The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old August 6, 2014, 07:46 PM   #1
Outlaw75
Member
 
Join Date: May 7, 2014
Location: Glendale, AZ
Posts: 55
Does anyone make a handheld primer dispensing tool?

Loading on a Lee classic turret press. I'd like to be able to use the priming arm, but the Lee safety prime system just doesn't look reliable to me. I really don't want to drop the primers in by hand either. Does anyone make a handheld tool that I could load primers in, then drop them one at a time into the cup on the priming arm?
Outlaw75 is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 07:52 PM   #2
mikejonestkd
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 3, 2006
Location: Brockport, NY
Posts: 3,715
The Lee prime on the classic turret may look a bit odd, but it is dead on reliable. I've loaded more than 30K rounds in 4 years and it is almost 100% perfect.
__________________
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
mikejonestkd is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 08:30 PM   #3
Vance
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 16, 2011
Location: North Bend, OR
Posts: 743
I never could get the last 2 or 3 primers to feed. Other than that, it worked fine.
Vance is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 08:31 PM   #4
StripesDude
Member
 
Join Date: June 29, 2014
Posts: 88
It's reliable. Never had an issue with the classic turret and safety prime system.

Just bought a loadmaster though, and have yet to try it out. Haven't heard great things about the priming system.
StripesDude is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 08:59 PM   #5
Fisher
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 14, 1999
Location: Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Posts: 329
RCBS makes one that I have been using for years with no problems.

https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/Mai...&route=C06J030

Jim
__________________
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on ... or we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free."
~ Ronald Reagan
Fisher is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 09:15 PM   #6
Outlaw75
Member
 
Join Date: May 7, 2014
Location: Glendale, AZ
Posts: 55
Probably should have mentioned that I have a Lee Auto Prime. I'd just like to be able to do on-press priming instead of having to pull the case off to prime it.
Outlaw75 is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 10:02 PM   #7
surveyor
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 13, 2007
Posts: 770
Its been reliable in both pistol and rifle for me, as others have noted, the only burps I have had with it is the last 2-3 primers.

I did have to use a riser on the powder/expander die to get clearance with the auto disc...when running pistol ammo in indexed mode..

For rifle I use a charge die and funnel.
surveyor is offline  
Old August 6, 2014, 10:15 PM   #8
Vance
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 16, 2011
Location: North Bend, OR
Posts: 743
Just use the safety prime system that came with the press. It is reliable. I usually just left the last 2 or 3 primers in it. They will feed through when you load another 100 in the tray.

Really. You don't need to sweat it.
Vance is offline  
Old August 7, 2014, 01:42 PM   #9
lee n. field
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 12, 2002
Location: The same state as Mordor.
Posts: 5,567
Quote:
Loading on a Lee classic turret press. I'd like to be able to use the priming arm, but the Lee safety prime system just doesn't look reliable to me. I really don't want to drop the primers in by hand either. Does anyone make a handheld tool that I could load primers in, then drop them one at a time into the cup on the priming arm?
The safety prime is reliable. Don't worry about it.

You'll visually check the primer in the priming arm anyway. If it's not there, just push the safety prime thingee onto it again.
__________________
"As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. "
lee n. field is offline  
Old August 7, 2014, 09:24 PM   #10
dickttx
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 29, 2011
Location: Fort Worth
Posts: 500
When I bought a LnL AP the thing I missed most about my LCT was the Safety Prime.
__________________
Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)
dickttx is offline  
Old August 8, 2014, 03:29 PM   #11
WESHOOT2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 20, 1999
Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country)
Posts: 14,324
"define "many", Tim"

I've primed many cases.

I do so on my Dillon XL650 or (now) with RCBS hand-prime units.
__________________
.
"all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"
WESHOOT2 is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 08:18 AM   #12
MR_X
Member
 
Join Date: April 23, 2014
Posts: 22
The safety prime works pretty good as long you have it adjusted properly. The last 2 primers don't feed well because they don't have weight pushing them down. What I do for those is shake the primer arm a bit and they feed no problem.
MR_X is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 10:06 AM   #13
Vance
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 16, 2011
Location: North Bend, OR
Posts: 743
No amount of shaking got the last 2 to feed on mine. Not a huge problem though.
Vance is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 11:18 AM   #14
mikld
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 7, 2009
Location: Southern Oregon!
Posts: 2,891
Sometimes I wonder if forum member read the entire post? The OP asked if there is a tool that will load primers, one at a time, into the stock primer arm on a Lee turret press. My thoughts went to a tool like a "capping tool" used for percussion guns...
__________________
My Anchor is holding fast!
I've learned how to stand on my own two knees...
mikld is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 11:21 AM   #15
44 AMP
Staff
 
Join Date: March 11, 2006
Location: Upper US
Posts: 28,672
After decades of using what was on the press (Lyman, RCBS, Dillon) I switched over to hand priming. I like it better, it gives me a real "feel" for what is going on. The RCBS tool uses the same shellholder the press does, and that's a plus, too.
__________________
All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
44 AMP is online now  
Old August 9, 2014, 01:57 PM   #16
WESHOOT2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 20, 1999
Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country)
Posts: 14,324
nam, ti tog I

I read and understood the OPs question, but I answered it wrong.

I answered with how to avoid the issue completely
__________________
.
"all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"
WESHOOT2 is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 01:59 PM   #17
medic15al
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 6, 2007
Location: Pell City, AL
Posts: 123
I see what the OP is saying. It CAN be a headache. On my Lee turret I have started to resize, hand prime with Lee Hand primer and put back in press to go on. Feels better and just as fast for me.
__________________
NREMT-P AL State EMT-Paramedic ACLS, BTLS, PHTLS, 1991-2006
medic15al is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 02:03 PM   #18
WESHOOT2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 20, 1999
Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country)
Posts: 14,324
For certain loads I hand-prime the already-sized cases and THEN run them in my XL650 (with that sizer's decap pin removed).
__________________
.
"all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"
WESHOOT2 is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 05:02 PM   #19
Lost Sheep
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 24, 2009
Location: Anchorage Alaska
Posts: 3,341
Priming pen / pez dispenser

I have been working on a couple of designs to do what you ask, Outlaw75.

But first, let me say that the Lee Safety Prime (once adjusted for angle and height) works admirably well. But the positioning is critical and the operating must be gentle. With those caveats, I have a near 100% success rate feeding and dropping into the priming arm's cup. Except for the last two primers in the chute.

The primer pen idea is a device about three times the diameter of a primer and 5" long. You insert it into a block on your loading bench and it picks up a single primer. You put the pen on top of the press' priming arm and pull a tab on the side of the pen and the primer drops out the tip of the pen into the priming arm's cup.

The block is an irregularly-shaped roughly 6" cube with a hole on one slanted face for the primer pen and, on the slanted top, a socket for a standard Lee primer sorting feed (just as used with the Lee safety primer).

A second design has the primer sorting/righting tool actually mounted on the primer pen so the block on the loading bench is not necessary. If it could be hinged on the press just as the Lee Safety Prime is, so much the better.

Both tools have the advantage of feeding the primers all the way down to the very last one without needing the weight of following primers to push it along.

I haven't worked out how to build either one economically.

What I need is one of those 3-D printers. I wonder if one of those Pez dispensers could be modified for primers?

Wish me luck.

Lost Sheep
Lost Sheep is offline  
Old August 9, 2014, 09:51 PM   #20
dickttx
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 29, 2011
Location: Fort Worth
Posts: 500
I never ran mine down to two primers. I always end up with about 50 primers in the tray, and store the whole thing in a Folgers coffee can. They are safe to store in the tray with the cover on.
When I get ready to load I start with the 50 or so already in the tray, as I get down to just a few left in the tray, and the chute full, I put in another box of primers.
__________________
Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)
dickttx is offline  
Old August 10, 2014, 12:26 PM   #21
Outlaw75
Member
 
Join Date: May 7, 2014
Location: Glendale, AZ
Posts: 55
@Lost Sheep: You're describing exactly what I'm looking for.

Glad to see that the Safety Prime works for others. Maybe I will give it a second look.
Outlaw75 is offline  
Old August 10, 2014, 05:10 PM   #22
mikld
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 7, 2009
Location: Southern Oregon!
Posts: 2,891
To answer your question; I don't know of a tool to individually insert primers into the priming cup. In nearly 30 years of reloading I have tried many priming methods and settled on a ram prime tool. I think the only method I haven't tried is a bench tool like the RCBS unit. I have tried 3 hand primers and each one had problems that don't appear with my ram prime tool, and they all slide in my hand and I have to "re-establish my grip" after each primer (kinda like shooting a big bore revolver). But I handle primers individually and have found a few tricks to make it easier. I use a paper towel or cloth on the bench and dump a few primers on that. Much easier to pick up the primer from a paper towel or cloth than the bench top. I usually slide the sleeve back one row of primers with the package inverted, so I have a line of primers, 10 at a time, which makes a line of ten primers that are easy to pick up. My fingers don't need to be completely oil free/clean, but it helps to have so the primers don't slip/squirt from my fingers.

Jes an old guy's .02...
__________________
My Anchor is holding fast!
I've learned how to stand on my own two knees...
mikld is offline  
Old August 12, 2014, 04:02 AM   #23
Brotherbadger
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 10, 2010
Posts: 1,149
Quote:
The safety prime works pretty good as long you have it adjusted properly. The last 2 primers don't feed well because they don't have weight pushing them down. What I do for those is shake the primer arm a bit and they feed no problem.
I take it off the press and angle it slightly towards myself. That usually gets the last two out. Otherwise, it works pretty well.
__________________
Once Fired Brass, Top quality, Fast shipping, Best prices.

http://300AacBrass.com/ -10% Coupon use code " badger "
Brotherbadger is offline  
Old August 12, 2014, 11:15 AM   #24
lee n. field
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 12, 2002
Location: The same state as Mordor.
Posts: 5,567
Some folks're fretting about getting the last two primers out of the chute?

<boggle>

__________________
"As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. "
lee n. field is offline  
Old August 12, 2014, 11:40 PM   #25
Lost Sheep
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 24, 2009
Location: Anchorage Alaska
Posts: 3,341
Quote:
Originally Posted by lee n. field

Some folks're fretting about getting the last two primers out of the chute?
Oh, yeah! It is a small thing, all right, but often it is the small things that irritate us most. Especially when a relatively small design change would cure the defect.

If the Lee Safety Prime were to be rotated 90 Degrees counter clockwise, gravity would positively feed down to the last primer. The "clicker" part would have to redesigned or operated sideways, but I think that would be easy to do, but the current unit is not quite capable of being modified to operate that way.

But I digress. A simple thing, easily corrected but not. THAT IS A MAJOR IRRITANT.

At least, to me.

Lost Sheep
Lost Sheep is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:12 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.09923 seconds with 10 queries