Hand Primer tool

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CrankyCraig

CrankyCraig

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I’d like to be able to prime pistol brass off press can any of you recommend one that is easy to use ?

Thanks
 
I have both the RCBS that k5shooter pictured and the Lee autoprime hand.
Of the 2 I prefer the RCBS, but I like the shell holder on the Lee.
Since most of my rifles take a Lee #2 I retrofitted the RCBS with a Lee shell holder.
The Lee does all my pistol and 223 priming so I don't change primer sizes.
 
I use the older style round Lee hand primer for 95% of my priming needs. I purchased multiples (one for large, one for small, one spare) and am glad that I did that now as they are discontinued.;) When my last one finally self destructs I do not know what I will get. For the cases that will not fit in it (WSM family, 500 S&W, etc.) I use a ram prime unit on the press. I will probably purchase some sort of bench mounted unit though and watch these threads with interest.:thumbup:
 
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I have the current version Lyman. It just works every time without any problems. I like the black color so I can use it when doing special operations at night in the dark...

I was able to handle a Hornady, RCBS, Lee & Lyman unit when I was shopping. It came down to how it fit my hand and how easy it was to take apart to change primer size & shell holder.

Frankford Arsenal has a real nice unit that allows you to adjust primer depth. I have not held one in my hand but would definitely look at it.
 
I also use both the RCBS older style and Lee Auto Bench prime hand primers! I like them both. The one thing I did, was get the RCBS universal primer tray and mod it a little to fit the Lee Auto. Works a lot better than that pos that comes with the Lee. My .02!
 
I primarily use the RCBS hand priming tool with the universal shell holder. I like not having to change shell holders when loading different cartridges but the shell holder is not 100% universal. There are a very few cases, like 25 ACP and brass .410 hulls, that do not work well with the shell holder.
 
I use a tool from Sinclair. Its expensive but smooth and well made. I like it enough that I bought another one so I have one for both large and small primers. I've worn out or broken a few of the original Lee tools and I had another tool made by Raiha (?) that worked well. The Sinclair is the nicest of the bunch.
 
The current Lee hand prime is problematic. I think there have been three versions since the 1960's. I have the "first version" which has a round primer tray and used cheap zinc materials for the priming arm and hand prime body. I broke all sorts of priming arms and the top would lift off on the hand prime body, but, it is the version I prefer. Lee must have had primer explosions in their hand tool, because the second version used the same body and priming arm, but the tray was redesigned. It became square and it had a blast cage. Primers are lifted up through the blast cage, above the main mass of primers. The cage broke on mine and so did the plastic retainers that held the top to the bottom. It also was relatively unreliable in feed. The current version has a very complicated clear plastic primer feed mechanism. It is obviously much more intensively designed to prevent primer explosion propagation to the tray. There are a lot of moving parts and springs, which block any blast from the primer tray, but, as Scottie said "the more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to plug up the drain". My Lee hand prime tool sticks and primers jam up frequently within the mechanism. I am consistently disassembling the thing to clear jams. And it is getting worse the more I use the thing. The hand prime tool body and lever arm appear to be more robust.
 
I started off using the standard RCBS hand priming tool which worked well. I then bought a used Lee hand primer (square tray) as a backup and found it to be horrible. I have medium sized hands and found it was too small for my hands and didn't feel ergonomic, felt painful after 20 primed cases.

Last year I bought an RCBS universal priming hand tool. It's expensive, but worth it in my opinion. You don't need to faff around with fitting a shell holder, it just works. I've loaded everything from 30 carbine to 7.62x53mmR, and 223 to 8mm Mauser. It doesn't care if your cases have rims or not, or if the cases are large or small. My one gripe (which is more me than the device) is that the case can sometimes slip out of the jaws if you support the lower case head with your finger (a force of hobbit from years of using the standard RCBS hand tool).

Buy once, cry once :)
 
I am using the current Lee one. (sort of triangular tray)
Works ok but not as nice as the old no longer made Round tray Lee units.
The Frankford one looks nice but I haven't held/tried one.
 
Dudedog said:
I am using the current Lee one. (sort of triangular tray)
Works ok but not as nice as the old no longer made Round tray Lee units.
The Frankford one looks nice but I haven't held/tried one.
Click to expand...
I was looking at the Frankford One online it looks like a nice tool. But I guess you really never know until it’s in your hands
 
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