Fastest way to prime cases?

Not convinced there is a fast way with any tool other than a progressive press.
There are 'best' ways that depend entirely on what tool you have. Most of 'em are more about technique than anything else.
The strips you have to fill. Adds yet another step.
 
I wore out a Lee hand primer and switched to the RCBS hand primer. How many hundreds of rounds do you want to prime and in how much time? How sure do you want to be that there aren't any primers left high or inserted upside down?
Unless you are reloading more than 500 rounds a week a progressive press is a waste of money in my opinion.
 
Okay, progressive is the fastest way to prime. Well, I'm not buying a $200 to $500 press to prime cases really fast.

Someone want to explain to me the pros and cons of hand priming tools and bench mounted priming? Is it just that the bench mounted ones have better "feel" when seating primers?
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I can "feel" fine with hand primers, they are also cheaper and more portable then bench mounted tools.

A branch mounted tool can give you more leverage if you have arthritis or other hand issues that would make a hand tool less than ideal and worth the extra money for a bench mounted unit.
 
Unless you are reloading more than 500 rounds a week a progressive press is a waste of money in my opinion.
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It's time or money and how you want to spend both. I can load 400 rounds for a weekend of shooting in under 25 min on a progressive. I don't have enough time to spare in a single weekday to load that many on a single stage or turret, so I have to burn into one of my weekend days to do it or spend several evenings doing it, then it turns into a job itself. That generally turns into loading less and shooting less and I suppose that works for some too.
 
TruthTellers said:
...Is it just that the bench mounted ones have better "feel" when seating primers?
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I'm sure you'll get many different answers to that question. The hand seating camp says the "feel" of a hand primer seater is their advantage. I've used several different hand tools & bench tools & press fixtures. When I load for ultimate accuracy I use a RCBS ram priming die. The case's pockets need to have been "uniformed" & the first case primed is set by feel then the die locked. I've found that the Sinclair pocket uniformer is the best available.
 

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You can prime more than 1 or 200 cases in an hour with an RCBS hand primer. You could do it while watching your favorite show or in the solitude of your reloading area. I found I have a lot more time to reload since I gave away the big screen TV and more money since I canceled the cable TV.
I don't spend a great deal of time reloading but I enjoy doing it. I shoot maybe 100 rounds a couple of times a week just to stay familiar with my older guns and to learn the new ones. 2 or 3 trips to the range a week is my normal.
 
I have the RCBS universal. If the primer pockets are good (most US brass) then its a wonder. Fast, quick, any rim no insert (see note) You do have to watch the stress on the plastic insert.

The 7.5 Swiss Rim has been an issue as it does not insert right, I don't know if magnum rims are the same or its a 7.5 PPU thickness aspect. I use a different hand primer for those.
 
I've been using the RCBS APS bench tool with strips and the strip loader for at least 10-15 years now and I have absolutely no idea why they would stop making it. There are several positions for the handle so you can get any angle you feel is best to "feel" the primer seat. I load 100-200 primers in the strips ahead of time so they are ready to go whenever I need them - Large Rifle, LR Mag, Small Pistol and small pistol Mag. It's bench mounted and I added a trough to it so the primed cases just get kicked down to a small plastic container. I actually sent a picture -twice - to RCBS with a suggestion for them to use it but for some reason I never received any reply one way or the other. I can prime 100 rifle cases in less than 15 minutes.

A friend of mine recently called to tell me he used a RCBS hand-held device- with the strips and then loaded 350 rounds of .357 Mags. He found he hadn't seated the primers deep enough in the majority of cases, probably due to fatigue, and the revolver cylinder would not rotate. He had to reseat live rounds with caution. I never had that problem with the APS system.
 
roashooter said:
one thing is for certain....most any primer tool..is preferred over the Lee Hand Press...one primer at a time....hand fed...
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I don't mind the quality that the Lee Ram Prime and Hand Press give me, I can feel it very well, but the speed is far too slow.

At the time I bought the hand press, I was just looking for the smallest, lightest, cheapest way to turn a piece of brass into a full cartridge and the hand press was it.

I've grown since then and realized my "needs" are not being met.
 
I have been using the RCBS APS bench priming tool for a while, but I have just come to the realization that it is just TOO SLOW for my pistol rounds. I just can't keep up with my shooting.

I have just started priming on my Dillon XL650, and it is amazing how much time it saves, and once things are aligned correctly, it works very well.

I will still hand prime for precision loads and for rifle rounds, but for the bulk handgun ammo (9mm, .45 ACP, etc.), I am done. Priming on the press from now on.
 
I have used the lee hand prime tool for years(round trays) until I wore it out. The new ones are awful. Treied the rcbs hand prime , too many parts and a pain to use. A few months ago I picked a franklin arsenal tool. Very nice to use , easy change from large to small primers, comes in a nice plastic case with shellholders and the seating depth can be adjusted. This is what the Lee tool should be.
 
...helix3216
There should be no question that loading, not just priming, is much faster with the 650 than single staging by priming with the the RCBS auto. But maybe I missed your point there. The bench tool is more appropriately used for single stage rifle loading where fewer rounds are normally being loaded per session. But as far as just priming is concerned, is there any real speed difference between the two procedures? A primer is seated with pressing the handle and then a new case inserted for the next handle press for either method. Primer seating speed by itself is the most trivial of considerations.
 
I
have used the lee hand prime tool for years(round trays) until I wore it out. The new ones are awful. Treied the rcbs hand prime , too many parts and a pain to use. A few months ago I picked a franklin arsenal tool. Very nice to use , easy change from large to small primers, comes in a nice plastic case with shellholders and the seating depth can be adjusted. This is what the Lee tool should be.
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Curious if you tried the UNIVERSAL hand primer?

No shell holders, case slips in the lips and it deep seats.
 
Pertaining to reloading, I'm seeing more question's on how to do this and that faster. I don't do anything fast, to old to be in a hurry anymore! The worst experience I've ever had with reloading was trying a Sq Deal press in 9mm. Me and speed didn't get along well at all! It's gone and I'm back on my Rockchucker!
 
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