Dammit Need a new hand primer! But which one?

C

Canadian Bush Wacker

CGN Regular
EE Expired
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Winnipeg
My lee auto prime, was two years old maybe 3. Was a piece of crap from the beginning. With in a month the top plastic cover would not stay on.
Had to rig it up with rubber bands. Then after a while would only work if held a certain way with rubber bands just so.
Then stopped loading the second primer unless the cover was off and held just so. Well guess what happens nest.
I only put a small amount of primers in it. Well the second would jam side ways and primers went every where! By this time, I am getting a bit ticked at this hand turd.
Ok, you little project stopper. I going to beat you at this. I had only maybe 30 left to prime. Out come the twisters! I hand place the primers one by one. Get five more done, Then, then they load side ways or you can't load at all.

At this pint, I lost my $hit! I introduced it to my hammer! Now, the following day, I am still stepping primers and pieces of plastic.

Tell me which one to get. I don't place to much values on reviews on store web sites.
 
RCBS hand primer. Never had any problems with mine. It's loaded over 60000 so far. Never could understand buying a second set of shell holders for the Lee. Only problem a had was 30 or so year old shell holders not fitting. The paper that came with it says that.
 
The RCBS is not perfect by any stretch, but is BY FAR the best hand primer I have used. I bought two when WSS went out of business; one for small pistol and one for large pistol and rifle. I do 9mm, 40S&W, 45ACP, 38sp, 357mag and .45-70.
Just remember to use RCBS shell holders, or any shell holder with a beveled inside edge, so that it fits the plastic holder that sits inside the handle. Hornady and Lyman seem to work well. Lee, not so much.
My old LEE Autoprime (see link HERE) is still kickin after more than 30 years so I gotta give it a nod. I use it exclusively for Small Pistol Magnum primers in 357 now.
The new LEE Auto prime and the ergo prime with the plastic elevator feeding mechanisms are absolute garbage from my experience. Way over engineered and with the wrong materials if I had to throw out a guess as to why they just don't work.
 
Northernfly said:
The RCBS is not perfect by any stretch, but is BY FAR the best hand primer I have used. I bought two when WSS went out of business; one for small pistol and one for large pistol and rifle. I do 9mm, 40S&W, 45ACP, 38sp, 357mag and .45-70.
Just remember to use RCBS shell holders, or any shell holder with a beveled inside edge, so that it fits the plastic holder that sits inside the handle. Hornady and Lyman seem to work well. Lee, not so much.
My old LEE Autoprime (see link HERE) is still kickin after more than 30 years so I gotta give it a nod. I use it exclusively for Small Pistol Magnum primers in 357 now.
The new LEE Auto prime and the ergo prime with the plastic elevator feeding mechanisms are absolute garbage from my experience. Way over engineered and with the wrong materials if I had to throw out a guess as to why they just don't work.
Click to expand...

I bought the one with spring loaded jaws. Far superior in my opinion to the shell holder type.
 
I have the RCBS hand primer as well, the model that takes the shell holders.

No problems so far, it seems well made. Oddly enough, I prefer this type rather than the spring loaded jaw model. Each to their own.

$68 from Amazon with free shipping.
 
I had the old-style Lee Ergo-Prime and was happy. I just got the new version and it's great, easier to stow away also:

https://leeprecision.com/ergo-prime.html

90250-01.jpg
 
I struggled with a Lee hand primer for a couple of years. Finally broke down and bought a Hornady Hand Primer and the difference is night and day! Consistent feeding, no jams, real comfortable pull, and great "feel" for when the primer is seated, and it stands up by itself on the table when you're not using it or are between primer loads. The RCBS is probably just as good but this will give you an option.

https://goo.gl/images/N2mStZ
 
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I started with a Lee hand primer.
Very uncomfortable to use compared to the RCBS I now use.
There are likely better units available, but for the loading I do, (.45 Colt, .45-70, .30-06, .338, 9MM, .38spl and .357), it works just fine.
I usually bring batch to brass to be primed, to sit with SWMBO and while watching TV, prime and box a few hundred, for further processing, in the loading room, at some other convenient time.
 
Purchased the Lee Anniversary reload kit in 95 and still use the same hand primer that came with the kit with no issues as of yet..lol recently ventured into a new Lee bench primer. pretty slick little tool. recommend looking up this item. bought mine from western metal in Calgary.
 
I had both the universal and the shellholder version of the RCBS. Gave the universal one away, it constantly had cases popping out with the primer half seated. The shell holder type never misses a beat. There's the odd usually older shellholder that doesn't work.
 
wos said:
Please be aware of the potential energy in a tube of 100 primers stacked inside a metal tube.
Click to expand...

Or 100 primers loose in the tray of a typical hand primer.

Handling primers - even one at a time - is potentially the most dangerous part of reloading as they are the only truly explosive part of a typical metallic cartridge. Always wear safety glasses while priming cases regardless of the tool used.


As for priming tools I have had great luck with the RCBS hand primer using standard shell-holders as well as their bench-mounted tool. I tried the LEE tool a few times as it does have good "feel" but found the mystery pot-metal LEE uses wears way too soon and either breaks or wears down resulting in the primers not being properly seated resulting in mis-fires.
 
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Used a RCBS for years and it worked fairly well. Had a couple of days that it was a real pain so I went and bought a Frankford Arsenal. Money well spent far superior to the RCBS.
I cannot see how any primer tool could be better.

Regards: TGReaper
 
I had an old - really old - Lee handprimer, and it worked great for years, almost 30 years! It finally gave up the ghost, so I figured I'd buy another Lee. When I got it, it had changed substantially for the worse. It doesn't feed the primers as well, I have to keep shaking the installed tray to get them loose enough to feed through the tube. The squeeze handle and mechanism seems flimsy, not like my original Lee. The hand primer is the only Lee tool I own, and I won't buy another or recommend it to anybody. I will keep my eyes open for one of the RCBS units, either hand or bench type, and when I find one I'll toss the Lee piece.
 
I've been using the RCBS hand primer with the shell holders for years also , great priming tool. Picked up the new Lee bench mount primer last fall ,that is one slick piece of kit for the money .A couple of buddies also bought it on my advice ,pretty much have the same opinion after using. You have to finger tap the primer trays on both units some times to get the primers to slide down in the feeding tray ,other then that the Lee changes over quicker for primer sizes ,has as good a seating feel or better than the RCBS in my opinion.
If you have arthritic hands the Lee is perfect and I think is a better design than the other bench top models. If there is one down side ,it would be that you have to buy separate shell holders for it ,the full shell holder kit runs about $25.00 or individual for about $5.00 each. Priming unit is around $55.00 . I mounted mine on a nice finished piece of Oak veneered 3/4 " plywood ,portable and easy storage.
 
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