Frankford Arsenal Hand Primer

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
I have used the old-style (round) Lee Auto Prime for 40 years. Over those years I have worn out and replaced most of the parts. I have two of them. One for Large and one for small.

Each is now worn to the point they are problematic and Lee no longer have parts to support them.

I would be inclined to buy the new model Lee, but I have heard too many complaints. I do a lot of loading (hand priming) and don't need the aggravation of a primer that does not work well.

I just bought and used the Frankford Arsenal unit. This is a massive steel unit. The lever is pulled with the fingers, rather than the thumb, so a bit easier. The lever is longer than a Lee, so more leverage, too.

It has a thumbwheel to adjust seating depth. A very nice touch.

It uses a shell holder that appears to be the same shell holder that Lee makes for the AutoPrime. These shell holders are not the same ones you use in a press.

It comes with a set of 12, so I appear to be GTG for all my calibers except 45AutoRim.

This cost me about $100CDN. probably the most expensive hand primer out there. It works well and if I can get another 40 years out of it (like my Lee) the initial cost won't be an issue. By then, I will be over age 100, so maybe my kids or grandkids will do the priming for me.
 
I also use the old style Lee hand primer, screw in shell holders are not available for some of the new cartridges I load for. Down to 2 left. I bought a RCBS bench mounted unit, at least it uses the same shell holders as my press.
 
I just bought one of these and like it way more than the Lee Ergo Prime I have. Like that you can control seating depth as well. Solid and well made with metal parts not plastic.
 
I primed 800 9mm cases last night while watching tv.

Every once in a while bit of walnut media would get in the way of the primer sliding into position. I had to use a little allen key to push the primer over the last bit.

Other than that, the smoothest fasted priming session I have had.

I endorse the Frankford Armoury priming tool. Have not tried the Lyman or RCBS.

I have a 9mm pistol with a weak striker. It misfires about 50% unless I use federal primers for it.

The Frankford tool has an adjustable seating depth. So I decided to see to what extent seating depth affects ignition.

I primed some cases "normally" with CCI primers. Some 4 clicks deeper and some other 4 clicks shallower.

I expect to see worse than 50% ignition with the shallow seated primers and am hoping that by bottoming the deep ones real hard I might improve ignition.

Test failed: 100% ignition with all seating depths. CCI primers. In the past only Federal gave me 100%.

Maybe this tool seats the primers better than my worn out Lee.
 
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Like the Lee auto prime but my favorite & fastest is my green RCBS hand primer.
My rifles all take LR or LRM primers so I never have to change the stem.
The only Frankford Arsenal products I have are the hand held deprimer which looks like a garden hose nozzle and an electronic scale.
The handheld deprimer is a gimmick and is a dust collector.
 
Ganderite said:
I primed 800 9mm cases last night while watching tv.

Every once in a while bit of walnut media would get in the way of the primer sliding into position. I had to use a little allen key to push the primer over the last bit.

Other than that, the smoothest fasted priming session I have had.

I endorse the Frankford Armoury priming tool. Have not tried the Lyman or RCBS.

I have a 9mm pistol with a weak striker. It misfires about 50% unless I use federal primers for it.

The Frankford tool has an adjustable seating depth. So I decided to see to what extent seating depth affects ignition.

I primed some cases "normally" with CCI primers. Some 4 clicks deeper and some other 4 clicks shallower.

I expect to see worse than 50% ignition with the shallow seated primers and am hoping that by bottoming the deep ones real hard I might improve ignition.

Test failed: 100% ignition with all seating depths. CCI primers. In the past only Federal gave me 100%.

Maybe this tool seats the primers better than my worn out Lee.
Click to expand...


I endorse this tool as well.

Went through 3 old Lee primer tools, and RCBS.

The new Lee is just OK with small rifle primers but does not work at all with large rifle primers.

The Lyman would not consistently seat primers, some upside down some crushed side ways, tool looks good so tried sent the first one back , Lyman said pitch it and they would send another.....they did and it operated in the same fashion as the first one.

The Frankfort Armory tool is worth the money, works as it should, no dummy gate to separate primers from tray....works like the original Lee but very well constructed and has variable seating depth option.

I like it.
 
Thread revival:

Well I went on Amazon shortly after posting here and picked the tool for my wish list. I wasn't about to pay the $200 price tag at the time so I just priced watched it for many months. It went on sale for $89 a little while ago so I got it. Last night was the first time using it and I got to say I am pleased with this rig. Heavily built to last! I really enjoy being able to actually feel the primer seat. I did 1100 .223 brass in record time and the the machine was flawess.
Money well spent I figure.

For anyone on the fence about this item I would whole-heartedly recommend it!
 
Glad to hear some good reports on this unit, I have tried a lot of stuff to replace my Lees with, and almost all are just not as good as the old Lee and one that was better, is discontinued. Probably give it a shot, tired of trying out newer tools that are made poorly or don't feed properly or have to load tubes for.
 
I saw it when it was 90 some dollars on amazon and thought it would drop so I waited. i ended up paying 107 and it came in yesterday. Hope it's as good as people say
 
I to was using a Lee Hand Primer for about nine years. Did it's job but fell apart. Have been using the Frankford Arsenal for about a year and totally satisfied with it. Much easier on the hands and much better built. The various shell holders is also a bonus.
 
EC said:
I to was using a Lee Hand Primer for about nine years. Did it's job but fell apart. Have been using the Frankford Arsenal for about a year and totally satisfied with it. Much easier on the hands and much better built. The various shell holders is also a bonus.
Click to expand...

Yep definitely well built & well thought out. I like the fact that you can get a real :feel" of the primer seating. Instant feedback if there is a problem unlike the big presses that crush misaligned / flipped primers before you realize there is an issue.
 
Love mine! I've been slowly getting more and more Frankford stuff as they seem to make a really well-designed product for a very reasonable price. If you are thinking of this, just do it!
 
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