What's your favourite primer seater?

[Earl Three Beavers]

I've been using the primer seater that runs on the RCBS Rockchucker but want something with a little better feel for what I'm doing.

What's your favourite primer seater? Which brand, and hand seater, bench model, or press mounted? What do you like best about it?

[WrzWaldo]

Lee Auto Prime

Install appropriate tray (LR/SR) and shell holder, fill with primers, and go nuts. It has a very good feel while seating the primers.

What I like best about it is I can sit in the living room and pretend to watch TV with the wife while I push primers. But let's not tell her that.

[Rick in Oregon]

#1. Sinclair hands down, the best design, materials and workmanship.
#2. The cheapie Lee hand held unit; alot of good performance for the money.

I've heard some like the RCBS, but have no personal experience, as after I got my Sinclair seater, there was no reason to try anything lesser. If you don't mind blowing a C-Note, it's the absolute best out there.

The K&M is also a good alternative; they make very good tools for handloaders.

[Ahab]

Lee Auto Prime

Install appropriate tray (LR/SR) and shell holder, fill with primers, and go nuts. It has a very good feel while seating the primers.

What I like best about it is I can sit in the living room and pretend to watch TV with the wife while I push primers. But let's not tell her that.

Thats what I do too!

[mudturtle]

I've had the RCBS hand primer for 12 years and have seated thousands of primers with it. It gives you a very good feel of the primer seating and is a snap to use. The Sinclair is nice too, but I don't own one. Nice thing is that I'm only about 30 miles from Sinclair and it's like walking into a candy store.

[Robert harrel]

i use the new rcbs univesal what i like about it is the universal shell holder and shut off gate on the primer tray what i did not like was having to take it apart to swap from small to large primers so i bought two one for large i for small also have lee auto prime but dont use it anymore

[Earl Three Beavers]

Robert penned:
"Scatter brained is good when you go after a pound of powder and come back with a new gun"

Or go for a helmet and come back with a new motorcycle.

Been there, done both!

[contender hunter]

I didn't like the RCBS at all , no feel , very easy to apply to much pressure and dent primer !! , the Lee is cheaper and has better feel if you don't want to go the sinclair route , I would like to try the K&M tool some day . Very disappointed in the RCBS , There stuff is always top notch.

Don't forget that on some of the tools like the sinclair you have to load each pimer one at a time !! There is no tray to help speed things up a little , not sure about the K&M tool .

Rick did you mention in and earlier post that a tray could be adapted to the k&m tool ??

[Rick in Oregon]

CH: Not sure if the K&M would accept a try, as I've got some of their tools, but a primer seater is not one of them.

As to loading primers one at a time, my thought on this is....we seat bullets one at a time, dump powder one at a time, and as critical as proper primer seating is to the whole accuracy equation, what's the problem with careful seating of the primers one at a time with a precision tool?

The downside to primer trays is detonation of the entire lot. I've read (no personal experience here, thank you) that the primer residue can build up on the inside of primer drop tubes, and in primer trays, and by some happenstance, can detonate the entire tray! Not good. Remote, I know, but still a factor.

I enjoy handloading, and do not try to cut corners by production. If production was the idea, I'd use a Dillon for my rodent ammo, but by doing so, I'd not get the stellar accuracy I'm after for shooting Skippy at 400 - 500 yards. Production machines to not offer that degree of precision in their loads, so for me at least, precision seating of match grade primers one at a time is not a big deal at all. Others may feel differently, but I doubt you'd ever see the BR boys using any production method, and my particular varmint shooting style is "Bench Rest Varmint Shooting". I also enjoy desert walkabouts, putting on a bipod and snoopin' & poopin' the hills, but even then, I want the best degree of accuracy I can possibly muster. One at a time baby, no worries.

[Shooter]

LEE: You can spend a lot more but none work any better. I have used a Sinclair. I'll put up my $10.00 Lee against them any day. Sinclair is quality workmanship but the Lee is simple poetry in motion.

[Lee C.]

I've been useing the rcbs hand primer for year's now. And it has always done a good job for me. But every one to there owen.

[skipper]

I use the RCBS hand primer. I have been really pleased with it's performance. The only thing I don't like is having to take the thing apart every time I need the shell holder at the press. I bought another shell holder for each caliber I reload so I don't have to go back and forth.

[georgetwalkerjr]

RCBS bench tool for larger volume....small primers, and Sinclair hand held for smaller volume, mostly large primers: 22-250, .257WbyMag, .243......

[Gube]

RCBS hand tool works very well for me. I use two shell holders so I don't have to swap them out btween the press and the hand tool. Used to use the rockchucker press but was slow and could'nt get a good feel of the primer seating. Went to the hand tool and never went back.