stubbicatt
New member
Years ago I had a slick progressive setup which I sold at the time due to the need for funds. Having run through nearly all the ammo I loaded all those years ago has forced me to approach my hand loading now using a Lee Classic Cast Turret Press. This in turn has caused me to re-evaluate my 1980s vintage Lee AutoPrime hand priming tool. You know, the one with all those little specialty shell holders? While the turret press has an adequate priming feature, and I could use it instead of a hand primer, the little primer arms get caught up in residue from decapping that makes it frustrating to use unless I keep swabs of Qtips nearby and keep the inside of the ram really clean.
So I pull the Lee AutoPrime out of storage and press it into service. The lid of the AutoPrime is all yellowed from the years, and bears the scrape marks of tens of thousands of cartridges, and in use, I am reminded how much it upsets me when the lid comes loose and either spills primers or allows them to tilt or turn over. Especially with small rifle or small pistol primers. Grrr! (To its credit the main mechanism has not failed, and lubed with a dab of grease occasionally has lasted nearly 30 years.)
So here I am last December, so disappointed with the performance of the AutoPrime that I found myself looking for a replacement.
Enter the RCBS APS Hand Priming Tool.
I just now received from Widener's a RCBS APS Hand Priming tool that uses the CCI primer strips, and another tool to load the strips in the event that the APS loaded primers are unavailable (as it seems to be these days). Wideners were pretty backlogged, but they came through! Good prices, good products, and good packaging for those products. +1 for Wideners.
I have only read the instructions on the APS Hand Priming tool, and done a mockup run using an empty strip, but this tool really is quite nice. It has a nifty shellholder arrangement which will accept any of a wide range of cases, and obviates the need for proprietary little shellholders for each family of cartridges I load. One size fits all. The method of changing out the primer punch couldn't have been better thought out, nor easier to accomplish. Heck, RCBS even provides the little socket type tool to accomplish this, and the little tool allows one to place the unused primer punch in a threaded hole on the side of the tool so that it doesn't get lost. Nice touch!
Genius, if you ask me.
The strip loader I actually put to the task by loading into strips 100 large rifle primers. It worked precisely, and just as positively as could be. The design is good and the quality of manufacture is also very good. It is refreshing to use a tool as intended without any struggle.
I realize this is a small splash in a big pond, but Big Green has come through for me once more with these exceptional tools. I have generally been impressed with RCBS products, and these tools are no exception.
Too, I received my 243 Xdie, which if it is anything like the other Xdies I have, means I will never need to trim my 243 brass again.
Today has been a good day!
So I pull the Lee AutoPrime out of storage and press it into service. The lid of the AutoPrime is all yellowed from the years, and bears the scrape marks of tens of thousands of cartridges, and in use, I am reminded how much it upsets me when the lid comes loose and either spills primers or allows them to tilt or turn over. Especially with small rifle or small pistol primers. Grrr! (To its credit the main mechanism has not failed, and lubed with a dab of grease occasionally has lasted nearly 30 years.)
So here I am last December, so disappointed with the performance of the AutoPrime that I found myself looking for a replacement.
Enter the RCBS APS Hand Priming Tool.
I just now received from Widener's a RCBS APS Hand Priming tool that uses the CCI primer strips, and another tool to load the strips in the event that the APS loaded primers are unavailable (as it seems to be these days). Wideners were pretty backlogged, but they came through! Good prices, good products, and good packaging for those products. +1 for Wideners.
I have only read the instructions on the APS Hand Priming tool, and done a mockup run using an empty strip, but this tool really is quite nice. It has a nifty shellholder arrangement which will accept any of a wide range of cases, and obviates the need for proprietary little shellholders for each family of cartridges I load. One size fits all. The method of changing out the primer punch couldn't have been better thought out, nor easier to accomplish. Heck, RCBS even provides the little socket type tool to accomplish this, and the little tool allows one to place the unused primer punch in a threaded hole on the side of the tool so that it doesn't get lost. Nice touch!
Genius, if you ask me.
The strip loader I actually put to the task by loading into strips 100 large rifle primers. It worked precisely, and just as positively as could be. The design is good and the quality of manufacture is also very good. It is refreshing to use a tool as intended without any struggle.
I realize this is a small splash in a big pond, but Big Green has come through for me once more with these exceptional tools. I have generally been impressed with RCBS products, and these tools are no exception.
Too, I received my 243 Xdie, which if it is anything like the other Xdies I have, means I will never need to trim my 243 brass again.
Today has been a good day!
