Questions about FA primer seating tool

[tcoz]

I've tried searching for answers to this question but couldn’t find any so please bear with me if it's been asked and answered in the past.

I’ve been priming on press for fifteen years without any major issues to speak of. Recently though I had a batch of .308 where a few primers failed to detonate because I hadn’t seated them deeply enough on my T-7. That got me to thinking about hand priming but I have a major issue with my hands. I’m 70 years old and have arthritis and swelling in my fingers to the extent that often times in the morning I can’t bend my fingers to the palm until I’ve been up and exercised them for awhile. Even when I regain the flexibility I don’t have much strength in my fingers and hands. It appears to me that the FA Platinum Primer Seating Tool offers more mechanical advantage than some of the other hand primers and I like the way it operates and the adjustability that it offers. Some of the high end tools might work better but price is a definite limiting factor for me.

For those of you that have used it or are currently using it, do you think it might be too difficult for someone with compromised hand strength to use?

Thank you for your responses.

 

[BBarn]

I had a FA hand priming tool for a short time. I couldn't prime a box of 50 without my hand hurting. I can prime over 100 with no pain using the cheap Lee hand primer.

 

[Blue68f100]

May want to look at one of the Bench primers.

I prime on my Redding BBII all the time and have press primed for my 4 decades of hand loading. Sounds like you may want to start checking after priming. May need to give it a little extra nudge to make sure your going to the bottom. Makes a little difference as to what height the press is when your seating the primers on the up stroke ( handle). If too high it's harder to load up.

 

[dgod]

I also am 70yo, and like you I have Arthritis in my hands, I prime regularly with the RCBS Handheld Primer, it works for me.

Just my $0.02
DG

 

[loadedround]

Been using a Frankford Arsenal hand priming tool for the past year. It works so well that I sold my Lyman tool on Sleazebay 3 months ago.

 

[Theinkman]

I've tried searching for answers to this question but couldn’t find any so please bear with me if it's been asked and answered in the past.

I’ve been priming on press for fifteen years without any major issues to speak of. Recently though I had a batch of .308 where a few primers failed to detonate because I hadn’t seated them deeply enough on my T-7. That got me to thinking about hand priming but I have a major issue with my hands. I’m 70 years old and have arthritis and swelling in my fingers to the extent that often times in the morning I can’t bend my fingers to the palm until I’ve been up and exercised them for awhile. Even when I regain the flexibility I don’t have much strength in my fingers and hands. It appears to me that the FA Platinum Primer Seating Tool offers more mechanical advantage than some of the other hand primers and I like the way it operates and the adjustability that it offers. Some of the high end tools might work better but price is a definite limiting factor for me.

For those of you that have used it or are currently using it, do you think it might be too difficult for someone with compromised hand strength to use?

Thank you for your responses.

tcoz-I have one of the FA platinum hand priming tools and like it a lot. It is very solid and seems well constructed. With that being said, it still requires some hand strength to properly seat primers. I have some weakness in my hands and can prime only about 200 cases at one sitting before I have to take a break.

 

[Walkalong]

May want to look at one of the Bench primers.

Yep, I have the same issue. That said, if you don't mind one at a time, and it's a bit pricey, but the 21st Century hand primer tool is super easy.

My old RCBS hand primer is pretty easy on my very arthritic right hand (first two fingers), but the new one isn't, I can't do near as many with it. I've been wondering which non single feed bench primer to try first. I have a Grizzly bench primer (Was on closeout) and it is super easy on the hands, but single feed. I'm using it for 6 Creed, it's click adjustable like the 21st Century tool.

 

[tcoz]

I noticed that Lee issues a warning in their hand primer product information that all Federal large primers frequently caused the entire tray of primers to explode during testing. I don’t use Federal primers and am familiar with their thinner cup but I was wondering whether this issue can potentially occur with all hand primers or is it something unique to the Lee models.

 

[Dewey 68]

I wouldn't recommend it to someone without full hand strength. I like mine because it feels like it's well made and part of that is it's heavy. I'm 52 with full hand strength and I have to switch hands during a priming session.

 

[forty_caliber]

I generally prime on the press. From the presses that I've used over the years, the best on-press priming is the Forster Co-Ax by far. Machined shelf stops crushing and consistently seats to .005" depth. Short strokes once in the grove 5-6 cases a minute is possible. Unique "leaves" adjust to accept any case with no specialty shell holders needed.

They also make the same system in a bench mount model.

.40

 

[Bill M.]

Why did they not seat deeply enough on the T-7? I am interested because I was thinking about buying a Redding press for the primer seating function. I am older than you and do not like any of the hand primer seaters I have tried. Right now I am using a ram primer on the single stage press and it works fine but picking up each primer and putting it in place left handed is a bit of a challenge. Maybe what you need to do is to address the problem with the T-7 priming and clear it up.

 

[bullseye308]

Have a look at the Lee bench mounted primer. I’m cheap and my shoulders are coming apart, just had surgery on one two weeks ago and when I heal up will be getting the other one done. I load up a tray of primers and as long as I do t short stroke it she runs like a top. I may get one out of 350-400 that I have to fiddle with(probably my fault), but I like it and can prime with 2 fingers all day long.

 

[tcoz]

Why did they not seat deeply enough on the T-7? I am interested because I was thinking about buying a Redding press for the primer seating function. I am older than you and do not like any of the hand primer seaters I have tried. Right now I am using a ram primer on the single stage press and it works fine but picking up each primer and putting it in place left handed is a bit of a challenge. Maybe what you need to do is to address the problem with the T-7 priming and clear it up.

I've never had a problem in the past so it's possible that I was just being a little nonchalant in seating them. The arthritis in my hands has become worse and I recently haven't had the same "feel" when seating primers. Also, I was seating CCI 34 military primers for the first time in quite a while and they're known to be a tiny bit harder to seat at times. I'm thinking it's a combination of factors. I really like the primer seating on the T-7 and after reading the comments to my question, I'll probably stick with it. Currently I'm seating the same primers and having no problem. There is no problem with the T-7 priming system. The problem that I had was probably a one off. It just got me thinking about whether it would be difficult to start hand priming.

 

[Ruger 15151]

I got tired of hand priming because I could never seem to keep small primers from flipping or jamming. I then started priming on my T-7 press but found it was very easy to use too much pressure when seating the primers. I bought an RCBS bench priming tool and its been one of the best reloading tool investments that I have made. It takes very little effort to seat any brand of primer and I have yet to destroy a single primer

 

[JFrank]

I've tried searching for answers to this question but couldn’t find any so please bear with me if it's been asked and answered in the past.

I’ve been priming on press for fifteen years without any major issues to speak of. Recently though I had a batch of .308 where a few primers failed to detonate because I hadn’t seated them deeply enough on my T-7. That got me to thinking about hand priming but I have a major issue with my hands. I’m 70 years old and have arthritis and swelling in my fingers to the extent that often times in the morning I can’t bend my fingers to the palm until I’ve been up and exercised them for awhile. Even when I regain the flexibility I don’t have much strength in my fingers and hands. It appears to me that the FA Platinum Primer Seating Tool offers more mechanical advantage than some of the other hand primers and I like the way it operates and the adjustability that it offers. Some of the high end tools might work better but price is a definite limiting factor for me.

For those of you that have used it or are currently using it, do you think it might be too difficult for someone with compromised hand strength to use?

Thank you for your responses.

I’ was in the same position as you searching for a good hand primer tool with the leverage I needed. My answer was to order the K&M tool, price is very reasonable and the quality is excellent while hand one might seem tedious it really is not.
I do it while watching a bit of fake news

 

[rfwobbly]

Second vote for the RCBS Bench Priming Tool. Uses standard shell holders. Swaps primer sizes in seconds. Added safety of the tubular magazines. Bolt it to a scrap piece of 1x6 board and you have a really useful priming tool with excellent leverage and great "feel".

 

[Thomasss]

The problem may be in several areas, like the manufacturer of brass, cleaning the primer pockets before hand and the primers themselves.
I use a Hornady hand primer which requires squeezing your whole hand, but it is very good for large rifle primers and not so good for pistol primers(they like to flip upside down.) I don't use military primers in my Garand. Winchester and CCI work just fine. The Hornady Lock and Load press also has a simple primer option. The arm works in reverse for primers and its just a small push.

 

[ojibweindian]

I've tried searching for answers to this question but couldn’t find any so please bear with me if it's been asked and answered in the past.

I’ve been priming on press for fifteen years without any major issues to speak of. Recently though I had a batch of .308 where a few primers failed to detonate because I hadn’t seated them deeply enough on my T-7. That got me to thinking about hand priming but I have a major issue with my hands. I’m 70 years old and have arthritis and swelling in my fingers to the extent that often times in the morning I can’t bend my fingers to the palm until I’ve been up and exercised them for awhile. Even when I regain the flexibility I don’t have much strength in my fingers and hands. It appears to me that the FA Platinum Primer Seating Tool offers more mechanical advantage than some of the other hand primers and I like the way it operates and the adjustability that it offers. Some of the high end tools might work better but price is a definite limiting factor for me.

For those of you that have used it or are currently using it, do you think it might be too difficult for someone with compromised hand strength to use?

Thank you for your responses.

I have psoriatic arthritis and have no problems with using the FA hand priming tool. Truth be told, though, if I had the space on my bench, I'd get the RCBS bench priming tool, assuming I wouldn't have to feed primers individually by hand.

 

[tcoz]

I wasn’t really familiar with the RCBS Bench Priming Tool but now that I’ve studied it some, it looks like something I might consider. I don’t have much room on my bench so I mounted my RCBS Trim-Pro to a piece of plywood and I C-clamp it to my bench when I need it. No reason I couldn’t do the same thing with the primer seating tool.

 

[Herman B]

I have a T-7, the Frankford Platinum Hand Priming Tool and a strong set of hands. I would most definitely stick with priming on the T-7 for max leverage as the Hand Priming Tool requires a very firm squeeze. Take care of those hands and save'em for the important squeeze on the range!

 

[rocirish]

I have a RCBS bench priming tool also. It really works well for a large batch of brass priming. Hardly any effort and you can still feel when the primer is seated.

 

[cfullgraf]

I prime off the press.

These days, I use an RCBS hand primer with the universal shell holder. I have both the tray version and the APS strip version. But, my hands are not as strong as they used to be and I get tired after 150 or 200 cases in one sitting.

So, for large batches of priming, I have an RCBS APS trip bench primer. Much easier on the hands but not as quick as the hand primer.

I do have the FA hand primer and have used it a little. It works well and has most of the shell holders that I need. I have a bunch of Lee primer tool shell holders from my days of using the Lee Auto-Prime round tray priming tool. The FA primer tool works fine but I have not used much as I have been loading ,any metallic cartridges for the last year or so.

Lots of shot shell reloaeing though.

 

[Dudedog]

Lee Auto-Prime round tray priming tool.

The old round tray ones were much better than the square tray one or the new version IMO.
Should have bought a couple spare round tray ones back when.....