Home Made Primer Tubes for RCBS press

Lemmon · November 4, 2011, 10:13 PM

Any one ever made a working a home made primer tube (small & large) that with fit either the RCBS or Lyman presses? That would be nice as it is annoying to stop the press to reload the primer tube. It would be easier to load a number of tubes at one time and have them available to add to the press as needed. I have not found a reasonable price for replacements tubes yet. If you have the please let me know how you accomplished it and how successful your attempt was. Any thoughts?

Thanks from rural South Carolina, Lemmon

GURU1911 · November 5, 2011, 09:40 AM

Nope----bought an additional set of tubes from rcbs almost 40 years ago & have never felt the need to make them myself.

Guru1911

dahermit · November 5, 2011, 10:08 AM

Brings up a very interesting question, Lemmon. It got me curious, so I measured the primer filler tubes from Dillon. The outside of both large and small primer filler tubes is .312, which is a "standard", 5/16 inch size...should be obtainable. The problem lies with the inside diameter of the small and large primer size. They are not a "standard"( .214 and .182). Also, most tubes that are used in plumbing, (ridged-wall brass tubes), etc. use the inside fractional size (3/8, 3/16, 1/4, etc.) dimension as the standard...those would be more likely to be found than the non-standard sizes used in primer pick-up tubes. Although 7/32 = .218 and 3/16 = .1875 inch. It should be possible to find a ridged brass tube with a 3/16 inch inside diameter and that likely would work for small primers, but 7/32 inside diameter may not be so easy or even possible to find as a standard item.

Lemmon · November 5, 2011, 08:29 PM

Thanks for the replys.... I did a Google search for RCBS primer tube and got a few hits...one of them was from a guy selling 12 small primer RCBS tubes for much cheaper than others. I bit the bullet and bought them. Now my search in now looking for large primer tubes that will work with RCBS..... I do know that Lyman primer tubes will fit the RCBS press. Not sure if Dillon will but any help would be nice.

Again, thanks Lemmon

dahermit · November 6, 2011, 08:37 AM

Just a note on Dillon: The primer pick-up tubes are not used in the press itself. They are used to dump primers into the feed tube only (actual size does not matter). Whereas in some other systems, the pick-up tubes are the tubes that have to fit into the priming system.

David Bachelder · November 6, 2011, 08:47 AM

The RCBS Turret press works the exact same way. You have two pick up tubes and two feed tubes, both large and small.

medalguy · November 8, 2011, 04:51 PM

Bingo. I did. Many years ago I could only get RCBS tubes that held 50 primers and boy what a PITA. So I located a company that made aluminum tubiong and purchased 100 feet of each tube that would hold large and small primers. Great. I then cut the tubing into a length that would hold 100 primers, drilled a retaining opin hole in each tube, and at the "filling" end I did several things.

First, I thoroughly deburred the end of the tube. Next I ground the outside edge to a nice 45 degree taper, with just a very slight taper on the inside of the tube. Finally I made 2 X-crosscuts down the length of the tube about 3/8 inch long, and very slightly put a pinch on just one side of the tube, with just enough spring to retain the primers in the tube as I picked them up.

For the small primer tubes, in order to make them fit the standard hole size in the Automatic Primer tool, I cut small lengths of the large size tube about 1 inch long and drilled out the inside of the pieces so that the small primer tube would just slide into the small sections. I added a bit of epoxy to the mating surfaces and presto, both sizes snugly fit the RCBS bench mounted priming machine.

I still use these primer tubes on my Dillon machines and my Automatic Priming tool. By the way, along the way I discovered that if you use the Autoprime enough, you will wear down the bottom of the primer rods and RCBS will replace them, free. Three times.

November 4, 2011, 10:13 PM	#1
Lemmon Senior Member Join Date: December 25, 2009 Location: Rural South Carolina Posts: 445	Home Made Primer Tubes for RCBS press Any one ever made a working a home made primer tube (small & large) that with fit either the RCBS or Lyman presses? That would be nice as it is annoying to stop the press to reload the primer tube. It would be easier to load a number of tubes at one time and have them available to add to the press as needed. I have not found a reasonable price for replacements tubes yet. If you have the please let me know how you accomplished it and how successful your attempt was. Any thoughts? Thanks from rural South Carolina, Lemmon

November 5, 2011, 09:40 AM	#2
GURU1911 Senior Member Join Date: December 22, 2010 Location: SEALY, THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS Posts: 501	Nope----bought an additional set of tubes from rcbs almost 40 years ago & have never felt the need to make them myself. Guru1911 __________________ NRA LIFE MEMBER (1984) & PRESIDENT: S.W. LA. R&P CLUB, LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA (1994-1999) METALLIC CARTRIDGE RELOADER (1977) & GENTILE CHRISTIAN ZIONIST INFIDEL !!! "THERE AIN'T TOO MANY THINGS THAT YOU CAN'T FIX, WITH $500 DOLLARS OR A .30-06"

November 5, 2011, 08:29 PM	#4
Lemmon Senior Member Join Date: December 25, 2009 Location: Rural South Carolina Posts: 445	Thanks for the replys.... I threw in the towell... Thanks for the replys.... I did a Google search for RCBS primer tube and got a few hits...one of them was from a guy selling 12 small primer RCBS tubes for much cheaper than others. I bit the bullet and bought them. Now my search in now looking for large primer tubes that will work with RCBS..... I do know that Lyman primer tubes will fit the RCBS press. Not sure if Dillon will but any help would be nice. Again, thanks Lemmon

November 5, 2011, 10:08 AM	#3
dahermit Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2006 Location: South Central Michigan...near Posts: 6,501	Brings up a very interesting question, Lemmon. It got me curious, so I measured the primer filler tubes from Dillon. The outside of both large and small primer filler tubes is .312, which is a "standard", 5/16 inch size...should be obtainable. The problem lies with the inside diameter of the small and large primer size. They are not a "standard"( .214 and .182). Also, most tubes that are used in plumbing, (ridged-wall brass tubes), etc. use the inside fractional size (3/8, 3/16, 1/4, etc.) dimension as the standard...those would be more likely to be found than the non-standard sizes used in primer pick-up tubes. Although 7/32 = .218 and 3/16 = .1875 inch. It should be possible to find a ridged brass tube with a 3/16 inch inside diameter and that likely would work for small primers, but 7/32 inside diameter may not be so easy or even possible to find as a standard item.

November 6, 2011, 08:37 AM	#5
dahermit Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2006 Location: South Central Michigan...near Posts: 6,501	Just a note on Dillon: The primer pick-up tubes are not used in the press itself. They are used to dump primers into the feed tube only (actual size does not matter). Whereas in some other systems, the pick-up tubes are the tubes that have to fit into the priming system.

November 6, 2011, 08:47 AM	#6
David Bachelder Senior Member Join Date: August 23, 2011 Location: Trinity, Texas Posts: 636	The RCBS Turret press works the exact same way. You have two pick up tubes and two feed tubes, both large and small.

November 8, 2011, 04:51 PM	#7
medalguy Senior Member Join Date: August 31, 2009 Location: New Mexico Posts: 1,033	Bingo. I did. Many years ago I could only get RCBS tubes that held 50 primers and boy what a PITA. So I located a company that made aluminum tubiong and purchased 100 feet of each tube that would hold large and small primers. Great. I then cut the tubing into a length that would hold 100 primers, drilled a retaining opin hole in each tube, and at the "filling" end I did several things. First, I thoroughly deburred the end of the tube. Next I ground the outside edge to a nice 45 degree taper, with just a very slight taper on the inside of the tube. Finally I made 2 X-crosscuts down the length of the tube about 3/8 inch long, and very slightly put a pinch on just one side of the tube, with just enough spring to retain the primers in the tube as I picked them up. For the small primer tubes, in order to make them fit the standard hole size in the Automatic Primer tool, I cut small lengths of the large size tube about 1 inch long and drilled out the inside of the pieces so that the small primer tube would just slide into the small sections. I added a bit of epoxy to the mating surfaces and presto, both sizes snugly fit the RCBS bench mounted priming machine. I still use these primer tubes on my Dillon machines and my Automatic Priming tool. By the way, along the way I discovered that if you use the Autoprime enough, you will wear down the bottom of the primer rods and RCBS will replace them, free. Three times.