.

If you don't have time to load a couple primer tubes when reloading, when do you have time to shoot? Some have said they can load 1000 rounds per hour. That is fantastic! But, if you load 1000s per hour and load for 4 or 5 hours when do you have time to shoot those 4 or 5 thousand cartridges? Seems to me if time is such an important factor you wouldn't have time to shoot all the ammo you make.

.

I don't want to reload for 4 hrs. I like making 100 rounds in 8 min. and maybe not reloading for a week.

Jeff

 

[Maximumbob54]

I think this just boils down to I can't stand hate despise loathe whatever to fill primer tubes. I need a gadget.

 

[blujax01]

I think this just boils down to I can't stand hate despise loathe whatever to fill primer tubes. I need a gadget.

Where's Ron Popeil when you need him?!
https://www.ronco.com/aboutus.html

 

[S&WIowegan]

I think...

I've tried about everything including the Midway junk(Vibra...) and Dillon. They all give you inverted primers which is expensive these days.

I have a LOT of primer tubes and sit down with Dillon flip tray and fill them all. The filled tubes sit in inventory and I use as needed.

 

[fredj338]

It helps to have a good flip tray. The Dillon version is over 6" in diameter, all metal, with sharp rings which make it easy to flip primers.

True. Many of you are just making this too hard. Put the primer in the tray & shake it, not all have to flip over. Now pick up the primers that are up & turn the tray over & finish. Why I can dump a tray & load a tube in 90sec, I don't spend much time shaking anything.

 

[Engineer1911]

Why are you complaining -- you have primers, powder, and bullets!!!! Now go make some ammo, and enjoy a trip to the range.

 

[mosquito]

I use a RCBS flip tray and peck away at it. I have 6 Dillon small primer tubes and I can fill them all in 10 minutes or less.

I know a couple of guys who have the Dillon tube filler and they complain of backwards primers all the time.

Jay

Jay,

Your friends that complain about upside down primers just need to get the rheostat dialed in properly for the primers they are using. I was having 1 or 2 upside down primers per hundred. Then I got my filler rheostat dialed in properly and now I don't get any Upside down ones.

G

 

[Jeff423]

Jay,

Your friends that complain about upside down primers just need to get the rheostat dialed in properly for the primers they are using. I was having 1 or 2 upside down primers per hundred. Then I got my filler rheostat dialed in properly and now I don't get any Upside down ones.

G

Exactly right. I also discovered* that the screw that holds the filler sleeve inside the head needs to have 0.03" clearance to allow for proper filling. This allows the tube to vibrate and facilitates the primers moving. After swapping between large and small tubes I tightened the screw all the way in and the primers moved very slowly. I backed it out about the width of a dime and it worked great.

*by reading the manual. Sometimes it helps.

Jeff

 

[Hairtrigger]

I have an old vibra prime...got it on sale from Midway for $20
The best money I have spent on reloading. I do not get flipped primers with mine for some reason?

 

[mosquito]

I have an old vibra prime...got it on sale from Midway for $20
The best money I have spent on reloading. I do not get flipped primers with mine for some reason?

We were talking about upside down primers in the Dillon RF-100 Primer fillers. I had heard the the vibra-prime is being made again.

G

 

[Wee Hooker]

There has to be a better way. I'm stuck in chicken pecking mode still. All the speed of a progressive is moot if I still have to spend all this time hunting and pecking at each little primer. I've seen what is surely the top of the line in the Dillon machine but holy $$$$$$$$$$ that thing is not cheap. I've returned two of the Frankfort Arsenal Vibraprimer toys and they didn't work for me worth a darn. I've seen some people have modded trays to do the same by hand but I'm so terrible at building and fabricating that I'm not yet ready to try ruining stuff that works just fine. Is there really nothing else????

There is a better way. Get a Lee.
Just dump the whole tray, shake and put the cover on. IMHO, the primer system is the Achilles heal of Dillon design.
Been There-Done that.

 

[shield]

I also don't understand the need for an autofiller if you have steady hands. I timed myself and went from packaged primers (LPP) to filled tube in just over 90 secs. Empty package onto flip tray, shake until flipped, cover, turn, pick up. Even faster if Tula that has them packaged anvil side up - I can just flip over the package and pick up with the tube, maybe 30 sec.

 

[mosquito]

I also don't understand the need for an autofiller if you have steady hands. I timed myself and went from packaged primers (LPP) to filled tube in just over 90 secs. Empty package onto flip tray, shake until flipped, cover, turn, pick up. Even faster if Tula that has them packaged anvil side up - I can just flip over the package and pick up with the tube, maybe 30 sec.

Again, it all depends on how much you load (or want to load), what equipment you are using, and on and on and on. In my last 4 loading sessions, I loaded almost 5000 rounds of .9mm. Loading the primers by hand would have been paralyzingly.

 

[shield]

Again, it all depends on how much you load (or want to load), what equipment you are using, and on and on and on. In my last 4 loading sessions, I loaded almost 5000 rounds of .9mm. Loading the primers by hand would have been paralyzingly.

Good point. I can appreciate an auto filler for high volume loading.

 

[Alaska MJ]

primers How are you doing it? I just picked up 50 primers in 60 sec using the by hand dillion. how fast do you need to travel?

 

[Jeff423]

A lot of this is personal preference. I don't need two RF 100's. I could use pickup tubes, but I would rather use the automatic fillers. I don't need a progressive - I could use a single stage or turret. I don't need a S&W - I could use a High-Point or Taurus.
In my 6th decade I've stopped trying to justify my wants as needs.

Jeff

 

[fredj338]

Again, it all depends on how much you load (or want to load), what equipment you are using, and on and on and on. In my last 4 loading sessions, I loaded almost 5000 rounds of .9mm. Loading the primers by hand would have been paralyzingly.

Agree, if I loaded 5K at a time, then an auto primer filler would save me at least 90min, not a little time at all. For me to load more than an hour becomes work & not fun, so I rarely go there. On my 650, that is 700rds or a few minutes watching fox news filling primer tubes, just not an issue for me.

 

[Engineer1911]

Filling primer tubes is nothing compared to the time to cast, size & lube 1,000 swc bullets in your choice of caliber. My Dillons (550 & 450 upgraded) can load a 1K rounds in about 2.5 hours depending on my energy level and number of filled primer tubes.