Primer tube fillers

[memilanuk]

Curious what those of you loading on progressive machines are using to fill your primer tubes?

Old-school flip tray and poke 'em in one at a time? VibraPrime? RF-100? Something else?

 

[XgobudX]

VibraPrime, for some reason it does not like Win. primers

 

[natchomamma]

VibraPrime, for some reason it does not like Win. primers

I use the same. If you use the Dillon aluminum tube the win primers drop just fine. I think there is a youtube vid of someone showing this.

 

[jetsurgeon]

Had the Vibra Prime years ago, then just the regular Dillon primer tubes...... Thank god I went to the Dillon RF-100 Primer Filler, love it!

 

[memilanuk]

FWIW, I'm one of the VibraPrime crowd. Had one years ago, worked well enough but eventually it broke, and IIRC they stopped making them for a little while. When I got back into loading on a 550, I ran with the old school flip tray and hunt-n-peck method for a while, but eventually got a new VibraPrime. Tempted to buy another just as a spare, just in case.

Personally, I'm at the point where I'd really *like* to have an RF100, and I may end up getting one 'just because' - what can I say, I like the hands-off automation aspect of it. That said... it takes me maybe five minutes to load up 4-5 tubes using the VibraPrime, and I very, very rarely ever load more than that in a single setting, so I do have a hard time justifying the jump from the $40 tool to the $400+ option.

I'm really surprised, though, that between modern 3D printing, small shop CNC manufacturing and micro-electronics that we haven't seen a few more entries in this category. I mean, it's pretty much a) use a Dillon flip tray, b) VibraPrime ($48-ish), c) Dillon RF100 ($360, plus $53 for the conversion to large or small primers respectively), or d) something like the Camdex, which I think runs a couple grand?. That's a pretty dang steep gradient to the field.

 

[strat81]

The only one I have experience with is the Hornady 1911 primer filler. It's a little temperamental and seems to prefer some brands of primers over others. When it works, it works well. When it doesn't... meh.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

RF100. I had a VibraPrime and It worked great with CCI pistol primers. I switched to Winchester primers and could never get it working again.

 

[Codiekfx400]

Resurrecting this thread. Just bought a xl750 and need to fill some tubes.

 

[yakstone]

RF 100 user here. One set up for large and one for small.

 

[NiteQwill]

I use the Double Alpha machine. It's great, ended up selling my Dillon RF100.

 

[nmcclure]

The handheld billet pal filler is gold standard, and they occasionally come up for sale on the Enos site. I have a rf100 too, and it works great with cci, but not federal for me. The new double alpha one was a disaster for me, but most seem to like theirs.

 

[kaolin224]

I use the Double Alpha machine. It's great, ended up selling my Dillon RF100.

This one only does Small Rifle/Pistol primers, right?

Too bad there isn't an upgrade or mod to make it do large, as well.

 

[lewmed]

The new Double alpha primafill works like a dream and fills a Dillon small primer tube in about 20 sec. The only down side I can see is I bought 10 extra primer tubes so I could load 1000 rounds without having to stop and that made it costly. I have used it to load many brands of primers and found some brands load faster than others raw brass primers seem to load a little slower. Overall I'm very happy with everything I've bought from DAA.

 

[CK1.0]

I’ve had great luck with the Vibra-Prime, just plain works for me.

That said, I’ve never tried to transfer primers tube-to-tube from the Vibra-Prime tube to the Dillon tubes even once, seems like an unnecessary headache: I just pull the pin and drop them right in to the press, then fill it up again. Means I only stop for a few minutes every 200rds... and gives me a chance to see if I need to add any cases to the case feeder or bullets to Mr. Bullet Feeder.
I honestly think doing it this way (just dropping the primers straight into the press then filling it up again) is just as fast or faster than taking the time to pre-fill a bunch of tubes before getting rolling.

I’ve got a pack of extra Dillon primer tubes I’ve never opened and maybe never will...