Hand primer- i need to find one that actually works well! HELP ME fellas

[BuildingConceptsllc]

So, I really prefer the hand primer method vs my press. I can do it anywhere, and whe watching something with the kids or for myself. That's a big deal to me, as I have very limited time.

I have a few of the hand primers that probably everyone has (Lee and hornady) and I'm just tired of how much I have to fiddle with them, or let a primer out because it's sideways or something, or struggle to get the shell out of the holder (the Lee is booger for that)

Surely there is a hand primer that just works???? If it's expensive, so be it. I'm tired of this crazy and I will sell my other 2 to help off set it.

Help me out here please fellas.

 

[John Glidewell]

Frankford Arsenal adjustable.

 

[gixxer822]

I use the 21st century

 

[AllenOne1]

CPS - Competition Primer Seater if you want high quality and fast. Pretty small so it could be mounted anywhere, just mount it on a board and do it on a coffee table if you wanted to.

CPS - Competition Primer Seater

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I use the 21st century

I've looked at it and it seems good but also seems to be a long wait for it....

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

Frankford Arsenal adjustable.

I'm leaning towards this one. Lots of folks say it's good but still reports of flipped primers occasionally gave me pause.... thus.... here I am

 

[JMGlasgow]

I've had the same RCBS hand primer since 2007 when I started reloading.

 

[Threadcutter308]

21st Century all the way. Buy once, cry once. I have three. If I had to buy another hand primer, I wouldn't even consider anyone else.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I've had the same RCBS hand primer since 2007 when I started reloading.

I probably should have gotten that one then but I'm not doing the standard route priming tool again.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

21st Century all the way. Buy once, cry once. I have three. If I had to buy another hand primer, I wouldn't even consider anyone else.

If it works as advertised, I will be happy to pay it. $270 for it and 2 shell holders.... only 1 place I could find it in stock. Wish I can a coupon code or something. Shootersupply.com. ???

 

[huntnh]

Rcbs universal for 15 years now it works not my favorite part of the process but it works without to much hassle

 

[Threadcutter308]

If it works as advertised, I will be happy to pay it. $270 for it and 2 shell holders.... only 1 place I could find it in stock. Wish I can a coupon code or something. Shootersupply.com. ???

Ouch, I bought mine (granted a few years ago) for less. However, regardless of cost, the first time you seat a primer, you're gonna go nutz.....
Everything is more expensive nowadays, but it still boils down to being a tool that you will proudly use for the rest of your life.

 

[Totoro]

I used to use the all metal pre-Brownells Sinclair hand primer.

And it worked well enough, then went to the 21st and it was an improvement.

The CPS, that's a whole other beast altogether. Well worth the expense IMO.

When I reload I wanna get away from the family distractions and dive into myself.

That said, to each their own.

 

[CK1.0]

The Frankford one is great. I've primed over 7000 cases with it and can count the times I've had to fiddle with it on one hand (and still would have a couple fingers leftover).

The 21st Century tool works good too, but is painfully slow.

This guy made a long, but decent video on it (just fast forward to 7:00 to see how quick it can go):

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I used to use the all metal pre-Brownells Sinclair hand primer.

And it worked well enough, then went to the 21st and it was an improvement.

The CPS, that's a whole other beast altogether. Well worth the expense IMO.

When I reload I wanna get away from the family distractions and dive into myself.

That said, to each their own.

Oh yeah, I'm totally with you on that. Me too!


Of course I'm not taking from my 2 hours a day with my little boys, nor putting them to bed every night and praying over them when I do. Unfortunately, right now that would be only place I could "get some time"..... occasionally, I have some other times I can do it, but if I can prime while watching spy racers then it let's me get that part done, then use my alone time at the bench or better yet, shooting!

 

[Totoro]

Oh yeah, I'm totally with you on that. Me too!


Of course I'm not taking from my 2 hours a day with my lite boys, nor putting them to bed every night and praying over them when I do. Unfortunately, right now that would be only place I could "get some time"..... occasionally, I have some other times I can do it, but if I can prime while watching spy racers then it let's me get that part done, then use my alone time at the bench or better yet, shooting!

I hear ya on that one partner!

Time is precious with the family, make best use of it!

 

[ICU22250]

The CPS is a little pricey and makes you have second thoughts when placing the order, but it's a must have on my bench, ill never hand prime ever again. It's built like a tank. I've never had a flipped primer, maybe I'm just lucky on that. It's also effortless to use.. Love mine...

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

The Frankford one is great. I've primed over 7000 cases with it and can count the times I've had to fiddle with it on one hand (and still would have a couple fingers leftover).

The 21st Century tool works good too, but is painfully slow.

This guy made a long, but decent video on it (just fast forward to 7:00 to see how quick it can go):

The Frankford seems great, but I've heard that it will give you a fee flipped primers fairly often???

If that's the case, I'd rather just get the 21st C. Why is the 21st so slow? Seems like it would be as fast or very close to the frankford????

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

The CPS is a little pricey and makes you have second thoughts when placing the order, but it's a must have on my bench, ill never hand prime ever again. It's built like a tank. I've never had a flipped primer, maybe I'm just lucky on that. It's also effortless to use.. Love mine...

Yeah, $600 is a lot for a priming tool. When a hand primer is working well, I can go pretty dang fast with one. The "working well" part has been my issue. It's not out of the question though

 

[OREGUN]

Rcbs universal.

zero flipped primers…ever
works with any normal case
no “shell holders” to buy or struggle with
no fiddling….put primers in tray, prime brass.
tactile feedback regarding primer seating pressure….will also let you feel if something isn’t right before you crush a primer and blow your face off.
no need to mount to anything (i don’t have a “bench” that a ton of things can be mounted to)


cheap enough to buy two and leave one for large and one for small primers.

if you are concerned about primer seating depth, about a need to “compress the anvil”, or other such things, you need something else…my strategy has been, seat until the handle closes completely…ive never had a failure to ignite the primer in thousands of reloads. Ymmv.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

I had the 21st century hand primer... The click adjustment is very nice and repeatable, and it has decent leverage.

But you need to load primers one by one, and it's still a hand primer (limiting the # I could do in a sitting).

 

[JS/]

K&M. Buy two and have one set up for small rifle and one for large rifle primers. They use Lee Auto Prime shell holders.

 

[Cynical]

The CPS is at least 3 times faster and no flipped primers unless you load them wrong.

 

[cooper01]

I use the Frankford Arsenal and I’ve never had a flipped primer. I still need to order another loading tray for it, that way I’m not searching for something to put primers in when I switch between small and large primers.

 

[ICU22250]

Yeah, $600 is a lot for a priming tool. When a hand primer is working well, I can go pretty dang fast with one. The "working well" part has been my issue. It's not out of the question though

That's just it, "WHEN ITS WORKING WELL", never even as much as a hiccup with my CPS, and a hand primer is a hand primer, they are all gonna cause some hand fatigue, I don't get this with the CPS at all.. But that's just me.

 

[hafejd30]

I use rcbs. Have 2. One for SRP and one for LRP

Zero complaints

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I had the 21st century hand primer... The click adjustment is very nice and repeatable, and it has decent leverage.

But you need to load primers one by one, and it's still a hand primer (limiting the # I could do in a sitting).

Wait, I missed what you actually said at first. Do you mean you have to place a single primer each time? There is no tray where they fall into place?

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I use the Frankford Arsenal and I’ve never had a flipped primer. I still need to order another loading tray for it, that way I’m not searching for something to put primers in when I switch between small and large primers.

I think the Frankford is really the only option for what I want. It would be nice to just have 2 of them, IF ..... they work well.

Glad I asked the questions here. I didn't even consider having to load each primer with any hand priming tool

 

[Cynical]

Wait, I missed what you actually said at first. Do you mean you have to place a single primer each time? There is no tray where they fall into place?

correct. Have you looked at a picture? It’s manual load. Works great, but manual load. You say time is very valuable with the kiddos, so I’m telling you the CPS is much faster than everything else discussed in this thread and is foolproof as far as I’m concerned.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

correct. Have you looked at a picture? It’s manual load. Works great, but manual load. You say time is very valuable with the kiddos, so I’m telling you the CPS is much faster than everything else discussed in this thread and is foolproof as far as I’m concerned.

Yeah I did after I read your post. I meaning, I had looked before but didn't pay attention to there being no tray shown. Glad you said that!

I just ordered 2 Frankford Arsenal priming tools. Will sell the Lee and Hornady on eBay or something I guess.



Thanks for all the input fellas!

If this doest do the trick, I'm going to be on to the $600 one, so hopefully this works out.

 

[OREGUN]

correct. Have you looked at a picture? It’s manual load. Works great, but manual load. You say time is very valuable with the kiddos, so I’m telling you the CPS is much faster than everything else discussed in this thread and is foolproof as far as I’m concerned.

Thats a bold statement considering you have to load that tube.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

I use the Frankford Arsenal and I’ve never had a flipped primer. I still need to order another loading tray for it, that way I’m not searching for something to put primers in when I switch between small and large primers.

Just so you know, if this doesn't work out, I AM GOING TO BLAME YOU PERSONALLY!

 

[Baron23]

I too have an RCBS Universal and works fine and seems to be similar in operation to that shown in the Frankford vid posted above.

 

[AllenOne1]

Thats a bold statement considering you have to load that tube.

Load the tube, that's what you came with? What is that 60 seconds? LOL

 

[Ocean_Dweller]

The CPS is a little pricey and makes you have second thoughts when placing the order, but it's a must have on my bench, ill never hand prime ever again. It's built like a tank. I've never had a flipped primer, maybe I'm just lucky on that. It's also effortless to use.. Love mine...

I bit the bullet and bought the CPS too. I used an RCBS APS hand primer for 17 years that worked well enough but the CPS is in a different league. Although astronomically expensive for a priming tool, I don't have any regrets and it seats every primer the same way every time. With the RCBS, I kept getting indented primers while seating them in 308 Lapua brass, never again with the CPS.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

Load the tube, that's what you came with? What is that 60 seconds? LOL

Btw-what is the method for loading the tube for that bad boy?

 

[CK1.0]

The Frankford seems great, but I've heard that it will give you a fee flipped primers fairly often???

If that's the case, I'd rather just get the 21st C. Why is the 21st so slow? Seems like it would be as fast or very close to the frankford????

I’ve never had any issues with primers flipping at all.

If there’s a trick to it, it’s maybe just hold it correctly? I mean it’s kind of like a Vibra-Prime in that if you give it a little shake every ~5 or so cases, and hold it so the primers are all stacked up towards the corner and are on-deck to feed, it works as smooth as can be. If one just squeezes away without paying any mind at all to whether or not it’s getting a steady supply of fresh primers, then yep, that’ll screw things up. It doesn’t require one to do anything special though.

I think like with a lot of things: it not functioning correctly has more to do with user error than any fault of the tool.

The 21st Century is a “load one at a time, prime case, then repeat” operation... slow AF.

 

[ChristianSilver]

F-Arsenal all the way, never had not one flipped primer, nor any other problems.
Great seating depth consistency…

 

[ditter]

I have the RCBS and FA hand primers. They work great.

600 bucks for a priming tool? Seriously?
For 600 bucks I'd rather have a FA hand primer and a Bartlein barrel.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

Frankford Arsenal. I've never had a flipped primer and I've loaded thousands of primers with it. I have an RCBS also but never use it any more.

 

[OREGUN]

Btw-what is the method for loading the tube for that bad boy?

It appears to be another piece of equipment….and $80 more dollars.

 

[OREGUN]

Load the tube, that's what you came with? What is that 60 seconds? LOL

I put the tool-tray on the primer tray and flip...and I’m ready to prime. He suggested the CPS was “much faster”. It’s just not and loading the tube is a part of that.…I’m not saying it’s not a great primer tool and once you’re up and priming, probably goes neck and neck, on a pure speed basis, with a tray setup. But, in that 60 seconds during which you are fiddling with your additional equipment to get the primers in the tube, I’m seating primers. So, yeah, that’s what I came with.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

Btw-what is the method for loading the tube for that bad boy?

Its a pick up tube. You flip the primers anvil down, then poke them with the tube. Flip the tube over into the CPS and it feeds every time you run the shuttle. It takes all of 2 minutes to load.

 

[CK1.0]

The fastest way to use a CPS is by loading tubes with a Vibra-Prime, the DAA thingy, or the Dillon RF-100 (which is like $425 for those CPS owners who wish to continue overpaying for stuff). Incidentally, that’s also the fastest way to fill tubes for a Dillon 550 (which is cheaper than a CPS and I believe does a couple other things besides just prime cases).

I’m starting to wonder if any of those proselytizing the way of the $600 CPS have ever even tried the $60 Frankford tool before claiming the CPS is superior?

Whenever one of these threads pops up it seems like the “CPS fans” jump all over everyone else (really just me honestly) claiming how it’s worth every penny of $600, and how the rest of us are idiots for not accepting that “fact”.

But having used a CPS a bunch, they’re really not that special. The only thing I can guess is that the old priming tool guys’ were using before must have been super duper shitty!?

 

[ICU22250]

Btw-what is the method for loading the tube for that bad boy?

The same as loading the tube for a Dillon press... easy peasy and only takes a couple of minutes

 

[ICU22250]

The fastest way to use a CPS is by loading tubes with a Vibra-Prime, the DAA thingy, or the Dillon RF-100 (which is like $425 for those CPS owners who wish to continue overpaying for stuff). Incidentally, that’s also the fastest way to fill tubes for a Dillon 550 (which is cheaper than a CPS and I believe does a couple other things besides just prime cases).

I’m starting to wonder if any of those proselytizing the way of the $600 CPS have ever even tried the $60 Frankford tool before claiming the CPS is superior?

Whenever one of these threads pops up it seems like the “CPS fans” jump all over everyone else (really just me honestly) claiming how it’s worth every penny of $600, and how the rest of us are idiots for not accepting that “fact”.

But having used a CPS a bunch, they’re really not that special. The only thing I can guess is that the old priming tool guys’ were using before must have been super duper shitty!?

I never, not once jumped on you for any of your input into the thread. I just gave my opinion same as you, we just have a difference of opinion is all when it comes to hand primers in general. I have never tried the FA priming tool myself, im sure it's a good tool and does the job well. I just don't like the hand priming tools, the way they work in general, all the squeezing eventually starts to give discomfort in the hands. I do however love my overpriced priming tool, and I don't regret my decision one bit. I do wish the tool was a bit cheaper, but I can't put a price on another man's product.. To each his own.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

The fastest way to use a CPS is by loading tubes with a Vibra-Prime, the DAA thingy, or the Dillon RF-100 (which is like $425 for those CPS owners who wish to continue overpaying for stuff). Incidentally, that’s also the fastest way to fill tubes for a Dillon 550 (which is cheaper than a CPS and I believe does a couple other things besides just prime cases).

I’m starting to wonder if any of those proselytizing the way of the $600 CPS have ever even tried the $60 Frankford tool before claiming the CPS is superior?

Whenever one of these threads pops up it seems like the “CPS fans” jump all over everyone else (really just me honestly) claiming how it’s worth every penny of $600, and how the rest of us are idiots for not accepting that “fact”.

But having used a CPS a bunch, they’re really not that special. The only thing I can guess is that the old priming tool guys’ were using before must have been super duper shitty!?

I have a RF-100 and had several Vibra Primes. I still use the FA primer. I'm not exactly adverse to spending money on reloading either.

 

[1bamashooter]

I've got the FA and 21st century I use the FA more often

 

[danatkins]

I love my rcbs universal

 

[Cynical]

Thats a bold statement considering you have to load that tube.

I load tubes with the Dillon RF100.