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Priming tool

K

Klemm

Online Training Member
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Minuteman
Feb 23, 2013
392
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I was reloading some 300 WinMag tonight and had a what the fuck moment. My Lee priming tool /hand primer was not seating the primers deep enough into the case. Seems that the lee system ,which uses the individual holders, there was just enough slop That the brass would push up with the plunger hit the top of the holder and then drive the primer up and in, but the plunger is now too short. How long this has been going on I don’t know. The shell holder seems to be wore out, but that shouldn’t be possible.
Anyways looking for a new priming tool. Has to be able to seat primers in 338 Lapua magnum brass.
What’s out there that you guys liked, I’m not against using the are RCBS primer tool, is it any good or should I look elsewhere.
 
Still using an old school lee here. I'd recommend trying a different shell holder, the tolerances between them seem to vary based on manufacturers.
 
21st century looks pretty good. And you can load them with the lee trays
 
Don’t have a spare number 5 to tryout.
 
I really wish Lee never made any kind of hand priming tool. I currently use the Lyman one but it's got a lot of, um, well modifications lol.. I'm probably going to try the rcbs next.
 
People may hate on it but I use the Lee autoprime and love it. I have busted one but they sent another quickly at no charge. I have it mounted on a piece of 1x8 and can prime as fast as I can stick them in the holder. They all seem to seat nicely. I don’t worry about .0005 differences in seating depth though.
 
Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer. Shell holder #8, which is one of many it ships with, for the Lapua Mag. Hold on to your Lee shellholders, as you may need a #2 for the .224 Valkyrie, as I did. This unit comes with both large and small primer punches, and has great feel, as did my old Lee. It has better metal quality than the Lee, so I don’t snap the linkage like I did the Lee’s. Costs more, but it works well.
 
Amanda4461 said:
Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer. Shell holder #8, which is one of many it ships with, for the Lapua Mag. Hold on to your Lee shellholders, as you may need a #2 for the .224 Valkyrie, as I did. This unit comes with both large and small primer punches, and has great feel, as did my old Lee. It has better metal quality than the Lee, so I don’t snap the linkage like I did the Lee’s. Costs more, but it works well.
Click to expand...
Mine was a pos. It would put a large half moon dent in every primer. No q.c.
 
I still have old round tray Lee's, still enough pcs to keep a pair going for a few more years. Have an RCBS universal, not thrilled with it, and the shellholder style, first try, had to use a Hornady shellholder in it, as the RCBS one wouldn't go over the plastic sleeve, needed a bigger hole. Have a Forster bench mount, not liking using the tubes a whole lot. Have a new Lee that won't feed, one day I'll sit down and figure out what's going on with it, issue with the safety stop in the body. Have an FA I haven't tried yet. Still kicking my butt for not having bought two of the 21st Century units for the round Lee trays way back when, only bought one. Hope the Franklin one is as good as the 21st Century.
 
For bulk ammo, when not working on Dillon, I use the RCBS APS strips on a dedicated press. Work great and fast! APS strips are not much more than regular primers. Or you can fill strips with the tool that comes with the APS kit. One of the best loading investments I ever made. Though loading the primers into the strips can be a pita until you get a hang of the machine.

For .300 Win Mag and my precision .308 (the good stuff) I use a Holland Perfect Primer Seater.

www.hollandguns.com

Perfect Primer Seater | Complete Unit for Precision Reloading | Holland Guns

Achieve perfect primer seating with Holland Guns' Perfect Primer Seater - Complete Unit. Improve the consistency and accuracy of your reloads. Shop now for the best primer seater at Holland Guns.
www.hollandguns.com www.hollandguns.com

It is not cheap... but worth every penny for consistency. It is also slow, but if you are trying to get utter repeatability (in properly prepped brass) there is no substitute.

Last, for BMG, I have a micrometer seater on a dedicated press. Don’t mess around with any inconsistencies with BMG.

Sirhr
 
RCBS hand primers, couple of the older ones that use the shell holders, and couple of the newer type that no not use shell holders. They load the 338 lapua as well as everything else I load. No complaints with any of them.
 
sirhrmechanic said:
For bulk ammo, when not working on Dillon, I use the RCBS APS strips on a dedicated press. Work great and fast! APS strips are not much more than regular primers. Or you can fill strips with the tool that comes with the APS kit. One of the best loading investments I ever made. Though loading the primers into the strips can be a pita until you get a hang of the machine.

For .300 Win Mag and my precision .308 (the good stuff) I use a Holland Perfect Primer Seater.

www.hollandguns.com

Perfect Primer Seater | Complete Unit for Precision Reloading | Holland Guns

Achieve perfect primer seating with Holland Guns' Perfect Primer Seater - Complete Unit. Improve the consistency and accuracy of your reloads. Shop now for the best primer seater at Holland Guns.
www.hollandguns.com www.hollandguns.com

It is not cheap... but worth every penny for consistency. It is also slow, but if you are trying to get utter repeatability (in properly prepped brass) there is no substitute.

Last, for BMG, I have a micrometer seater on a dedicated press. Don’t mess around with any inconsistencies with BMG.

Sirhr
Click to expand...
Any videos available to see how the Holland’s operates? I already own the RCBS auto prime.
 
Afraid not. It came with a DVD... but I don't know where it is.

Basically, it uses a vernier to prevent the primer from going any deeper than you set it. In combination with a depth micrometer, it lets you set your primer depth to .000 if you want. Or go a bit deeper to .002" and every primer will be at exactly the same depth.

It's not rocket science. Just a neat bit of kit that lets you put in primers in a very repeatable way.

As I mentioned, I use it for my really high-end ammo for the Sako and the Mk13. Is it making a huge difference? Well, the groups are pretty spectacular!

I actually loaded up 10 for the 300WM last round with 'random' and over-seated primers. I was going to do those as a control group. But have not shot it yet.

I am a fan of the Holland.

Cheers,

Sirhr
 
The RCBS hand prime is way better than the Lee. Jesus, when I first saw the new lid, I thought, yep I am going to break a million of those. I didn't, I broke three, then picked up the RCBS unit on sale.

That being said, the only time I had trouble seating primers deep enough in my 300wm with my Lee hand prime, was at about 10 reloads with out cleaning the primer pockets. I gave the edges of the pockets a quick scrape with an o-ring and pick, and back to seating all the way in.

I have run into shell holders like in the O.P with the RCBS unit. That allow too much up movement of the case, to seat a primer fully.
 
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