Recommend a good priming tool
- Thread starter WestKYShooter
- Start date
Killick
Transcendental Capitalist
RCBS bench tool. I don't want to pick up each primer and seat it into the tool and you can feel every primer seating to the bottom. Plus, my hands cramp up up with a hand seater (due to a little rhuematiz). I don't have the Holland upgrade but I'm thinking hard about getting one.
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Here's an informative perspective from https://thefiringline.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-462309.html:
Find the K&M Primer here: http://kmshooting.com/primer-gauge.html
The 21st Century tool should allow similar seating. I'm not sure where feel comes into this, having never seated a primer this way.
"Just to review the terminology, you can uniform primer pocket depth, uniform a primer pocket profile, and uniform the primer pocket vent (flash hole). In the common vernacular, only the first one is normally called primer pocket uniforming. The second is usually called primer pocket reaming or swaging, while the third is usually referred to as flash hole reaming. A fourth thing often done is flash hole deburring on the inside of the case, but that's on the other side of the web from the primer pocket.
Primer pocket depth uniforming is done with an end cutting tool that removes brass from the floor of the primer pocket around the vent. It doesn't cut the sides of the pocket or remove crimps. All it is concerned with is making the pockets uniformly deep. For the service rifles that is, indeed, creating a safety margin against slamfires.
For benchrest, primer pocket depth is uniformed on the theory that it makes the firing pin strikes more uniform, which does affect speed of ignition. Outside of benchrest, one is hard put to see the difference a few thousandths of pin strike depth makes.
Much more important for accuracy is that you be able to set the bridge in the primer. The bridge is the thickness of priming mix between the tip of the primer's anvil (that little inverted tripod you see looking at the business end of a primer) and the inside bottom of the primer cup. Federal says, first seat the primer until you just feel the anvil legs touch the bottom of the pocket. Then, for large primers the cup should be pressed in 0.003" deeper to correctly set the bridge. For small primers it is 0.002" deeper.
Setting the bridge to that specification will insure rapid ignition that is uniform shot to shot. Without it, ignition delays of tens of milliseconds can sometimes occur, and that's enough to let movement from trigger pressing, muscle contractions on the stock, and firing pin strike vibration to move the muzzle further off target before the bullet exits.
If you uniform your primer pocket depths, you set up a situation in which just one standard measurement tells you whether or not you have correctly set the bridge. Typically, primer touchdown occurs when the primer is about flush to 0.002" below flush with the outside bottom of the casehead. So, a correctly set bridge will have the primer 0.003-0.005" below flush. You can measure this with a depth mic or the depth probe on a caliper.
If you uniform your primer pockets, 0.005" is what you should strive for, while unmodified cases should average 0.004", which is what the primer seating tool built into the Forster Co-ax press produces. It's the only primer seating tool I know of that fixes primer depth. K&M also produces a tool that lets you feel touchdown, then has a dial indicator that lets you see how much further you are pushing the primer in to set the bridge. Slow going, but it makes uniforming primer pocket depth unnecessary if you have a bolt gun that isn't benchrest accurate."
Find the K&M Primer here: http://kmshooting.com/primer-gauge.html
The 21st Century tool should allow similar seating. I'm not sure where feel comes into this, having never seated a primer this way.
"Just to review the terminology, you can uniform primer pocket depth, uniform a primer pocket profile, and uniform the primer pocket vent (flash hole). In the common vernacular, only the first one is normally called primer pocket uniforming. The second is usually called primer pocket reaming or swaging, while the third is usually referred to as flash hole reaming. A fourth thing often done is flash hole deburring on the inside of the case, but that's on the other side of the web from the primer pocket.
Primer pocket depth uniforming is done with an end cutting tool that removes brass from the floor of the primer pocket around the vent. It doesn't cut the sides of the pocket or remove crimps. All it is concerned with is making the pockets uniformly deep. For the service rifles that is, indeed, creating a safety margin against slamfires.
For benchrest, primer pocket depth is uniformed on the theory that it makes the firing pin strikes more uniform, which does affect speed of ignition. Outside of benchrest, one is hard put to see the difference a few thousandths of pin strike depth makes.
Much more important for accuracy is that you be able to set the bridge in the primer. The bridge is the thickness of priming mix between the tip of the primer's anvil (that little inverted tripod you see looking at the business end of a primer) and the inside bottom of the primer cup. Federal says, first seat the primer until you just feel the anvil legs touch the bottom of the pocket. Then, for large primers the cup should be pressed in 0.003" deeper to correctly set the bridge. For small primers it is 0.002" deeper.
Setting the bridge to that specification will insure rapid ignition that is uniform shot to shot. Without it, ignition delays of tens of milliseconds can sometimes occur, and that's enough to let movement from trigger pressing, muscle contractions on the stock, and firing pin strike vibration to move the muzzle further off target before the bullet exits.
If you uniform your primer pocket depths, you set up a situation in which just one standard measurement tells you whether or not you have correctly set the bridge. Typically, primer touchdown occurs when the primer is about flush to 0.002" below flush with the outside bottom of the casehead. So, a correctly set bridge will have the primer 0.003-0.005" below flush. You can measure this with a depth mic or the depth probe on a caliper.
If you uniform your primer pockets, 0.005" is what you should strive for, while unmodified cases should average 0.004", which is what the primer seating tool built into the Forster Co-ax press produces. It's the only primer seating tool I know of that fixes primer depth. K&M also produces a tool that lets you feel touchdown, then has a dial indicator that lets you see how much further you are pushing the primer in to set the bridge. Slow going, but it makes uniforming primer pocket depth unnecessary if you have a bolt gun that isn't benchrest accurate."
danny
Silver $$ Contributor
I primer pocket uniform only for safety, and mostly in gas operated semi auto rifles. I want to ensure that I have sufficient depth to seat a primer correctly each time. Every time, or nearly every time I prep a case, I remove at least a little material from the primer pocket.
Danny
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
If you shorten the cup that holds the primer, you should be able to seat by feel. The problem is that the press has so much leverage that you may have to choke up on the handle or use the yoke to operate when priming. I think that you should be able to take the priming assembly apart and shorten the cup by hand, measuring as you go. Once you have it to where the mechanical stop wants to seat the primer deeper than you want it to be (touch plus some preload) you can start to primer by feel.
I have tested many of the handheld priming tools including the 21st tool, I prefer the bench mounted RCBS tool over all of them due to no hand fatigue and ease of use especially when loading in volume for pdogs.
Killick
Transcendental Capitalist
Actually, I'm going to walk back my interest in the Holland upgrade. I now recall that I have used a set of feeler gauges under the lever in front of the pivot point to attenuate the seating depth of some unusually deep primer pockets. I just tape together the necessary leaves to get me close and then subtract the appropriate amount to get me to .005". Otherwise the bench press gives me a range from .003" to .007" and I'm good with that. Harbor Freight feeler gauges - $4.00, Holland upgrade - $120...use the difference to buy some Lapua brass, or a couple thousand BR primers.
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R.Morehouse
Gold $$ Contributor
Always good to be able to save $ to spend on more components but it really doesn't matter on what you spend when you buy it once.....You will still have to buy more of the things you will wear out or run out of.....
I have used some hand helds and this one has really impressed me.
Its smooth as silk with always great alignment and has a good feel to seating.
Its the one I always grab when its prime time.
http://rcbs.com/Products/Priming/Tools/Universal-Hand-Priming-Tool.aspx
Its smooth as silk with always great alignment and has a good feel to seating.
Its the one I always grab when its prime time.
http://rcbs.com/Products/Priming/Tools/Universal-Hand-Priming-Tool.aspx
Any priming device where you don't touch the primers and provide a feel for when it seats is a good tool. I have two of the RCBS hand primers that use the same shell holders as the press and they are well built and function - with an occasional misalignment hiccup that requires repositioning of the case. I keep one with the small primer setup and the other with the large primer setup. I have used the press mounted primer arms and the primer tubes and the bench mounted dedicated primer tools and I much prefer the hand primer tools. They seem to provide the best feel in the seating process. YMMV
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