GregJ Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 (edited) I wanted to come up with extra primer tubes for my V/P, that I could load up and have ready and waiting for me. After research here and other boards, here are the dimension of the Hornady primer tubes. McMaster-Carr have these alum pipes in 3' and 6' lengths. Small Primer tube = .183 ID x 5/16" OD Part #89965K18 (New p/n 89965K461)Large Primer tube = .215 ID x 5/16" OD Part #89965K472 (New p/n 89965K472) Here is a pic of 4 tubes I made from the two 3' pipes I ordered from McMaster-Carr. I had a 5th tube laying around, so I made a stand out of a piece of oak for 5 tubes. If anyone is interested in doing this, make sure you use the dimensions of the Hornady primer tubes. The black tape around the top is electric tape which acts as a spacer in the V/P. The tubes work perfectly in the V/P !!! Just make sure the top of the tube fits into the recess on the primer tray, and you're good to go. In fact, the primers seem to feed better now than with the V/P tube with the black adapter. Edited March 3, 2014 by GregJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alecmc Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 nice! i'll be sure to check into this. what length tube did you wind up going with to get the most out of your cuts? I'm not home now - what are the lengths of the VP tubes ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 I have done the same thing, made 12 tubes from 4 3' sections. I did add the blue Dillon tips (and clip) which better allow a full 100 small primers to fit in the tube. Also, I didn't use the black electrical tape, I have the black plastic fitting that is on the standard FA tube installed on the filler all the time (which also holds the lower tray in place) so I just slide the tube into the black fitting (it is a friction fit). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester121 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Very slick, indeed. I'd been considering buying a bunch of spare primer pickup tubes and trashing the tips off them to use for staging a few hundred primers, but this is way better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 I have done the same thing, made 12 tubes from 4 3' sections. I did add the blue Dillon tips (and clip) which better allow a full 100 small primers to fit in the tube. Also, I didn't use the black electrical tape, I have the black plastic fitting that is on the standard FA tube installed on the filler all the time (which also holds the lower tray in place) so I just slide the tube into the black fitting (it is a friction fit). Interesting. I was hesitant on sacrificing the standard V/P tube in case things didnt work. Will have to look at it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 I have done the same thing, made 12 tubes from 4 3' sections. I did add the blue Dillon tips (and clip) which better allow a full 100 small primers to fit in the tube. Also, I didn't use the black electrical tape, I have the black plastic fitting that is on the standard FA tube installed on the filler all the time (which also holds the lower tray in place) so I just slide the tube into the black fitting (it is a friction fit). Interesting. I was hesitant on sacrificing the standard V/P tube in case things didnt work. Will have to look at it again. Or, you could do what I did, called Frankford Arsenal and asked nicely and they sent me one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrayfk05 Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 Hmm, I just upend the Frankford tube into the primer pickup tubes. Never even thought about your solution, but than again, I'm a lazy type of guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 I have done the same thing, made 12 tubes from 4 3' sections. I did add the blue Dillon tips (and clip) which better allow a full 100 small primers to fit in the tube. Also, I didn't use the black electrical tape, I have the black plastic fitting that is on the standard FA tube installed on the filler all the time (which also holds the lower tray in place) so I just slide the tube into the black fitting (it is a friction fit). Interesting. I was hesitant on sacrificing the standard V/P tube in case things didnt work. Will have to look at it again. I did find that the V/P tube and adapter will separate pretty easily. I like using the spacer much better than the tape. Thanks for the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 (edited) Grainger also carries this tubing, but only available in 6ft sections. Cheaper to pick it up at Grainger than ship it if you have one close. Small primer tube is Grainger part # 4NTD3 Based on my modified Hornady (to work with PalFiller), 12.5 inches looks to be the shortest bet, if you're using clips through the tube. If you have caps of some sort (like Dillons), you could probably get away with 12 inches OAL. Dillons tube is 12 inches. 100 Remingon SP Mag primers barely stick out the end of the Dillon tube if you have the yellow cap off of the tube. Federal Small Pistol fit with room to spare. Edited March 3, 2014 by DWFAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 The Hornady primer tubes (my only reference) are 14 1/4" OAL not including the plastic tip. The pin is 11/16" from the end. With 100 CCI LP primers, they take up 11 14/16" of the tube (from the pin), leaving 1 11/16" of empty tube at the top. Assuming the same distance from the tube end to the pin, the tube with 100 LP primers would be about 12 5/8" long, leaving the primers even with the end of the tube. I want more empty tube at the end, so when I make the next batch, they will be 14" OAL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) Grainger also carries this tubing, but only available in 6ft sections. Cheaper to pick it up at Grainger than ship it if you have one close. Small primer tube is Grainger part # 4NTD3 Based on my modified Hornady (to work with PalFiller), 12.5 inches looks to be the shortest bet, if you're using clips through the tube. If you have caps of some sort (like Dillons), you could probably get away with 12 inches OAL. Dillons tube is 12 inches. 100 Remingon SP Mag primers barely stick out the end of the Dillon tube if you have the yellow cap off of the tube. Federal Small Pistol fit with room to spare. Zorro tools sells the same tubing for $12.97 per 6 ft and ships for free if you spend $25! I've got 12ft coming and it was less than buying 4 new tubes from Dillon. Now I just need to find the blue tips Dillon uses and I'm set. Or I guess I could just drill a hole in the tubing and put the cotter pin through the tube itself instead of using the blue tips. * Edited to add link for you guys if you are looking for the tubing http://www.zoro.com/i/G1875553/ Edited July 16, 2014 by Vanniek71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) I drilled a hole in the end and stick a paper clip through. I don't use the Dillon plastic caps. Edited July 16, 2014 by DWFAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 That's probably the easiest and cheapest version of what I'm doing lol I've got 12ft of the tubing that Dillon uses for the tubes on the way and I was gonna cap it. Guess I could just drill holes and save some $$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Yep, pretty easy. Nice find on the $13 tube. I currently have 11 or 12 tubes, but f I need to pre-load 2000+ primers, I know where to look to save even more.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 My google-fu scored it for me lol, I found it by accident actually ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonman16 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 I may just have to make up some with that new tube place to order from. THANKS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 No problem, for $25ish dollars shipped for 12ft of tube I figure why not! And if I want to get fancy I can order the tips from Dillon. I'll probably just go the cheap route and drill a hole and pick up some cheap pins from Home Depot and save even more cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDA Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 No problem, for $25ish dollars shipped for 12ft of tube I figure why not! And if I want to get fancy I can order the tips from Dillon. I'll probably just go the cheap route and drill a hole and pick up some cheap pins from Home Depot and save even more cash. I did the same thing, I cut my tube into 12" lengths (just like the Dillon tubes) drilled a hole, added the clip and then slipped it into the black adapter of my FA Vibra Prime. What I found out is that 100 small primers no longer fit in my tube. Why? Because my overall tube length was too short without the blue tip versus the hole drilled in the tube. So, I bought the blue tips to allow each 12" tube to hold 100 and proceeded to not bother drilling my other 11 12" tubes. Moral of the story, either add the blue tips or cut the tubes to a length longer than 12" so that the full 100 primers fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanniek71 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 No problem, for $25ish dollars shipped for 12ft of tube I figure why not! And if I want to get fancy I can order the tips from Dillon. I'll probably just go the cheap route and drill a hole and pick up some cheap pins from Home Depot and save even more cash. I did the same thing, I cut my tube into 12" lengths (just like the Dillon tubes) drilled a hole, added the clip and then slipped it into the black adapter of my FA Vibra Prime. What I found out is that 100 small primers no longer fit in my tube. Why? Because my overall tube length was too short without the blue tip versus the hole drilled in the tube. So, I bought the blue tips to allow each 12" tube to hold 100 and proceeded to not bother drilling my other 11 12" tubes. Moral of the story, either add the blue tips or cut the tubes to a length longer than 12" so that the full 100 primers fit. Yeah I saw that when I re purposed the VP tube, so I stuck a Dillon tip on it and it was fine. I will cut my tubing to 12 1/4" - 12 1/2" to allow a little extra room if I don't use the Dillon tips and I should be good to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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