Does anyone have experience using Dillon RF 100 primer tube loader?

[evtSmtx]

• how reliable is it?
• how frequent is required maintenance and what needs to be done
• how many primer tubes have you loaded with it?
• how much time required to change small <-> large primer?

Thanks!

 

[evtSmtx]

I've seen some inconclusive reviews on youtube.
Amazing though that it's the first time I haven't gotten tons of helpful responses on THR.

I'll probably get one eventually but not soon.

 

[jmorris]

It is quite reliable once setup with nothing to maintain, except keep it clean. Not sure how long it would take to convert it (never have done it) and I don't know how many tens of thousands I have loaded with mine.

 

[wmurphy]

I'm less than impressed with mine. I've been working with Dillon for about two years, and have even sent it back to Dillon twice. It's better than it's ever been, but still flips about 3 out of every 100 primers. I've pretty much given up on it, will probably put it up for sale soon. Must say that I'm very happy with all of my other Dillon products and their no BS support, but I think they missed the mark on this product.

 

[Longhorn 76]

It works very well if you fiddle with it initially.
If you change brands of primers, you will need to fiddle with it a little more. Changing to large primers takes 5 minutes, but then you will have to fiddle with it again.

 

[taliv]

takes quite a bit of fiddling but is mostly reliable. i probably have to flip one every third tube or so. i don't know how many i've loaded, but over 15k rounds in past 2 years easy, and i've owned it about 10 years or so. i won't lie. it's annoying on a regular basis. but it sure beats loading them by hand with pickup tubes

 

[evtSmtx]

thanks y'all. 3/100 is an error rate I can live with to not have to stop to load primers.

 

[Steelworker]

Have you seen the handheld tube loaders? They only cost around $50. I have not used one so I can not say how reliable they are.

 

[stubbicatt]

I had one to go with my 1050. It was temperamental. I no longer remember all the issues. I had a hand held Frankford Arsenal tube filler which I preferred. Come to think of it, I still have that tube filler somewhere.

 

[Lafitte]

Ppost # 8 mentioned the hand held fillers, I know that is not the subject of this discussion but I will add my experience with the hand held fillers.

I have one and it is a marvel, once I got the hang of it I find it is the best addition to my reloading bench that I have ever had. It fills the tubes in about 30 seconds and has 0 inversions.

Lafitte

 

[jmorris]

One thing about the Dillon primer tube fillers is that a few years ago they began making a control that allowed you to adjust the amount of vibration. Any new one should come with it and it makes it a much better machine.

 

[highlander 5]

I'm all for speeding up the reloading process but with cost of that device I'll stick to filling the primer tubes by hand. How long does it take to fill a tube,1 minute maybe 90 seconds. So if you have say 5 tubes to fill 10 min max allowing for filling the primer flipper and getting the primers right side up. Is it worth the $300 to save maybe 5 min in the reloading process. Consider if the device breaks you're back to loading tubes by hand anyway.

 

[jmorris]

Is it worth the $300 to save maybe 5 min in the reloading process.

Depends on how many times you save the time it I guess. Life can be lived without sprinkler systems to water the yard, microwaves and dish washers too. They exist because people will pay money so they don't have to do it or wait on it.

 

[stubbicatt]

It's not so much the time savings as it is the frustration of "hunting and pecking" those primers into the tubes. Causes my hand to cramp up.

 

[Rule3]

I'm all for speeding up the reloading process but with cost of that device I'll stick to filling the primer tubes by hand. How long does it take to fill a tube,1 minute maybe 90 seconds. So if you have say 5 tubes to fill 10 min max allowing for filling the primer flipper and getting the primers right side up. Is it worth the $300 to save maybe 5 min in the reloading process. Consider if the device breaks you're back to loading tubes by hand anyway.

It seems extremely expensive. Do those that use it really shoot that much ammo to justify it? I guess if you are a competition shooter or something,
Isn't it over $300??
Just asking as I would certainly never need to load up that many primer tubes.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I'd get one, but a case feeder is currently a higher priority. I settled on the Frankford Arsenal Vibra-prime for $25 on sale.



It takes a bit more involvement, but is fit the budget at the time. I like to load up 5 tubes before starting, that way I can load for an hour uninterrupted except to switch primer and bullet tubes

 

[Longhorn 76]

With the Dillon, you don't need to load ANY extra tubes; you fill your reloader and dump another box in the Dillon, and start reloading while the Dillon loads another tube for you.

 

[jmorris]

The vibraprime was not the topic but as 9mm points out is a great value and only takes a minute longer to use than the Dillon.

On the presses I am using that means I would have loaded 20 more rounds using the Dillon filler vs the VP.

 

[Lafitte]

Choices seem to be $300.00, $20.00 or primer pecking. I went with $20.00 and am glad I did.

Lafitte

 

[9mmepiphany]

The vibraprime was not the topic but as 9mm points out is a great value and only takes a minute longer to use than the Dillon.

On the presses I am using that means I would have loaded 20 more rounds using the Dillon filler vs the VP.

Yes, sorry for the thread drift.

I have used the Dillon and it is easier. I'm just glad I didn't have to set it up...and didn't pay for it

 

[tightgroup tiger]

thanks y'all. 3/100 is an error rate I can live with to not have to stop to load primers.

I'm sorry but it's not an error rate I can live with even though I only load about 6-7k rounds a year. At 7k a year 3 flipped primers out of every hundred would seriously upset me. That would be 210 flipped primers for me in one year.

I apparently have very high expectations for my primer delivery.

I may get one flipped primer a year the way I do it with my primer tubes, No offence, but I'll stick with that.

 

[taliv]

so just to be a little more specific, there's two things that can go wrong. one is a primer is turned upside down and goes into the tube. this happens fairly rarely for me. perhaps 1 in 1000. to fix it, you watch it, turn the machine off quickly, and dump the top few primers out of the tube and then turn the machine on again. if you fail to notice, this means you will get a loaded round with a backwards primer. since i always check primers before i put them in magazines, i wouldn't get a malfunction in a gun, just a wasted $0.15 or so

the other thing is a primer will flip partially somehow and hang up in the machine. this is the one that happens more often for me and usually means poking at it with a dental pick to get it unstuck. usually, it's a 15 second delay or so, which is annoying but still requires almost zero effort and is much faster than doing it by hand.

 

[evtSmtx]

dude, seriously did you _have_ to bring up anything to do with dentistry?

but even more seriously, wouldnt a wooden kebab stick be safer?

 

[taliv]

Heh wooden kebob sticks aren't hooked on the end which is needed to insert from bottom under the hood and then push the primer horizontally

 

[valleyforge.1777]

I hate loading primers into primer tubes. I hate it.

I got the Dillon RF 100 and I absolutely LOVE it! I will never go back to manually filling primer tubes. My RF 100 works great. I thought about it for a couple of years before making the purchase and now I am kicking myself about all the primer tube filling I did the old way before buying this machine.

The price may be high for some. Depends on the kind of reloader one is. If you are the guy who buys one or a few of the 100-count primer trays at the gun shop to do your reloading, or you buy a pound of powder (that's "A SINGLE" pound of powder) you will probably see the RF 100 price as absurd. If you are one of the many who says, "Oh, I see that Natchez has SPP in stock again, I guess I should stock up another 20,000" or "Oh PV has 8-pounders of my favorite powder, I guess I will get 4 of those" then the price of the RF 100 is trivial. I know one thing for sure: When I have passed away and am sleeping with my head on a stone by the black muddy river, I am not going to look back on that $300 and wish I'd "been more careful about spending money."