Longer Primer Tubes?

[jmorris]

You could rig up a custom belt for an rcbs and have hundreds ready.

Maybe a rotating set up like the lee bullet and case feeders

As for the RF-100 on the machine and vibration being a problem there are folks that vibrate the measure to get more consistant powder charges. The problem is that the tube has to "float" for it to work.

How about an auto drive so you can fill the case, bullet and primer gizmos while its loading.

[addicted]

I just get a friend or my GF to load primer tubes while I crank the handle. They refill everything when the primer alarm goes off.

[Mark K]

Well...... I got busy and did not get back to the tread until now.

I should have used an Emoticon. My post was a little tongue in cheek. I was pretty sure of the safety issue, and was kind of musing about all the other high-cap options we have on the reloader. I personally have 17 primer tubes, and like the break to add primers.

Interesting discussion, none the less.

Mark

[slavex]

buy a Camdex (or is it Ammoload?) primer feeder, it's a hopper that feeds straight into a tube. I've seen one setup on a 1050 a few years back. Took a little monkeying to get it to work though, as it needed a flexible tube to absorb the vibrations of the handle strokes and such on the press.

as for the modified Lee loader, I posted a pretty good set of instructions about 2 years ago, still use it with the tumbler acting as a vibrator, just set the end of the tube on a running tumbler lid, rotate the Lee tray back and forth and about 10-15 seconds to fill a tube. Pull the tube out, put the pick up end back on, stick another tube in, fill the tray, shake to line up primers, put the lid on, and start all over again.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=64594&st=0&p=750149&fromsearch=1entry750149

Edited April 1, 2010 by slavex

[Canuck223]

I used to load up 20 primer tubes. When I sold off the old press, I sold the tubes.

When I re-tooled, I got the RF-100, and LOVE it. Now it's simply pull the follower, fill it from the RF, toss a sleeve of primers into the RF, hit the button, and carry on. Maybe 30 seconds interuption.

[Foxbat]

Having not used a Dillon (or any progressive yet) couldnt you just fill like 10 tubes and have them ready then every 100 rnds, take a quick break, swap tubes and then you are off and running again?

I do just like Canuck223... I have three RF-100's on the bench, so as soon as I run out of primers I dump one tube and put it back on the filler, press the button and go back to reloading.

That's the whole idea behind having the RF-100's.

They are great tools, albeit not 100% reliable. They do better job on some brands of primers than on others. But even with their faults, they are great help.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Foxbat

[pigman08]

I take a box of small and a box of large primers along w/ about 20 tubes of each size whenever I go to my mother-in-law's... Makes the night go by a lot faster !!!

[cardguy]

I read an article in the American Rifleman several years ago about a guy who had some primers detonate while he was loading and of course his powder was in the same room nearby. It caused an enormous explosion and blew up the house and if I remember correctly, killed him. Just food for thought.

Edited April 29, 2010 by cardguy

[jester116th]

Or you could follow my instructions to make your own primer tube filler that takes less than 10 minutes to make and costs less than $10 and fills a tube in 15 seconds.

Hi can you send those to me please? Thx Greg

[Flexmoney]

I just get a friend or my GF to load primer tubes while I crank the handle. They refill everything when the primer alarm goes off.

And, here I thought I was the only one that reloaded naked.

[CGT80]

I used the RCBS APS bench priming system before I bought my 550. It was nice but no where near as reliable as the 550 priming system. The APS system used these little plastic sleeves for each size primer. They wore out a lot so I made my own out of copper tubing. If you have good/new tips on your dillon pickup tubes it is easy to do by hand. I bought my press used and it had the old style tips. They weren't any fun. Winchester primers are just slightly easier to load into tubes and also to seat into brass than Wolf primers. Wolf primers work well in my Limited XD, but I like winchester. I have 7 small pistol primer tubes and that is enough to load without a break. I also just got a 550 casefeeder. All I can say is WOW! Now I want the Mr. Bulletfeeder....

[larryinsunol]

After years and years and years loading primer tubes by hand, 'cause I had some "extra" money, I bought an RF 100. I thought, an extravagance... After living with it for a year, I love the little beast! It's so cool watching the primers march up the ramp...

Now, I'm trying to figure out how to justify another one for Small Primer use only.

[spanky]

Or you could follow my instructions to make your own primer tube filler that takes less than 10 minutes to make and costs less than $10 and fills a tube in 15 seconds.

Hi can you send those to me please? Thx Greg

+1.

[noylj]

To be worth the cost, the RF 100 should load several primer fill tubes automatically so that you simply put a few hundred primers in, load 5-10 tubes, walk away and come back. Likewise, it would be nice if you could have about four full primer tubes and shields that would rotate has to new primer tube when you get down to just 2 or 3 primers in a tube and you could re-fill the tubes on the machine just like now. However, APs have enough problems with primer feed...

Also, the RF 100 I saw was pretty noisy.

I still don't know how you set off a feed tube of primers (since the primer being worked on is separated from the primer tube by at least an inch, and would rather not find out.

[Jeff Matzka]

Having not used a Dillon (or any progressive yet) couldnt you just fill like 10 tubes and have them ready then every 100 rnds, take a quick break, swap tubes and then you are off and running again?

+1. Been doing just that for years.

I wouldn't want more than a 100 or so primers in front of my face while loading.

be

Definitely gotta agree.

[Canuck223]

I set up my press to simply size/deprime, and primer pocket swage, and pre-process all my brass.

With brass that I know is now proven, I set up my press to pre-prime only.

I load up the primer magazine, and load up the magazine on the RF-100, then throw the switch on the autodrive. When the primer alarm goes off, I've got a fresh magazine ready to fill it. Then the magazine goes back into the RF-100 and another 100 primers is tossed in.

If you're OCD and you know it, wash your hands......

[rexican]

I only have five tubes, and the only complaint I have regarding refilling is about the packaging the darn primers come in. I like to pluck the primers right out of that plastic tray, then flip the ones facing the wrong direction onto a flip tray and continue. Can't do with the packages that ship primers sideways, and the CCI holes are a little tight. I contribute it to a desire for economy of motion(or sheer laziness)but I go with winchester primers sometimes just for that reason.

About the tray similar to the hand primer tool setup: I was using an RCBS hand primer about ten years ago on some assorted 45's. Somehow an old military steel case got in there, as my dad had just stepped away. Anyways, 80 large pistol primers went off at pretty much the same time. There was plastic shrapnel from that tray for about ten feet in every direction. Try explaining that one at the ER I wouldn't want that anywhere near the same height as my face, much less with 100 more of them

[Service Desk]

Several years ago an associate of mine who shall remain nameless (and almost faceless), developed an extended primer magazine for the RCBS Green Machine.

It was a spectacular piece of brass metal sculpture that held 250 primers and fed as smoothly as anything this side of silk, thanks mainly to the weighted piano-wire primer follower.

The re-engineered primer tube increased the reloading potential of the press immensely and as a result became a thing of great discussion on his part.

He continually ragged on my RL1050B because I had to stop every 100 primers and refill the primer tube.

One day he loaded Federal small primers into the chute and started cranking away, on about the 5th round there was a huge boom, a heavy cloud of thick acrid smoke formed and there was more brass in the air than a Mike Dillon machine gun video.

The follower was propelled up through the sheet rock ceiling, through 6" of insulation and the shingle roof - never to be seen again.

Shortly afterwards an ambulance arrived, gathered up the bleeding casualty and drove off at speed.

At that point in time, the ragging on my RL1050B stopped, my associate got the opportunity to make new friends at the emergency room, I got a new story for the wall of dumbness and the extended primer tube became a painful memory.

They only hold a hundred for a reason.... or so it would seem.

[addicted]

I just had my first primer "incident" after loading an unknown number of rounds over the past 5 or 6 years. I really didn't think that the whole stack would go off when they are separated by the disk on the 650. well, one got crushed when i went to seat it, it lit off the 6 or 8 in the disk, and then lit off the whole stack, shooting the plastic rod and a few primers into the ceiling. no fun.

Dillon of course is covering everything but my fruit of the looms. thats what the rep said when I called!