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RCBS Bench Primer or Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer

Reformedcitykid

Hi all, looking to pick up a new priming tool and was wondering if anyone has compelling arguments one way or another towards either the RCBS Bench Primer or the FA Perfect Seat Hand Primer? To date I’ve been using the Lee Hand Primer and want an upgrade. I originally wanted to go to a bench-mounted system, but the FA looks pretty great.

I know everyone loves to recommend the Primal Rights CPS. In a perfect world where I grow my money on the money tree I would get one. In this world I won’t. I’ve also thought hard about the 21st Century or Sinclair primers, but for how good of a price I can get the FA for, I’m not sure that the quality trade off is enough to justify spending the roughly 3-4x I’d spend.

Any recommendations one way or another would be much appreciated!
 
I upgraded from the Lee to a Frankford Arsenal. So far I am really liking it. It is heavy duty, it comes will all the shellholders you could need, and the hopper is large enough that you could prime 500 cartridges at a time, if you were so inclined. I also like the fact that you can adjust the seating depth.

I like mine a lot.
 
I've purchased 5-6 Frankford Arsenal tools and with the exception of one, they have been returned, sold, or went in the trash. The primer seat was one returned. I just haven't found any of their tools useful. I know some are popular with others, they however don't fit my taste. I use the RCBS bench seater.
 
I've been using the Sinclair tool for about 25 years now. Its a very well made tool. Mine came with steel shim rings to set your seating depth. It has good "feel" when seating primers. With practice, you can get good at consistent seating depth. I'm with @Eagle Six. I've never had an FA or RCBS tool I really liked. You can also look at 21st Century, PMA Tool or K&M.

PopCharlie
 
Reformedcitykid said:
Hi all, looking to pick up a new priming tool and was wondering if anyone has compelling arguments one way or another towards either the RCBS Bench Primer or the FA Perfect Seat Hand Primer? To date I’ve been using the Lee Hand Primer and want an upgrade. I originally wanted to go to a bench-mounted system, but the FA looks pretty great.

I know everyone loves to recommend the Primal Rights CPS. In a perfect world where I grow my money on the money tree I would get one. In this world I won’t. I’ve also thought hard about the 21st Century or Sinclair primers, but for how good of a price I can get the FA for, I’m not sure that the quality trade off is enough to justify spending the roughly 3-4x I’d spend.

Any recommendations one way or another would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
I have the Franford arsenal. It does what it says. Works how it should. However the ergonomics are total crap.

First I have to wear a glove when using it. Otherwise I get blisters when using it. If I seat more than 200 cases I will get blisters anyway.

Second, it's really heavy for what it is. I was surprised how heavy it is. I was used to using the lee hand primer before this. I was fine with the lee, but it broke and the FA had depth control so I went with the FA. However. Man it just is heavy.

Third, it takes a lot of pressure to seat primers with this thing. Sometimes I have to use both hands. I don't have arthritis or weak hands. I'm 46 and still able bodied. But if I were like 70, I don't think there is any way I could use this thing. So I know in a decade or so I'm gonna have to replace it.

Maybe mine is a bum one? Not sure

Functionally, it works the way they market it. I have no problem with the end result. There are a few quicks I would be okay with if the ergonomics were better. 1) with some brass buildup in the shell holder, the system will start jamming. 2)large rifle primer feeding is funky. Every 7-10 primers you have to manufer the system to keep the primers feeding. 3)if you use too steep of an angle to feed primers, the one that is on deck to be seated will be in the chamber on its side. Causing a jam and its difficult to remove the primer.

I cannot remember any of these problems with the lee. It was pretty much flawless. However I wouldn't buy the lee again because I like to control seating depth.

I also would not buy the Frankford arsenal again either. It's a pain in the ass.
 
I have the Frankford Arsenal one. Works great. Depth adjustable works. Ergonomics are fine. Heavy duty. I broke the weak toggle link twice on my old Lee. Not so with the FA. I would buy another without hesitation.
 
My vote is for the Sinclair Hand Priming tool if you go the hand priming route. It's the last hand priming tool you'll ever buy, they are made that good. This is also a good way to good if you have bench top space limitations. When your done priming, simply put the tool away. I like that feature a lot.

However, if you load for different primer sizes, i.e., small and large, changing over is tedious. For this reason, I have two, one set up for small primers, another for large primers. Also, they take Lee shell holders. If you reload cartridges with different rim sizes that require different shell holders, I recommend you also buy a separate screw on head for each shell holder so you can mount the shell holder permanently in the head. It makes change over quick and painless.

Yes, it's a sizable investment but they will last a lifetime and probably beyond. For precision primer seating, I like a hand priming tool which makes seating by feel easier, at least for me.

I can't comment of the FA tool because I never used it. I had bad experiences with tube feed priming tools but that was well over 25 years ago. They may have improved them, or I could have just had a bad one.
 
I've been using the RCBS Universal that doesn't require different shell holders for each cartridge. The first RCBS I bought required the different shell holders. I've had good luck with the universal unit for a few years now.
 
I have both and prefer the Frankford. It has depth adjustment and much easier to switch between small and large rifle primers. Shell holders are included and are easy to change, as has been mentioned. On the down side is the weight, made of die cast zinc not aluminum.
 
PopCharlie said:
I've been using the Sinclair tool for about 25 years now. Its a very well made tool. Mine came with steel shim rings to set your seating depth. It has good "feel" when seating primers. With practice, you can get good at consistent seating depth. I'm with @Eagle Six. I've never had an FA or RCBS tool I really liked. You can also look at 21st Century, PMA Tool or K&M.

PopCharlie
Click to expand...
If you disassemble the Sinclair you can adjust the seating depth by adjusting the stem, has some sort of Locktite, but a quick warming with a small torch will soften the glue.
 
HandgunHTR said:
I upgraded from the Lee to a Frankford Arsenal. So far I am really liking it. It is heavy duty, it comes will all the shellholders you could need, and the hopper is large enough that you could prime 500 cartridges at a time, if you were so inclined. I also like the fact that you can adjust the seating depth.

I like mine a lot.
Click to expand...
Me too. It's heavier duty version of the Lee.
 
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K22 said:
My vote is for the Sinclair Hand Priming tool if you go the hand priming route. It's the last hand priming tool you'll ever buy, they are made that good. This is also a good way to good if you have bench top space limitations. When your done priming, simply put the tool away. I like that feature a lot.

However, if you load for different primer sizes, i.e., small and large, changing over is tedious. For this reason, I have two, one set up for small primers, another for large primers. Also, they take Lee shell holders. If you reload cartridges with different rim sizes that require different shell holders, I recommend you also buy a separate screw on head for each shell holder so you can mount the shell holder permanently in the head. It makes change over quick and painless.

Yes, it's a sizable investment but they will last a lifetime and probably beyond. For precision primer seating, I like a hand priming tool which makes seating by feel easier, at least for me.

I can't comment of the FA tool because I never used it. I had bad experiences with tube feed priming tools but that was well over 25 years ago. They may have improved them, or I could have just had a bad one.
Click to expand...
You can convert the shell holder to use PMA type shell holder, makes it easier.
 
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I use the Lee hand primer for when I don't use Tula primers. Tulas get seated with the RCBS AmmoMaster(I got tired of getting hand cramps).
 
Dimner said:
I have the Franford arsenal. It does what it says. Works how it should. However the ergonomics are total crap.

First I have to wear a glove when using it. Otherwise I get blisters when using it. If I seat more than 200 cases I will get blisters anyway.

Second, it's really heavy for what it is. I was surprised how heavy it is. I was used to using the lee hand primer before this. I was fine with the lee, but it broke and the FA had depth control so I went with the FA. However. Man it just is heavy.

Third, it takes a lot of pressure to seat primers with this thing. Sometimes I have to use both hands. I don't have arthritis or weak hands. I'm 46 and still able bodied. But if I were like 70, I don't think there is any way I could use this thing. So I know in a decade or so I'm gonna have to replace it.

Maybe mine is a bum one? Not sure

Functionally, it works the way they market it. I have no problem with the end result. There are a few quicks I would be okay with if the ergonomics were better. 1) with some brass buildup in the shell holder, the system will start jamming. 2)large rifle primer feeding is funky. Every 7-10 primers you have to manufer the system to keep the primers feeding. 3)if you use too steep of an angle to feed primers, the one that is on deck to be seated will be in the chamber on its side. Causing a jam and its difficult to remove the primer.

I cannot remember any of these problems with the lee. It was pretty much flawless. However I wouldn't buy the lee again because I like to control seating depth.

I also would not buy the Frankford arsenal again either. It's a pain in the ass.
Click to expand...
I had most of the same problems. It just sits on the shelf now...
 
I use a Sinclair for my long range ammunition.

There are many press mounted options that function similar to the CPS, too. Personally, I think the CPS is over-rated.
 
For those of you that like the FA, you guys are having no problems with the amount of force needed to seat primers?
 
Until about 3 years ago I only used the Lee primer system. As I got older I began having increasing difficulty fully seating some brands of primers in some brands of cases. I bought a Lee Bench Priming System and it didn't work worth a s&*t. The feed tray is a joke. I bought one of the Franklin's and it worked on every brass/ primer combo I tried it on. I like the adjustable seating depth feature. I now have 2 sets one for LRP's and one for SRP's. One complaint I do have is that the lever has a tendency to stick and not return to the open position every time, on one of them, but I can live with it. Over the years I did bend or brake several hand levers on the Lees and I could only use my thumbs to seat the primer, whereas I can use my whole hand and one thumb on the Frankfort.
 
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