Poppin a cap while reloading!

[chrislind2]

I bought a K&M Precision Shooting hand primer. https://www.kmshooting.com/catalog/primer-seater-tools/primer_gauge.html
It functions great, but it is hard on my 62 year old hands. Another thing that makes me feel old, that's just great! I loaded 100 primers and that was my limit in one sitting, and I took breaks. I think the RCBS Rock Chucker was faster because I could prime a shell and then raise it up and expand the brass with the expander die. My solution, I hope, is the <broken link removed> It is not available right now, could be a couple of months, but it appears that this could be just the thing for us old guys with weak hands.
In the end I don't care as much about my reloading speed as accuracy and things that make it easier and make me less apprehensive about sitting down at my reloading table. Just when you think "this is the method I will use forever" something happens and everything changes. Not going to worry about it for awhile, I'm going shooting the next two weekends!

 

[chrislind2]

It is probably me, but this K&M hand primer is really hard on my hands. I can barely do 20 primers at one sitting and the last 6 were very painful. I wear a glove and still have trouble. I guess I will have to wait for the Forster Primer Seater and hope that it cures my problem. It seems like it will. The only other real option I see is the RCBS primer seater. Nothing against RCBS, but I would rather get something else it possible. My brass that needs priming is backing up...

 

[evltwn]

I have found that sometimes on my 550B the primer holder gets a skosh out of alignment with shellplate holder. You can feel it "catch" slightly when the ram moves upward. A slight adjustment is all it takes to resolve. Along those lines, listening to the TV, talking to others while reloading, or having other distractions around, can cause a LOT of rounds to end up defective, for one reason or another. I am thinking specifically of having a low primer level alarm. Without it, I would be pulling a lot of bullets

 

[deadshot2]

I have found that sometimes on my 550B the primer holder gets a skosh out of alignment with shellplate holder. You can feel it "catch" slightly when the ram moves upward. A slight adjustment is all it takes to resolve.

This will happen to me from time to time, both with hand primers and on my 650. Usually happens when priming military brass that's been swaged. All it takes is when you feel the "catch" start, stop, rotate the case 90-180 degrees, and restart. Sometimes those cases don't have the most true primer pocket mouths and all you need to do is start from a different point.

This also happens with some commercial brass that doesn't have enough radius on the primer pocket mouth. A trip through the swaging tool fixes that for the lifetime of the case.

 

[bruzer]

I'll have to ask my reloader if this has happened to him. So far all the primers that go off for me is when I pull the trigger.
Good luck and stay safe,
Mike

 

[chrislind2]

I sent for the RCBS <broken link removed> It should be here Friday. I watched a video on You Tube and it should do what I want. I have to be able to load more than 20 primers in a session. I need to do at least 100 or more or I will never get any reloading done.

Set up the new primer seater last night. Seated a few, but haven't used the tube that holds a bunch of primers yet. Will try that out tonight. I think this will work fine. No more explosions on the reloading bench! Have not heard anything from RCBS yet, not really expecting to hear anything. They don't really care and they would just assume I was at fault anyway. Back to reloading...

 

[chrislind2]

Cannot win with primer seating! The RCBS seats the primer fine, but the feeder system spits out a second primer every time. It often flies across the room! So I will have to load them in by hand one at a time. Not really a huge deal, but I wrote RCBS to see if there is a fix.
I guess this is the best I can do for now. At least I seated 150 primers this weekend and my reloading is back underway. Problem solved for now. Still haven't heard back from RCBS concerning the letter and pictures I sent them, may not ever hear from them.

 

[deadshot2]

Cannot win with primer seating! The RCBS seats the primer fine, but the feeder system spits out a second primer every time. It often flies across the room! So I will have to load them in by hand one at a time. Not really a huge deal, but I wrote RCBS to see if there is a fix.
I guess this is the best I can do for now. At least I seated 150 primers this weekend and my reloading is back underway. Problem solved for now. Still haven't heard back from RCBS concerning the letter and pictures I sent them, may not ever hear from them.

You mentioned your hands have trouble with the K&M Seater. This could well be because you have to supply the "muscle" with your thumb only. Great if your hands are in good shape and you want that ultimate "feel" when seating a primer.

Take a look at the other options for hand primers such as the Hornady Hand Priming Tool where the power is supplied with all four fingers rather than just the thumb.



I recently replaced one of my Lee "thumb activated" priming tools with this tool and it's like night and day for effort. No hand cramps after priming 100 cases (full tray of primers) before taking a break.

Note: I also like this tool because the tray can feed both large and small primers. You just switch ends on the tray and swap out the "ram". So my "other" ram doesn't get lost I just tape it to the bottom of the tray with some Gorilla Tape. Everything but the shell holder right where you need it. The shell holder is the same as your press uses (unless it's a progressive).

 

[chrislind2]

I received a reply from RCBS and they are sending me a new feeder mechanism for the primer press I bought from them, under warranty. I hope is has a slight re-design, but this press is no worse than when I was hand feeding primers into the Rock Chucker press, only this press is much more efficient at pressing primers.
Thanks for the suggestion. At this point I have about $180.00 in priming tools. I think I will make do with what I have one way or the other. Maybe if I had some really large channel locks I could make the K&M tool work. It must have been designed with a guy who either had or wanted to have really strong hands, and or thumbs. If you could figure out a way to mount it to a wall you could just press the lever with your hand and not have to squeeze it.
I think the RCBS will do what it need it to do. Got to catch up on my reloading and get to the range. I need to send some rounds down range, it's been too long!:gun02:

 

[chrislind2]

Next weekend I hope to fire all the rounds that I primed with the various tools I have purchased. I was concerned that some maybe seated a little deep. I guess I will find out on Saturday!

 

[bballer182]

Next weekend I hope to fire all the rounds that I primed with the various tools I have purchased. I was concerned that some maybe seated a little deep. I guess I will find out on Saturday!

The only way that I know of to seat a primer too deep is to have a primer pocket that isn't within spec or using pistol primer in riffle brass.

You should be good.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[chrislind2]

That makes me feel better. I thought that to be the case, but wasn't sure. There were only about 6 out of 100 that I thought could be a problem.

 

[chrislind2]

I finally got to range and fired the 100 .40 rounds that I reloaded. Every one fire perfectly. I was shooting my 12 year old Ruger P94. It is a great range gun, heavy and has a long barrel. The only problem was one fail to feed and I was using one of my cheap 20 round mags when that happened so I think that could have been the cause. Always a good time shooting reloads, accurate and dependable as factory. I was also lucky finding the brass, recovered 95 out of 100.
Now I have to get my CZ Rami 9mm out to the range. I have about 700 reloaded 9mm rounds I need to shoot. Have a lot of .45 acp's too...
Keep it safe and wear eye protection, when seating primers for sure. I need my reading glasses now that my eyes are older than dirt, so they offer some protection I guess. And make sure you feel good about the way the reloading tool you are using is doing it's job. If not find a better one...lesson learned!