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What's your Favorite Priming tool?

What priming tools does everybody like to use? I have an old Lee and I've been using a K&M with the dial gauge on it. I primed 90 rounds last night,took about 45min or so.
 
45mins to prime 90 cases :eek:

I use a RCBS handheld tool and can prime 100 cases in about 5 minutes - seriously. This tool gives excellent feel, is very quick and easy to use and doesn't require you to handle the primers with your fingers.

I can't imagine I'd ever want another priming tool.
 
I use the K&M tool without the dial guage -- best "feel", but slow.

For most of my loading I use the RCBS hand tool that feeds APS strips -- very fast and it still has a good "feel"

Greg
 
Lee Auto Prime. It lets you "feel" the seating of the primer. Gives you another chance to inspect you cases too.,One always gets by)
 
Handheld I like the K&M and the no longer made RCBS bench priming tool. I really like the RCBS tool as I think it has the best feel.

Mike
 
I like to use my Sinclair priming tools for my rifles, and long range handguns used for IHMSA shooting. For my general priming for my revolvers and pistols, I like to use the Lee Auto-Prime tool. The Sinclair tool is the best priming tool that I have ever used, to the point that I have one set up with a small dia. ram, and the other one set up with the large dia. ram. This is a personal opinion based on using the tool and does not have anything to do with the fact that I work at Sinclair. The Lee tool is great because I can seat a lot of primers quickly for my handgun needs because of the volume of handgun ammo that one will usually shoot.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine
 
Bob,

So do you need to pick each individual primer up with your fingers to use it in the Sinclair tool or does if have some sort of magazine/reservoir?

I haven't seen one in the flesh.
 
Yes, with the Sinclair you pick and place the primers one by one.

My favorite primer tool is the RCBS APS hand unit with the strips. I keep CCI 450s and Fed 205s in color-coded strips. It is very easy to prime 5 cases with CCIs and then just pop out the strip and prime 5 cases with Feds for comparison testing. The feel is very good, leverage is good, and you never have to touch individual primers even when loading in strips,for the Feds; CCIs are available preloaded into strips).

RCBS_Tool.jpg


RCBS also makes a benchmount and a press-mount APS unit. I have them all but I mainly use the hand-unit as I rarely load more than 50 rounds at a time. Each strip holds 25 primers.
 
I use the K&M here. I usually load between 50 and 100 cases at a time. 50 cases takes about 5 minutes and you can feel the set very well. I haven't used the RCBS mentioned but it looks like a slick little tool.
shcal
 
I've used the Lee Handloader off and on for the last 15 or so years and I really like it.

Now maybe one of you guys can answer this. How come do Lee always say not to use any other brand of primer apart from CCI or Winchester brand? I have used Federal, Fiocchi, RWS and Remington and NEVER had one single problem.

Michael.
 
I have both the K&M hand priming tool and the RCBS bench mount. I don't know if there is any advantage seating them one at a time by hand over the faster bench set-up, both seem to have the necessary feel, but the RCBS is way faster if I'm not in the mood to take my time.
If I'm loading competition rounds in volumes of only fifty I do it by hand. Today I've got a hundred .308's to prime and I'll use the RCBS. I'm sure the Sinclair is a great tool, but at three times the price of the K&M well..........you be the judge, if it makes you happy go for it.

Danny
 
In regard to the Sinclair tool having to load one primer at a time, this is a necessity of the design of the tool and what makes it unique. The Sinclair tool is designed to positively hold the case rigid in the shell-holder during the actual seating of the primer. This is accomplished by rotating the case, and the shell-holder head in unison to lock them into position before seating the primer with the thumb lever. Since the design must rotate, there is no provision to have an automatic primer feeding system. That is why you need to insert a primer for every case primed. There is no doubt that this is not as fast, but this tool is designed to give the highest level of sensitivity for "feeling" the primer as it is seated into position.

In regard to the Lee Priming Tool, from what I understand, they make the recommendations on the primers to use due to a legal issue that they had to deal with. From what I had been told, it involves what happens from the way "some" of primers are made. In a nutshell, primer compound dust built up in the flipper tray ridges that Lee uses to hold the primers, and a static electrical discharge ignited the build up of priming compound dust and then ignited the primers in the tray of the tool. One can only imagine what happened from there from a legal view! It is because of this incident that Lee makes the recommendations that they do. However, I did read several years ago,from a member of the Cast Bullet Association, how one can alleviate this situation of the build up of the primer compound dust with the Lee tool, as well as any of the primer flipper trays that are available to the reloaders. From time to time you should wash these trays in dish washing detergent and let the suds dry on the tray. This knocks the static electricity charge down and prevents an accidental ignition of any build up of priming dust. I would imagine that you could use an anti-static spray for this purpose as well, but I will still wash my trays in detergent since I know that the tray is clean, and safe.

Cordially,
Bob Blaine
 
Bob,
Great point about washing the primer trays to keep the primer residue down. The Sinclair tool is a great tool as is the K&M, but I barely have time enough to load as it is now.


Chuck
 
Priming Tools
I have used a lot of priming tools. When I started in BR in 1977 the Lee Priming tool was popular. At $1.98 and 99 cents for the shell holder you got your moneys worth. I still have 3 of these tools. I also had back then a nice custom tool all stainless except the wood handles and yes a Lee shell holder. I still have that one too. I have used Lee tray tools and a neat unit they sold that was a single priming tool. Problem with both of these is the handles would break if you jammed them. I have an RCBS my least favorite but still a good tool. But what I use the most is my K&M. In my opinion the best priming tool ever made. Indestructible.
Stephen Perry
 
I'll second Bob's recommendation of the Sinclair tool. I also have a pair of them and three heads,.308/BR, PPC and .222) and they make priming a joy. The satisfaction that comes from using such a well designed and manufactured tool is worth every penny.
German Salazar
 
For nearly 20 yrs now i have been using an RCBS Bench-Prime unit, its quick, i can "feel" as well as any hand held device and it takes no effort.

Ian.
 
Recently I tried the K&M Deluxe Primer and found it to be excellent! I formerly tried the Lee hand priming tool and managed to flatten primers pretty consistently! I now have a second K&M on order. :D

Dennis Mickey @ Littlestown, Pennsylvania
 
The reason for the warning from Lee on the priming tool is, indeed, legal but it stems from the fact that Federal primers especially are made with very soft cups. They have been known to ignite during seating and then set the rest of the tray off, too. Very messy! That's why the RCBS tool which has a primer tray also has the sliding metal piece that goes between the seated primer and the rest in the tray and protects against a multiple ignition.

The Federal primer "softness" is one of the reasons it is so popular in benchrest shooting. Some of the custom actions have very light firing pins and springs and will actually not ignite a CCI primer sometimes.
 

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