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Looking for some feedback on primer seating tools

nksmfamjp said:
Talked to Federal. It was their tech's opinion that anvil touch plus a little more. I asked him to clarify that. He said he didn't have a number. Then he said their factory ammo target with their cases seat to about 0.006-0.008" below the surface.

We talked about how to do this. He mentioned limiting the seating to the point where the cup bottoms out. That is max. Min depth is obviously where the cup touches. I'm gonna need more force and more feel to get here!

I asked if they had any data to support depth vs accuracy. They did not.

I asked about the need to control depth. The feedback was to be consistent for consistency's sake. That is fine.
Since there are no CPS around, I will test drive the Hollands tool. It comes with good leverage and also a depth check tool. When the CPS becomes available, I'll have to decide if my testing needs to go that way.
Click to expand...
The reason you want it crushed is when firing pin hits it has no where to go but boom. If you seat just flush with anvils. Firing pin will compress primer before firing. That's why hand primers give inconsistent results because you can get a primer .002 or .004 away causing inconsistent firing. Ignition timing is critical to accuracy. Some people cant shoot accurately enough to notice but it matters. Question is does it matter to you enough. To me i try to get all i can out of my gun
 
Alex Wheeler said:
The K&M tool is the one you want if your seating to depth and do not want to sort. My testing showed the primer wants to be seated to a certain amount of crush based off its original height. So if your primer lot varies by .004 and you just seat them all to a depth, you will have .004 variation in crush. So either you need to measure every one and sort into batches and adjust each batch to maintain crush or you use a tool like the K&M. Both are extremely tedious. The interesting thing is that after testing a primer for the crush it shot best and comparing that to where they end up if you seat by feel, they end up in the same place. While we could hold a slightly better tolerance using a tool that seats by depth, we could not see it on target. And there was a lot of work to make it work. My point on this subject has always been that you can literally shoot sub 2" groups at 1k seating by feel, you can break year long aggregate group records seating by feel. This is not holding back your hunting rifle. I think its a road that extremely accomplished shooters need to explore because at some point everything matters. But when it comes to this topic, its so small we cant see it. Maybe once we can shoot under an inch we can who knows. Lots of good tools out there but you have to understand what a primer wants and know how the tools work.
A very big part of my business is guiding my customers to their accuracy goals. I dont charge for it, its part of the support after I build the rifle. You want them to shoot, loading and tuning is a huge part of that. To this day I have yet to find a customer whos method of primer seating has held them back from their accuracy goals. From hunting rifles to record breaking competition rifles.
I am not saying any of these tools are bad, I have used all of them in this thread I believe. And they are all very good at what they do. I think some are faster, some are more ergonomic, some are better made, ext.
Click to expand...

I read this post by Alex in my priming studies. I was very interested because I know the respect he receives here and at Deep Creek. While we have never met, he would be my first call if inquiring about 1000 yd benchrest rifles.
 
I started with the RCBS hand priming tool. It works, seems fairly consistent; it did however leave me looking elsewhere. I can't put my finger on exactly why...

I've long since switched to the RCBS bench priming tool. I like it substantially more. Why? For me, it feels more consistent. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Ergonomically, it's a better fit for how I feel primers should be seated & how the human/tool interface works out.


www.midwayusa.com

RCBS Automatic Bench Priming Tool

The RCBS Automatic Bench Priming Tool is a great tool for the reloader looking for fast, accurate and highly sensitive feel when seating primers. One of...
www.midwayusa.com www.midwayusa.com




t
 
lejuch said:
21st Century makes a priming tools that is the cats *ss. Single feed but the "feel" this priming tool provides is exceptional. 1/4 thou clicks, ergonomic, and easily used as well. American made too! I'm ecstatic with mine.
Click to expand...
According to their website it adjusts 1 1/4 thou, .00125".

21stcenturyinnovation.com

-Gen III Super Precision Click Head Bench Rest Priming Tool

Introducing the Gen III Super Precision Click Head Priming Tool from 21st Century Innovation. This Priming Tool moves the primer 1 thou per click (.001) for very precise amount of crush. All stainless steel components with billet aluminum handle. CNC machined in house at 21st Century...
21stcenturyinnovation.com 21stcenturyinnovation.com
 
If using a single feed priming system where the primers are handled I would highly recommend using tweezers or wearing gloves. I was using the lee ram prime and touching every primer. Recently I had a batch of 22-250 loaded and had 5 in a row not fire. Primer dented and no bang. I'm guessing I got something on my hands that killed the primer. The first time in thousands of rounds that I had a problem with.
 
Sdbeanfield said:
If using a single feed priming system where the primers are handled I would highly recommend using tweezers or wearing gloves. I was using the lee ram prime and touching every primer. Recently I had a batch of 22-250 loaded and had 5 in a row not fire. Primer dented and no bang. I'm guessing I got something on my hands that killed the primer. The first time in thousands of rounds that I had a problem with.
Click to expand...
I would guess the anvil was not touching solidly. …..only because so many people have done tests to kill primers and they are nearly impossible to kill!
 
nksmfamjp said:
I would guess the anvil was not touching solidly. …..only because so many people have done tests to kill primers and they are nearly impossible to kill!
Click to expand...
That could be. I quit handling primers after that. Maybe I overreacted.
 

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