[marinesg1012]

I guess its another thing I forgot to order even though I swore I did..... either way what do you guys reccomend for a hand primer? I know I have an semi auto press but I want to start slow and want to prime the cases by hand.... The RCBS ones look good and get great reviews but is the universal really universal? or is it better to get the other one and by the different shall holders?

Hopefully I can hit up Cabellas instead of waiting on ANOTHER thing to show up at the house....

 

[Jamesb74]

Not to much experience with the RCBS. I want to one day but I am still using my Lee for hand priming. Cabela's should have both so you can choose. With the Lee you do need the shell holders. The one for 6.8 is #21 which is a special order. But you can take the #19 (one for 9mm/40s&w) and brush it with a dremel and it works just fine and is still usable for the other calibers. If they don't have the RCBS this could be a cheap alternative till you can order the RCBS. As they do not cost that much. Just an idea.

 

[rcrandall]

I guess its another thing I forgot to order even though I swore I did..... either way what do you guys reccomend for a hand primer? I know I have an semi auto press but I want to start slow and want to prime the cases by hand.... The RCBS ones look good and get great reviews but is the universal really universal? or is it better to get the other one and by the different shall holders?

Hopefully I can hit up Cabellas instead of waiting on ANOTHER thing to show up at the house....

I've been using the RCBS hand primer for several years and it works good.

 

[nova]

I've only ever used the Lee for hand priming and it works pretty well.

 

[dlance13]

I use the RCBS universal and it works great. The shellholder is solid and there is very good feedback/feel when seating. I highly recommend it.

 

[JerBear]

I've used the Lee hand primer for several years and for a "cheap" tool it's held up well. I like the "feel" when seating the primers by hand. There's even an advantage with the separate shell holder; you don't need to swap between the primer, trimmer and press.

 

[azcowboy]

I have the standard RCBS and it works good but if I had it to do over again I might go with the universal model or the Coax one by Foster they are close in price and the Coax is bench mounted and Ilike the way the primers are stacked but could be a bitch to load. I have never played with the coax one.

Rhett in Az

 

[RoAus]

I'm new to reloading also and I use the Lee w/ #21 shell holder and it worked just fine or at least it did on my first 100 SSA cases I primed a couple weeks ago. Not sure about the other hand primers but my hand and forearm were pretty sore after that first 100 cases primed, guess I need to build up my forearm muscles. :/

 

[deacn dan]

I also use the Lee and have loaded 1,000's of .223. no issues.

 

[EWP]

I ditched the Lee for the RCBS universal hand primer, it is a much better primer fit, finish, and feel in your hand is greatly improved over the Lee.

The trouble I had with the Lee is the middle linkage that pushes up the priming pin is made of to soft of metal and wore a flat spot right were the primers start to seat, so instead of a smooth feel all the way it kinda just flattens out right when the primer seats and you loose the feel of weather it seated good or not.

Get the RCBS

 

[angsniper]

I've used the same Lee hand primer for 10yrs now and never had an issue. The plastic cover is beginning to yellow so I may replace that just for looks. I like to be able to "feel" the primer seat.

 

[borderpatrol]

I bought two Lee's and I leave one set up for large primers and one for small. I had an earlier model RCBS and didn't like it. Can't remember why right now, seems as though the area that supported the primer broke. To avoid fatigue sometimes I switch back and forth between using my thumbs to seat the primer then using my whole hand. You can go to any benchrest match and watch the pickiest people in the world when it comes to handloading and out comes the Lee hand primers. Works well and cheap.

My favorite primer by far is my bench mounted RCBS. I polished the primer feeding pin by chucking it a drill and applying emery cloth to it. I used a zip tie to attach a rubber band to the priming tube. The rubber band holds the tube in place no matter how fast I go. The polishing job stopped primers from popping out or sticking in the bottom of the tube sideways. It runs like a champ. You can choke up on the handle a little or press down a little slower to get the feel of the primer seating. Or you can just run with it. I've never used anything that comes close to it for speed.