Hand / bench primer .

[Dustyman]

Broken my latest lee hand prime . Can I have people thoughts on best all round bench or hand primer . Don’t want to do in press  so comes down to the hand or bench. Could be single load or tube / tray fed . Just want to buy once if poss . Thanks for looking 

[Re-Pete]

Funny you should say that.............I've just bought a Lee bench Autoprime, and I have to say, it's far and away their best effort yet.............did 100 cases straight off without having to clear jams or wait for my hand to un-numb. The case holders from the Ergo and other Lee hand primers fit.

Henry Krank,   https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/lee-reloading/priming-tools/lee-auto-bench-prime.html

Pete

ps If you get one and you use large rifle primers, I have a couple of spare LR adapters as I only use the small rifle primers.

 

[Catch-22]

I use the 21st Century hand primer as I don’t have a permanent reloading bench (everything gets packed away).

I must say that it’s beautifully engineered and is a joy to use. I once primed 500 .223 cases in one sitting and felt totally fine afterwards, no hand strain or pain. 

I too have a Lee Autoprime but the 21st Century is an infinitely better product and makes priming a lot lot easier than the Lee.
Plus the 21st Century has very fine click adjustments, making seating primers extremely precise and consistent.

Not cheap but I think it’s one of the best reloading tools I have. 

http://www.xxicsi.com/super-precision-click-head-br-priming-tool.html

[GT3_richy]

1 hour ago, Re-Pete said:

Funny you should say that.............I've just bought a Lee bench Autoprime, and I have to say, it's far and away their best effort yet.............did 100 cases straight off without having to clear jams or wait for my hand to un-numb. The case holders from the Ergo and other Lee hand primers fit.

Henry Krank,   https://www.henrykrank.com/reloading/lee-reloading/priming-tools/lee-auto-bench-prime.html

I bought one of these as I struggle with finger aches and pains - its brilliant. Very little effort but still provides good feedback. Takes no time to prime large numbers.

[Brillo]

The Forster coax priming tool is the dogs bits. I have not had one single problem since buying mine.

https://www.1967spud.com/shop/reloading/priming-tools/forster-coax-priming-tool/

[Re-Pete]

I  looked at these but thought they were far too pricey.............I've had hand Ergoprimes since they came out, and they've been fine, especially with the triangular trays.

The bench version is just several orders of magnitude better, and at £32, a no-brainer.............time will tell, though.

Pete

[fizzbangwhallop]

On 9/8/2020 at 3:38 PM, Re-Pete said:

I  looked at these but thought they were far too pricey.............I've had hand Ergoprimes since they came out, and they've been fine, especially with the triangular trays.

The bench version is just several orders of magnitude better, and at £32, a no-brainer.............time will tell, though.

Pete

I’d agree with that... I’ve was on my second Lee hand primer but since I’ve started ultrasonic bath cleaning I’ve noticed that the primers took more effort due to the us removing the natural lubricity of the brass (the other theory is that my grip ain’t as good as it used to be! 😝

I looked at the Forster but loading the tube means handling the primers..... far easier to tip and flip them in the Lee tray. 
 

I mounted it on a block of ally and stuck on some rubber feet to make it easier to use and give ‘feel’ to the loading process.

 

cheers

Fizz

[gunner]

K&M with dial gauge , its single load but id been using a rcbs something which was good but no way near the Uniformity of using one with a dial. 

[Re-Pete]

The inclusion of a dial gauge is interesting...........the primer just needs to be pushed in until the rim of the outer shell contacts the base of the primer pocket. This in turn causes the anvil in the primer to be  pushed into the primer case to contact the primer compound. In the case of the Lee bench Autoprime, the point at which the anvil contacts the base of the primer pocket is the first change in resistance felt through the handle, then slightly more pressure is applied to seat the outer shell of the primer against the base of the primer pocket with almost a click. Apply any further pressure at this point and you risk flattening the primer outer shell and causing the anvil to contact the  metal by pushing through the compound. This can result in the primer denting nicely when the gun is fired, but failing to ignite the charge..................

What are the units on the dial?

Pete

[Catch-22]

Purpose of the dial is to ensure each primer is seated to exactly the same depth each time in each case. It enhanced the process more than just the ‘feel’ you get through the handle as you note.

The 21st Century priming tool I use does the same thing (ensuring a greater level of consistency each prime) by using a 10thou click adjust system.
Once you’ve measured your flashole depth and know how deeply you want to seat the primer, you Set primer seating depth using the click system on the tool and all cases will be primed to the same depth. You still get the ‘feel’ through the handle but can be confident in knowing each primer was seated in exactly the same way as each other.

 

[terryh]

I use the Century 21 adjustable primer pocket tool/cutter to uniform all the brass (NB after 1st firing) then the C21 primer tool mentioned by Catch-22. it is actually .00125 adjustment per click.

From my perspective the whole process is to, as far as possible and as stated, to compress the anvil by the same amount each time in each cartridge i.e. when load developing you are only changing one thing not 'assuming' the ignition is the same each time.

T

[38super]

I use the RCBS automatic bench priming tool. Suffer from arthritis in my fingers and find the priming force to be gentle. The only thing I

don't like is that the handle sticks well out from the bench so it's not something you can easily leave in place on the bench. Very solidly made.

 

[Popsbengo]

6 hours ago, 38super said:

I use the RCBS automatic bench priming tool. Suffer from arthritis in my fingers and find the priming force to be gentle. The only thing I

don't like is that the handle sticks well out from the bench so it's not something you can easily leave in place on the bench. Very solidly made.

 

RCBS - me too.  I mounted it right up close to the press and I find that I don't bang into it now.  It doesn't get in the way either.

[gunner]

Here is picture , looks like in thousands , you won't break this its proper hard steel, not zink / alloy mixed type soft cheese. Once set up after a few minutes its feel and use is better by far than cheaper types 

[Re-Pete]

I see what you mean...............but I can't help thinking that it sounds a bit like they've designed something to be far more complicated than it needs to be.

Primer pockets and primers are subject to manufacturing tolerances, so setting the depth to fractions of a thou. doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless you're going to grade individual primers by diameter and height.

The crucial requirement is that the primer outer cup is inserted with sufficient pressure to just contact the base of the pocket. If that's achieved, a healthy primer should be good to go.

Pete

[Popsbengo]

Just now, Re-Pete said:

I see what you mean...............but I can't help thinking that it sounds a bit like they've designed something to be far more complicated than it needs to be.

Primer pockets and primers are subject to manufacturing tolerances, so setting the depth to fractions of a thou. doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless you're going to grade individual primers by diameter and height.

The crucial requirement is that the primer outer cup is inserted with sufficient pressure to just contact the base of the pocket. If that's achieved, a healthy primer should be good to go.

Pete

Yep,  I agree wholeheartedly.   A gadget giving no useful value to the on-range performance in my opinion.   It's way more important to seat the primer snugly in the pocket,  I find a lever operated bench mount aids that as hand fatigue is not a factor.

I've actually measured primer cups (I know, I should get a life) and the tolerance is ±2thou typically with CCI BR2;  and there's Remington - well don't go there,  a load of shirt.   Also, even Lapua brass pockets vary a thou or two within the batch.

If one weighs the primers (again no life...) there's small variations and my guess it's the quantity of primer compound as much as any variation in cup & anvil as some less deep cups were heavier than deep ones (by the proverbial gnats nadgers).

[Gluv]

4 hours ago, Popsbengo said:

Yep,  I agree wholeheartedly.   A gadget giving no useful value to the on-range performance in my opinion.   It's way more important to seat the primer snugly in the pocket,  I find a lever operated bench mount aids that as hand fatigue is not a factor.

I've actually measured primer cups (I know, I should get a life) and the tolerance is ±2thou typically with CCI BR2;  and there's Remington - well don't go there,  a load of shirt.   Also, even Lapua brass pockets vary a thou or two within the batch.

If one weighs the primers (again no life...) there's small variations and my guess it's the quantity of primer compound as much as any variation in cup & anvil as some less deep cups were heavier than deep ones (by the proverbial gnats nadgers).

Rcbs bench primer is the way to go . I had so much arm pump from a hand primer, my love life was suffering 😂

Gluv🇬🇧

[gunner]

Yeah i hear ya , its just i can't help thinking when i learnt to reload the most important thing was uniformity - and carefully with a dial you get them spot on . Use what you prefer and suits you - atb guys

[Andrew]

Another vote for the Forster. I use one and keep extra primer tubes because, if there is a shortfall to them, it's the limited capacity. (50 ish) I use the priming unit on my forster press with great success for short runs -less than 100 cases. An oft overlooked item is the Lee Ram Prime unit. I had my Forster set for my 6.5 Grendel and wanted to run off 20 or 30 Creedmoors so I used the Ram Prime in my RCBS press. Very smooth.

I recently bought five  hundred NAMMO 7,62x51 UPB cases. The US web sites were complaining that Federal Match primers were "Darned near impossible" to seat into the tight primer pockets. With the ram prime they were a firm seat, but far from impossible. The leverage supplied by a bench mounted unit makes them worth owning.... at least this instance. ~Andrew