Im interested in getting a Sinclair hand priming tool or a 21st century hand priming tool. Has anyone used either one of these and what is your opinion of the tool ? Thanks

Never used them. I used a Lee for YEARS until I wore out the pivot arm. Wife gave me an RCBS as a gift to replace it. It is now on it's 7th or 8th year.

Hand priming is the way to go, because you feel the firmness of the pocket, which becomes a very good measure of excessive pressure signs when the pocket get too loose too quickly. I have a Sinclair and it works quite well.

Just looking at them I'm trying to understand why they are twice the cost of RCBS or 4-5 times a Lee. I used my cheap Lee when I was shooting BR and it worked fine. I wouldn't get one that didn't have a tray. Last thing I want is to have to touch the primers. Looked like the 21st had a Lee Tray option?

I'm sure both are fine pieces of equipment. I'm sure members have used them and swear by them. For me I'd save a few $$.

I prefer my old style Hornady hand priming tool. The new model is junk, IMHO.

Sorry, I have not used a Sinclair or a 21st but do have a Lyman and 3 Lee's. I prefer the Lee's keeping one set up for Small and the other for Large primers and they work well. Being so significantly $ less than the others and working well, I do not know what the 4X or 5X the price gets you.

You can get the new Base Precision unit for $600

http://www.baseprecision.com/products/cps

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You can get the new Base Precision unit for $600

Only for small primer????

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Originally posted by Fjold:
You can get the new Base Precision unit for $600

http://www.baseprecision.com/products/cps

http://www.riflemagazine.com/m...PDF/hl293partial.pdf

I wonder where idea for that primer came from.

Page 12 has Shoffstall's priming tool and picture doesn't show but tool has adjustment for primer depth.

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. I have used the Lee and while they work and are not bad if you don't load much. I've worn out about 10 of them over the years. The RCBS tool is much better although I do not care for the feature that allows for the plunger to fall out of the tool if the tool is inverted. I recently purchased a new Lyman tool and find it quite good. Very easy to change std shell holders and it works well. I would suggest anyone in the market for a new handheld priming tool at least give the Lyman tool a look.

I've heard of people wearing out their Lee tools but I don't know how you all do it.

I shoot competitively and have been doing so for almost 35 years and I use the original Lee hand priming tool that I bought in 1981. I bought a second one in 1999 because I got tired of switching between large and small primers and both of them are still working fine.

I use a little dry lube on the pivots and have never had a problem with them.

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I've heard of people wearing out their Lee tools but I don't know how you all do it

Simple don't use dry lube on it.

I had one of the old tools with the round tray. I ended up with a worn spot on the top of the connecting rod where it rubbed against the seating rod. It developed a hitch if you will. Basically was no longer smooth. I actually turned the connecting rod over and used it that way for a couple years.

Basically the steel seating pin rubbing against the alloy connecting rod. If I had taken the time to lube it like you do it would probably still be working.

Since the replacement was a gift from the wife I assumed since the RCBS cost more it had to be better. Another Lee would have been fine.

At the cost of a Lee one set up for large and another for small is the way to go.

I have several different priming methods here including on the press, a RCBS hand primer, and 2 of the Sinclair hand priming tools.

I set one each of the Sinclair tools up for large primers and one for small primers.

I also have several heads with the shellholders I use most already loaded up so all I have to do is twist one off and put the new one on.

For the best rounds for hunting, or some small batches of match type ammo, the Sinclair priming tools are the ones I use.

It is best if you get some cases and the primers you load and try a few of each one in the cases. With Federal Gold Medal primers I had a good seating just a few thousandths deep in just a few tries and with god "feel" to it. I also tried some Winchester and Remington primers and those seated a bit deeper than I wanted so I had to adjust the grip pressure some to get the depth I wanted.

While it isn't the fastest method it is consistent and I have yet to have any cocked primers or any misfires using the Sinclair tools.

One other item is to order the Sinclair machined Lee shellholders to use with the Sinclair priming tool. I did this, but you also have to look for some burrs in the Lee shellholders. I had one that stuck in the head and had to send it to Sinclair. They agreed that it had a burr and fixed it up and polished everything up and sent it back with an extra new head and shellholder too. Good stuff. You wont likely wear one out in a lifetime.

The only one I use now is the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool. I use it for all I load including 450/400 3 inch. No shell holders required! Neatest thing is that the primer tray is square just like the primer boxes! Who'd a Thunk it??

I prefer the bench priming tool over the hand tools. Hand tools wear your hand out after a while and I think you can get a better “feel” with the bench tool after you have used it for a while. It's also a lot faster than a hand tool by about 3X.


I also own the Universal and APS hand tools.

I had one of those and sold it. Since you have to load that tube with the primers I'm having trouble seeing how it is 3x faster.

Dump the primers on the tray. Shake it around to make sure all primers turn over. Then one by one load the tube. (yes I know you push the tube down on each primer and a spring clip holds it in.) I won't even talk about forgetting to put the clip in place loading the tube then turning it over. When I left it and went to a hand held I primers a lot quicker. Yes if you are going to do several 100 with your hand primer you had better have a good grip.

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Originally posted by ramrod340:
I had one of those and sold it. Since you have to load that tube with the primers I'm having trouble seeing how it is 3x faster.

Dump the primers on the tray. Shake it around to make sure all primers turn over. Then one by one load the tube. (yes I know you push the tube down on each primer and a spring clip holds it in.) I won't even talk about forgetting to put the clip in place loading the tube then turning it over. When I left it and went to a hand held I primers a lot quicker. Yes if you are going to do several 100 with your hand primer you had better have a good grip.

Maybe 3x was too strong. The few people I’ve known that use or used hand priming tools use them while setting in their LazyBoy, watching TV, and eating popcorn at the same time. That's a lot slower than 3x and possibly less than 250x depending on the TV program.

I can draw from my experience though. The priming tool spends half it's time setting on the bench while I shake life back into my hand or straighten out my fingers.

I don't have problems loading the primer tubes, it goes pretty fast.

I don't have a lot for loaded cartridges in the house but I have a lot of primed cases ready to go.

OK now I understand the measurement criteria

I had used a Hornady Handprime 15 years back and it never gave me problems. Then I upgraded to a Universal RCBS. The only problem with it is that it mis-allign a primer every once in a while. You hear a click. Then I purchased the RCBS one that use the shell holder. It worked excellent, but the only problem is that the primer push ram falls out when you turn the tool upside down. Not a big problem, but you should just keep it up right at all times. Then I decided to buy a new Hornady Handprime again. Totally different from the old one I had. With small rifle and pistol it tends to damage the primer cup. So now I am back at a Lee Ergo Prime and must say I am impressed. The only other brand I now have in my reloading cabinet is the RCBS Hand Prime that works with the shell holder.

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Originally posted by Ackley Improved User:
Hand priming is the way to go, because you feel the firmness of the pocket, which becomes a very good measure of excessive pressure signs when the pocket get too loose too quickly. I have a Sinclair and it works quite well.

I have stopped using hand priming tools years ago, and never looked back.

I can feel a primer seating in my RCBS auto priming tool just as well.