Primer Eating Press

[Bluesop7]

I just purchased a new house and will be moving my press inside for the first time ever (woohoo!). However, this brings up a new problem that I've never had. I currently have a Lee Breech Lock Challenger Press and like it well enough for now but it spits primers all over the place. I literally get about 1 in 100 that goes in the "primer collection system" that hops in there just out of blind luck.

What I need is a press that will get 100%, or nearly so, of these used primers (and preferably all the carbon and crap that goes along with them) into a collection device of some kind. My wife will not be please with the associated mess of my currect press (read: will kick my ass). So....is there a way to modify my current press or will I need a new press? If I need a new press which one has the most reliable primer collection system? I don't much care about how accurate the press is or this and that, so long as its not a total POS. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Primer Eating Press

My old Rock Chucker also tosses caps, most presses do. Only ones I know of that handle spent caps well are the VERY costly Forster Coax and Lee's inexpensive little "Reloader" press. I got a Reloader and put a Lee Universal Decap Die in it, loved it so well I then got another and mounted a Lee AutoPrime 2 on it to do most of my high volume priming work. I also have a standard Lee Autoprime hand tool for small quanities of recapping. Together, they make a great primer handling system!

I first used the little press until the hollow base filled and had to be removed to clear out. Before remounting it I bored a 3/4" hole through the bench top under the base and attached a jar lid (matching hole) under it; now I just screw the little jar on and off as needed to deal with dead primers. Highly recommend that system and haven't used my RC for any primer work in at least 15 years!

 

[BobinNC]

Re: Primer Eating Press

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fuzzball</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My old Rock Chucker also tosses caps, most presses do. Only ones I know of that handle spent caps well are the VERY costly Forster Coax and Lee's inexpensive little "Reloader" press. I got a Reloader and put a Lee Universal Decap Die in it, loved it so well I then got another and mounted a Lee AutoPrime 2 on it to do most of my high volume priming work. I also have a standard Lee Autoprime hand tool for small quanities of recapping. Together, they make a great primer handling system!

I first used the little press until the hollow base filled and had to be removed to clear out. Before remounting it I bored a 3/4" hole through the bench top under the base and attached a jar lid (matching hole) under it; now I just screw the little jar on and off as needed to deal with dead primers. Highly recommend that system and haven't used my RC for any primer work in at least 15 years! </div></div>

In addition to Fuzzballs recomendation, Redding's Big Boss II, C-H 4/D #444 (or their older discontinued 333, 222,or 111) RCBS A-4 Big Max (discontinued), all have primer catchers that will not spill or spit primers everywhere.

The Big Boss II and RCBS A-4 have hollow handles that drop into cups or your trash can: the C-H 4/D's collect just below the hollow shell holder mounting into a small cup.

I run two CH4D presses, a #111-one station press just for precision bullet seating, and a #444-four station press for everything else.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Primer Eating Press

My T-7 might spit one in a hundred out. Take the plug off the tube and drop them straight into a 2 liter bottle. My RCBS Rock Crusher spat them all over. I cut a 2 liter bottle to surround the press with big holes for access to set cases on te ram and a hole to let the primer mount stick through. Most of the primers stay in.

 

[71firebird400]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Lee Classic Cast has a great primer system; just shoots them straight down through the ram and into the plastic hose. Never had one jump out on me. On top of that, it is a phenomenal press for the money (about a $100 now).

 

[zuke]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Have you thought of building up the side's of the primer catch area with small piece's of cardboard?

 

[TexIndian]

Re: Primer Eating Press

LOL I used to get down on my hands and knees to pick up primers in order to avoid getting in trouble with the Commander in Chief. And that was nothing compared to the times I spilled shot into the carpet from the shotgun loader.

My Redding press has the tube that catches every primer like mentioned above, but I also have a couple of Rock Chuckers that don't have the tube. Sounds like the Lee Classic press also has the tube system. My RBCS Piggyback unit for progressive pistol loading has the catch tube also.

Primers are a PITA. The dust is highly abrasive on your tools and is also a source of lead contamination (a real concern if you have kids or grand kids). That abrasive, contaminated dust gets everywhere when you tumble your brass, too. After decades of dealing with it, I finally went to a decapping station to get rid of primers before I do anything else to the brass.

It cost me less than $100 to put together a decapping station I can take outside (or inside during football season) - pictured below. It uses a Lee press ($18) and decapping die ($10) on a portable stand from Midway ($50). I usually try to put a box underneath to catch them, but about 10% get away no matter what I do. The stand looks like it would also work for a few other tasks when there's a game on TV.

 

[The Mechanic]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Could always have a deprime station outside. You could even get a shellholder and a drift punch and just knock them out.

 

[dogmessiah]

Re: Primer Eating Press

I have no problems with my hornady lock n load progressive. They sent a piece of tygon tubing with it that I run into into a 2 liter bottle, or milk jug on the floor.

 

[SmokinAce]

Re: Primer Eating Press

For the Lee you have to put the primmer part (not sure the name)in the press even if you don't prime your sells that way (*pic at bottom). When you pull the ram down the primer moves out of the ram thus letting the spent primer fall and hit it then it gets pushed out the other side of the ram (small whole) into the catch. I didn't use it at first since I wasn't priming on my press and learned the hard way with a mess on the floor. Now I would bet I lose 1 per 250 to the floor. This little part is somewhat annoying in that it rocks in and out but I only put it in the press when I use the universal deprimer and do a bunch of brass at once.

 

[Spanky8601]

Re: Primer Eating Press

I used to have the same issue. But, after obtaining a Lee Classic cast press there have been no primers on the floor. The plastic hose at the bottom can be removed for dumping or the cap at the end removed and direct the primers into a trash can.

 

[Hink]

Re: Primer Eating Press

In using a RCBS Ammomaster, I found that the little cup provided has serious limitations. First, the primer can fall out between the ram and cup, letting the primer fall out on the floor, second, the cup volume is pretty small so you can't fit that many primers in the cup, and third, the cup clips on to one of the uprights so to remove the cup you're nearly guaranteed to throw spent primers across the room.

I found that using the CD plastic bin from a large shredder available from the local WalMart works well to catch most of the primers - the bin clips on to the groove in the left side of the press, and I turned the ram around to have primers eject to the left. Some primers miss the bucket, so I used a spare parts shelf from a tool box as secondary containment for primers that miss the bucket.

It's not good for every primer, but between the two I can catch about 98% of the primers I manage to punch out, and that's good enough for me.

 

[Linkless]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Hornady LnL AP here as well. I ran the tube into the top of an empty Vihtavouri Powder container for pistols. It's mostly full now and I have had NO primers escape.

 

[Bluesop7]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Thanks for the tip smokinace. I'm ordering one of those priming pieces for my press to see if that solves the problem. I would much rather just do that than have to pay for a different press, new die holders, not to mention reset all my dies after changing die holders. I'm gonna cross my fingers that it works.

 

[427Cobra]

Re: Primer Eating Press

Forster Co-Ax has a great spent primer retention system, and has more mechanical leverage than any other press listed so far, no shell holders to buy and die changes take 2 seconds with no loss of adjustment, they rarely come up for sale used because they simply work better than traditional presses.