priming tool

[ned kelly]

G'day all,
Sinclair for over 20 years, perfect!
Cheerio Ned

[6.5x55ai]

Mate was a long term Sinclair owner until he bought two XXIC tools. Gave his son the Sinclair. -:)

I have the XXIC tool but their older model with the ~2 thou per click adjustment.
The ease of adjustability makes the XXIC a winner hands down over others. High precision manufacture gives excellent repeatability. The thing is like a Swiss watch.

In theory the top of the line K&M though should be the best as each primer is individually measured by the tool b4 seating allowing very accurate depth ctr using the attached DTI. The tool though appear to be damn slow.

I would highly recommend the latest XXIC model with the finer ~1 thou/click adjustment.

I wouldn’t bother with their tray fed model.

[johnk]

In theory the top of the line K&M though should be the best as each primer is individually measured by the tool b4 seating allowing very accurate depth ctr using the attached DTI. The tool though appear to be damn slow.

I started using the K & M when my arthritis made seating LRs problematic with my Sinclair (which I still use for SR).

It is exceedingly slow, but unlike any others, it takes account of the thickness of the primer relative to the top of the case rim & is the only tool to account for those two variables. The rest assume constant primer dimension unless you sort & assume that all rims are cut to the same thickness. I went to single digit spreads immediately I started using it, but how much could be accounted by me doing a lousy job previously who can say.

[RDavies]

In theory the top of the line K&M though should be the best as each primer is individually measured by the tool b4 seating allowing very accurate depth ctr using the attached DTI. The tool though appear to be damn slow.

I started using the K & M when my arthritis made seating LRs problematic with my Sinclair (which I still use for SR).

It is exceedingly slow, but unlike any others, it takes account of the thickness of the primer relative to the top of the case rim & is the only tool to account for those two variables. The rest assume constant primer dimension unless you sort & assume that all rims are cut to the same thickness. I went to single digit spreads immediately I started using it, but how much could be accounted by me doing a lousy job previously who can say.

+1
If I start getting into reloading races I will give one of the tray type priming tools a go.
Since I intend to stick with the accuracy game I will stay with the K&M dial primer tool for now.

[6.5x55ai]

In theory the top of the line K&M though should be the best as each primer is individually measured by the tool b4 seating allowing very accurate depth ctr using the attached DTI. The tool though appear to be damn slow.

I started using the K & M when my arthritis made seating LRs problematic with my Sinclair (which I still use for SR).

It is exceedingly slow, but unlike any others, it takes account of the thickness of the primer relative to the top of the case rim & is the only tool to account for those two variables. The rest assume constant primer dimension unless you sort & assume that all rims are cut to the same thickness. I went to single digit spreads immediately I started using it, but how much could be accounted by me doing a lousy job previously who can say.

Yeah the only failing with the XXIC tool and it is not actual the tool itself is that it indexes off rim thickness which I have found to be variable even on quality brass. Some primers I have found (yes, I am anal and batch them) have a range of something like 5-6 thou.
I have always used hand tools for priming the last one a RCBS with universal jaws. Prided myself on my technique/feel when priming. Then one day checked depth with DTI fitted with collar and found I was crushing anything up to 7 thou!

[bobeager]

Lewis, what did you choose?
I was watching this thread as I was also looking to upgrade my tools. I almost purchased the 21st Century, but in the end decided to get 2 K&M's, one each for .223 Rem and 6 Dasher. They arrived today from BRT, and I am very pleased with the product, well made and very good "feel".

[Brad Y]

Don't all you buggers buy the flash tools, save some of them for the rest of us!

[bartman007]

Interesting comments about precision priming seating tools and their perceived benefit over the tray feed generic model.

I love my Lee priming tool with its round tray (circa 1993) which I use for LR and SR primers.

FWIW: Having no problem with shooting high X counts with 6mm, 6.5mm and 7mm rounds, I suspect from my experience that the generic (fast) seating tool is doing its job.

[bartman007]

Lee-Autoprime.JPG

[pjifl]

Trouble is that now all the politically correct well proven Lee priming tools have been ruined and you cannot buy parts and trays that actually work any more.

I doubt that a team of experts could ever come up with anything worse that the fold open square tray now in vogue. They don't work properly nor do they last long. Best avoided !!!

Peter Smith.

[johnk]

I doubt that a team of experts could ever come up with anything worse that the fold open square tray now in vogue.

Like.jpg

[AlanF]

While we're complaining, does anyone know the reason federal primers are packed that way?? With CCIs you just put your inverted tray over the primers then turn it all over.

[DenisA]

Reading through this thread I'm struggling to understand what precision is being achieved by the fancy priming tools.

Ultimately, in a perfect world, I imagine that the most precise seating of primers would be to make sure that all primed cases are uniform in the distance from the anvil to the powder chamber which isn't done. No body that I've heard of uniforms web thickness or even measures it. What's the point of precisely seating primers into an imprecise position indexed off the base of non-uniform cases.
Maybe we could start measuring base to chamber, trimming bases and uniforming pockets to uniform web thickness

The advice I got years ago was to uniform primer pocket depth so that the anvil of the seated primers and distance to powder chamber were as uniform as possible and simply seat the primers home.

I use an RCBS hand primer which I love the ease of and can't see how an upgrade would give me any benefit.

I'm probably missing important points here. Open to some guidance.

[AlanF]

Denis,

I've always thought that the critical things were to press the primer home (without squashing it), and have a good spring behind the firing pin. And probably good to be confident about consistency of primer pocket depth and about headspace. If you were going to seat the primer to a particular depth, then it would need to be relative to the shoulder of the case, not the head. BTW I've only ever used RCBS but if someone can come with a convincing reason to change, then I might do that.

Alan

[johnk]

While we're complaining, does anyone know the reason federal primers are packed that way?? With CCIs you just put your inverted tray over the primers then turn it all over.

I have heard it's an issue of the priming mixture being used, the consequence of which being that the Feds are required to be separated in that manner. Lee once claimed that shooters not use Federals & one other manufacture (could have been Winchester) should not be used in their tray type priming tools (the obsolete ones that were lauded earlier) to avoid multiple ignitions. On the other hand, there are claims that Lee & somebody associated with Federal didn't get on, hence the admonition, so take your pick.