Current Best Hand Priming Tool

[nakneker]

K&M has a few quirks, but I still use them and have long gotten rid of a Sinclair. If upgrade it will be a PMA so I won’t have to worry about a different shell holder platform. This is my actually fav,only used a hand primer though.

I use one and keep one as a spare, great little units. Been using it for a very long time and RCBS still sendS the priming rids when they wear down on the cam, free of charge.

 

[BoydAllen]

21st and PMA are both excellent. They are both exceptionally well made. and I like their ease of adjustment.

 

[1bamashooter]

Frankford arsenal makes a great hand priming tool the depth is adjustable comes with 10 or 12 shell holders it is all metal and has great ergonomics and a decent price as well

I've got a 21st century but use my Frankford more often

 

[Hunting 2019]

Started out using the one on my Forster coax,now use 21st century, has a good feel to it,I mean you can feel the primer as it bottoms out.

 

[timeout]

I use the RCBS. I used to use the Lee, but they changed the mechanics and it is not very good any longer. Been thinking about a bench mounted one but can't really think of a reason to get rid of the RCBS

I used a Lee until it wore out. Bought an RCBS and hated it from day one. My guess is if you would try a 21st Century, that a reason to get rid of the RCBS would quickly emerge. I have been wrong many times before though.

 

[bozo699]

I used a Lee until it wore out. Bought an RCBS and hated it from day one. My guess is if you would try a 21st Century, that a reason to get rid of the RCBS would quickly emerge. I have been wrong many times before though.

I don’t think your wrong this time though, that would be like comparing a Cadillac to a vw beetle,… both will get you from point A to B but ones much more pleasant to drive than the other.
Wayne

 

[jelenko]

Frankford Arsenal makes one. There are a few others but don't remember their names.

Primers are designed to be seated until the cup bottoms out in the primer pocket. Seating deeper improves nothing. Seating so the primer has not bottomed out could cause a misfire as some of the energy in the firing pin would be used to "complete" the priming process and there might not be enough energy to set off the primer.

Call any primer manufacturer and they will tell you that their primers are designed to be fully seated without crushing them.

Good point. The thing with adjustable seating depth is it allows you to tune the depth to the specific primer and primer pockets of the brass so that the primers are seated just right.

 

[Ccrider]

Frankford Arsenal makes one. There are a few others but don't remember their names.

Primers are designed to be seated until the cup bottoms out in the primer pocket. Seating deeper improves nothing. Seating so the primer has not bottomed out could cause a misfire as some of the energy in the firing pin would be used to "complete" the priming process and there might not be enough energy to set off the primer.

Call any primer manufacturer and they will tell you that their primers are designed to be fully seated without crushing them.

What type of shooting are you doing?

 

[ryanjay11]

I always seat primers all the way in. For me the adjustable seating depth functionality allows me to set where the handle stops, which makes it fit people with different sizes of hands.

I loaded thousands of rounds with high-end single priming tools, and switched to the Frankford Arsenal Platinum tool a couple of years ago. Is it finished as nice as some of the other options previously mentioned? No. Does it accomplish the exact same task much faster than picking up primers one at a time with a pair of tweezers? Hell yes.

I typically prime at least 150-200 rounds at a time, and I'll gladly use the time spent dicking around with tweezers to do something else.

 

[timeout]

I haven't used the FAP tool but it does sound appealing. For myself I had kind of equated Franklin Arsenal products as cheaply made. I considered buying the primer installer kit by them but then remembered the previous junk primer installer tools I had purchased and decided to shell out the $$$ for the Century 21. The Franklin Arsenal tool is apparently pretty good. I do not use a tweezers to pick up the primers. I use clean, dry hands, and have never had a problem. It goes faster than I thought it would.

 

[MFG_BOP]

21st century IMO

 

[Chiquita]

Between the Sinclair, 21st century & FA I don't think you can't go wrong with either.

I have the FA & 21st century.

Edward

 

[FNSafari]

K&M

 

[jelenko]

I had kind of equated Franklin Arsenal products as cheaply made

That's been my impression also. Their manual priming tool is a cut above the 'cheaply made' level.
It's by no means a pretty looking piece, but it's solid and WORKS. Out of the 10,000 or so small rifle primers I've seated with it, not one primer flipped over in the tray.

Some have flipped over once they get into the channel where the priming ram is, but none in the tray.

 

[INTJ]

The K&M primer gauge is the only one so far that allows you to seat to an exact crush via a dial indicator. It measures each primer cup height and pocket depth and gives you an exact crush. All the other require seating by feel. Measuring primer depth after seating is not of great benefit because cup height vary as do primer pockets--even carefully uniformed primer pockets.

This level of precision is no needed for anything other than BR and maybe ELR, so for my non BR rifles I like the Frankford. It feels good in the hand and has a decent feel as to when the primer is seated.

 

[wkdickinson]

So I am not going to tell you that this is the "best" tool out there, because there is no doubt it isn't. But I recent purchased a Lee Precision Auto Bench Priming tool. I have been using 2 of their "Auto Primes" for 20+ years. I've only primed about 125 cases (25 LRP 6.5 CM and 100 223 Rem), but so far I am reasonably impressed. The 6.5's went really well, the 223's were a little different story, but I think that may have been more an issue with the primer pockets. But both had issues with the primers feeding. However, I think with some practice this tool could prime rounds very consistently, it has great "feel". For the money it is a truly good value IMO.

 

[ronsatspokane]

I've tried several mechanical primer seaters over the years. I don't use one anymore. I use three. One old style RCBS hand primer setup for 223. One RCBS universal setup for larger brass small primer and one RCBS universal setup for larger brass with large primers. I like the feel the hand primers provide.

 

[dcali]

I’ve only used Lee, RCBS, and 21st Century. The 21st Century is awesome. I can’t see how it could be better. The Lee is decent. It’s a Lee, so it’s a little rough around the edges. The RCBS is garbage. It will do the job better than a press mounted primer, but that’s all I can say for it. It needs a total redesign.

Don’t shy away from singe load tools. It’s nowhere near as slow as you might imagine. I did for years, and I regret it. Single feed is the way to go.

 

[JMayo]

The universal is good for all I load.
6 & 30 br will run as fast as you want.
Keep the primers feeding if you don't one can turn sideways.

6Ppc (russian 220) & 223/556 can Not center in the jaws if the case isn't kinda shaken/spun to center.

I like it fine.

 

[kerjo]

CPS - Competition Primer Seater

My Sinclair's are now back ups