Hand priming tool.

[tbrice23]

I've been using the same original Lee hand priming tool that I started reloading with, no complaints . Thousands and tens of thousands of cases primed with this thing. I think I'm finally wearing it out.
I did a short search and read a bunch of reviews on MidwayUSA.
It seems that Lee has changed their product and will not be buying their new re-disigned tool.
What did catch my eye was the Frankfort Arsenal priming tool with the adjustable seating dial. Does anyone have good or bad things to say about it?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Rkripler]

I have a 21st century hand priming took that I recently bought. I have used it for about a month and cant say enough good things about it. I had some 308 brass tgat I was having a tuff time getting primers in straight. I bought the 21 Century primer and they all went right in with little effort. Well worth the money.

 

[aj427ci]

Pretty happy with the rcbs..... Some of these reloading tools get kinda complicated and expensive. What would be the advantage of some of the fancy priming tools over the tried and trued ones like the rcbs and others?

 

[Rogmay]

I bought a 21st century as well, smooth tool, works great, the advantage is more consistent seating depth and uniformity! Don't get me wrong you do pay for them, but there's a better than average chance I won't be buying another for quite some time!

 

[Gene]

Threw my Lee primer seaters away 10 years ago; bought a K&M. Its slow - one at a time - but works well.

 

[Jud96]

I'm in the same boat, my first Lee broke. The top where the shell holder goes in broke off when seating a primer one day. I guess a hundred thousand rounds or so is their life span haha. I am not sure if I like the single feed priming tools because I don't want to have to touch and pick up each primer. I have been looking at the Hornady and Lyman hand primers because they are similar to the old Lee. I am not a fan of the RCBS and how the handle is on the side compared to being right in line with the primer tray, like on the Lee, Lyman, and Hornady.

 

[Tnwhip]

I have both Lee primers. I like the old one better than the new one. The new one will jam unless you hold it just right, and they take separate shell holders . I also have a new Lyman that I like the best. It is very well built. A friend has a Hornady, I have used it and it is a good one also. You can't go wrong with Lyman,Hornady or Rcbs.

 

[DartonJager]

I own a Lee, RCBS and Hornady LnL hand priming tools. After using each to prime 100s of rifle brass, I felt IMHO FOR ME the Hornady LnL gave me the best feel and fit my rather large hand(s) the best. To their credit the Lee gave me just as good a feel for primer seating as the Hornady, but for what ever reason it caused my hand to fatigue more rapidly than the Hornady.

 

[c-ne-elk]

I have used a RCBS Automatic bench priming tool (with the tubes, not the plastic strips) for over 10 years. Easy to use, fast and you can "feel" the primers being seated as it does not use much leverage to seat the primer.

RCBS Automatic Bench Priming Tool

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have used the cheap (price and build-quality) Lee unit for years. It breaks and I replace it. But it also works.

The RCBS unit is a ***. They should be ashamed at how tough it is to setup. Sad.

Am always looking for the Next Big Thing, so I will be looking at the 21st century hand priming tool.

 

[tbrice23]

The 21st Century looks good, but would have killed them to design a tray for faster priming???.
So, would you have to dump a box of primers somewhere then pick every single primer up with tweezers over and over. Then try to get the rest back in the box without spilling or contaminating them.
Just seems like making more work.

 

[DocDoc]

It is real easy to dump what you will use in a flip tray, prime with the C21 tool, put on the top flip, finish priming, and clean up. Almost as fast to do as to talk about it. You do not touch the top of the primers, so unless your hands are dripping with sweat/? there is no contamination. I usually do 10, 20 or multiples, so most of the time I have nothing to put back.

 

[Tesoro]

The 21st Century looks good, but would have killed them to design a tray for faster priming???.
So, would you have to dump a box of primers somewhere then pick every single primer up with tweezers over and over. Then try to get the rest back in the box without spilling or contaminating them.
Just seems like making more work.

I wonder if this rubber glove tweezer stuff for handling primers is something out of the past like eating raw bacon and under cooked pork!. I have a21c and pick up primers off tray with my clean enough fingers and pop in the hole and prime. Dosent take long to do a 100 batch. Never had a dud.
heck when I was a kid reloading 30 some years ago i did the same thing and never had a dud that I can remember either and i'm sure my hands were greasier back then and the primer explosives werent as inert.

the 21c primer rocks. The plastic lee auto feed they sell with it has to use the lee shell holder and dont like them for rapid priming work with fired AR cases. I sent it back.

 

[tbrice23]

You might be right but sometimes I think Murphy's Law was written for me.
It would be my luck I'd be the only one ever to contaminate a primer in competition or worse with a trophy Whitetail in my cross hairs.