Lonesome Donkey
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Central Alberta
I've been looking to add to and upgrade my reloading setup.
Looking over my original Lee Auto-prime hand tool, I have always really enjoyed how well this tool works, though it may be inexpensive. But, it's getting on, like me, and a new tool would be wise to have.
I noticed that over the years that Lee complicated the feed-way mechanism, in the interests of safety, with a clear plastic assembly that elevates primers from the tray feed-way to the ram feed-way. This isolates the rammed primer from the rest, lest it explode. Also, they now use a folding primer tray with a combined latch and feed-gate.
Lee offers 3 tools now, which all use the same mechanism and trays. An Ergo-prime, auto-prime, and bench-prime.
Although all are well-made, reportedly they all share a problem with primers hesitating in the feedway or in the tray, due to the indirectness of the primer path. There seems just more places for a primer to stall or hang up.
So, I've been looking at the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool. It has a direct feed-way onto the primer ram, and simply uses a sliding steel safety gate to separate the rest of the primers from the rammed primer. Also, no shell holders of any kind are needed. The square trays are conventional and work well, though some users place a couple of mini binder clips to secure the lid just in case.
RCBS also offers strip priming tools that work quite well, though you do have to buy the strips and an over-priced piece of plastic to load them. They appear to work very well though.
They also offer their original bench tool with a conventional primer tube mechanism that flips back and forth to load the ram, which seems rather clunky. As well, loading the tubes seems a slow proposition.
There are others, but seem not that great.
Anyway, what's your opinion and your choice of a hand priming tool, and why?
Looking over my original Lee Auto-prime hand tool, I have always really enjoyed how well this tool works, though it may be inexpensive. But, it's getting on, like me, and a new tool would be wise to have.
I noticed that over the years that Lee complicated the feed-way mechanism, in the interests of safety, with a clear plastic assembly that elevates primers from the tray feed-way to the ram feed-way. This isolates the rammed primer from the rest, lest it explode. Also, they now use a folding primer tray with a combined latch and feed-gate.
Lee offers 3 tools now, which all use the same mechanism and trays. An Ergo-prime, auto-prime, and bench-prime.
Although all are well-made, reportedly they all share a problem with primers hesitating in the feedway or in the tray, due to the indirectness of the primer path. There seems just more places for a primer to stall or hang up.
So, I've been looking at the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool. It has a direct feed-way onto the primer ram, and simply uses a sliding steel safety gate to separate the rest of the primers from the rammed primer. Also, no shell holders of any kind are needed. The square trays are conventional and work well, though some users place a couple of mini binder clips to secure the lid just in case.
RCBS also offers strip priming tools that work quite well, though you do have to buy the strips and an over-priced piece of plastic to load them. They appear to work very well though.
They also offer their original bench tool with a conventional primer tube mechanism that flips back and forth to load the ram, which seems rather clunky. As well, loading the tubes seems a slow proposition.
There are others, but seem not that great.
Anyway, what's your opinion and your choice of a hand priming tool, and why?
