DAA primer pro collator

[Rich406]

I had a chance today to use CCI primers instead of my usual Winchester. The difference is night and day. Loaded the tube twice as fast,  no stoppages and no need to clean. It’s too bad I have 90k Winchester still...

[Terp]

11 hours ago, Rich406 said:

I had a chance today to use CCI primers instead of my usual Winchester. The difference is night and day. Loaded the tube twice as fast,  no stoppages and no need to clean. It’s too bad I have 90k Winchester still...

 

Judging from the supply out there, that's a good problem to have, sir.

[zeroryde]

I just got the Primer Pro today from the Memorial day sale and like everyone else I'm having problems with Winchesters. They just don't seem to make it to the pocket but when they do...they slide down the ramp fine. I'll have to admit I just used 100 primers from a packet to test but after looking up problems and stumbling across this thread I see everyone else had problems with Winchesters as well.

 

I've seen so far pledge on the plastic timing disc or let it break in some more? To people just switching primers. Is there any other solutions I missed for this damn thing I just spent $200 on and the 15k Winchesters I have left lol.

[CharlieD]

Two things to try.

1) loosen the screws that hold the black plastic plate on the bowl.  Just loosen them a tiny bit, it creates just enough clearance for the primers to get through easier.

 

2) put at least 200 primers in the bowl.

 

I haven’t used Winchester primers, but everything else ran great, except federal until I did the above.  Now federal run just fine.

[slavex]

Winchester primers are pretty dirty primers and stick a lot. Hit the unit with Pledge or similar, and wipe it down, using a Q-tip to get into the pockets and down the ramp too

 

[BillChunn]

What type of Pledge is everyone using?  There are multiple types.  Lemon Enhancing polish, Multi-Surface floor cleaner, Pledge Dust & Allergen Multi-Surface cleaner..

 

Thanks,

BC

[erwos]

I have to say, the V2 plate is not working great for me with Federal primers. Loosening it up has helped somewhat, but I've been getting a few flipped primers once in a while. I have a bunch of CCIs I will be trying next, so maybe those will work better...

[jebova2301]

So, after spending countless hours fiddling with mine and not having any pledge on hand, I decided to kind of combine what DAA said and the pledge method, and sprayed all parts of the bowl assembly with food grade silicone, and tried it again. I am using Fiocchi primers. Before spraying, I would get maybe one or two primers to drop before the collator would time out, and that was after loosening the screws to the point that about half of the primers were flipped when they actually made it through. At first, I didn't have any luck after spraying with silicone, but then I grabbed a towel since I noticed there was some visible buildup of the silicone and wiped everything thoroughly with the towel(plain old bath towel). Since then, the collator is working MUCH better. If I keep 200 or so primers in the bowl, it will fill a tube in about 75-90 seconds and not getting any flipped primers. I am sure I could loosen the screws a bit and probably speed it up a hair more, but it works faster than I do with my Mark 7 Evo while I am loading .223 rounds. If you have any of the food grade silicone spray on hand, it may be worth trying on yours if you are getting excessively slow fill times.

[Intheshaw1]

Not sure if this works as I don't have the collator but this is what I use on my table saw and it works wonders.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Glidecote-V207501-Woodworking-Aerosol-Lubricant/dp/B07THDZB5N

 

It leaves the surface slick without any residue. Spray it on, wait a bit, and then wipe it off.

[Gviz]

So what’s the latest fix for CCI and federal small pistol primers with this thing? I’ve given up on Winchester’s. I still get 4-7 upside down primers. 
 

What combination of mods would work? I’ve been switching V1 and V2 plates and still have flipped primers. Trying to loosen and tighten the screws looking for that sweet spot. I also have a bunch of primers Left in the cup (About 15 primers) and the primers are not making it out of the collator.  this was with federal primers. On every tube it jams a couple of times before going into the shoot I have to power it down and rotate the drum to release the primer that was stuck at the mouth of the shoot. I’ve also experienced the whole thing pushing upwards and trying to fall apart right in front of me. I really want this thing to work but all I hear is click click click click and I’m waiting for this thing to feed the tube. I’m still babysitting this machine same as the RF100 it replaced.
 

I reloaded 4000rds of 9 major yesterday. while holding the power button of the DAA primer pro I shut it down when I see a flipped primer and flip it when it enters the tube. I need to tune this so it’s hands free...

[Boomstick303]

When I perform maintenance on my Primer Pro, I take it apart so all of the surface the primer touches can be cleaned. This includes the feed ramp. I clean it with simple green. Once clean I wipe it down with a good dose of Pledge. Once the pledge has dried I reassemble with the V2 plate and tighten it down with the original torx screws finger tight. I use a small socket set for disassembly so when I tighten the v2 plate down I only use the extension that is holding the bit as the tool to tighten the screws. Literally finger tight. I do not use a screw driver as I think it would tighten them too much. With CCI primers it fills the Tubes in under a minute with zero flipped primers to date once I employed this method.  Federal are next so I will see what happens when I load them up. I’m curious with the Federal primers  because the anvil seems higher on the Federals than the CCIs. 

 

It it would seem as of now the cleaning cycle is 5-7 thousand rounds. I have noted there is a tell when the Primer Pro is too dirty to operate efficiently. The primers do not tumble as well and seem to “Stick” to the bottom of the bowl. The bottom of the bowl becomes packed with primers. Once this happens you can see fill times increase drastically. I have found maintenance and screw tension on the plate to be the key for it to operate smoothly.  At least for CCIs. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Boomstick303

[Gviz]

Thanks for the info boom I’ll clean it and use the v2 and set it up exactly as you did to see what improvements I get. Cheers!

[erwos]

Needed to prime some 223 last night, so I decided to see how it worked with SRPs. I discovered that mine (v2 plate) seems to run VERY well with CCI small rifle primers. Shockingly so compared to how the Federal SPPs I was using didn't seem to want to leave the collator to hit the ramp nearly as much - had to load them with ~300 to have any chance of getting full tubes in a reasonable amount of time.

 

My sweet spot for tension is "finger tight, and then loosen half a turn". This seems to have eliminated flipped primers while at least giving the Federal primers a decent chance to hit the tube. If I notice things slowing down, I sometimes give the primers a quick swirl with a finger, which seems to get things moving again. Obviously, this isn't a useful strategy if you're trying to load while the DAAPP is doing its things.

 

I think DAA is close on the plate at this point, and I hope they're putting together some kind of V3 plate that resolves these issues.  I agree that using the public as your beta testers is a bit meh, but then again, I think it does work considerably better than most solutions.

 

Oh, and in case anyone is curious, the DAAPP does seem to work correctly with RCBS auto primer tubes, at least the older ones. (I use a bench mount auto primer because I like the feel it gives me and I don't prime on press quite yet). I pulled the wire off my ancient auto prime pickup tube, fitted the magnetic collar, and it seemed to just work. 

[Boomstick303]

Right now due to the availability of primers people will have to use different primers for high volume shooters and it is also going to be a chore to figure out the correct "torque" to use on the screws for the primer being used.I have not tried to load Federal Primers and it would seem that people have had to have less "torque" on the screws to get them to feed.  From a quick observation, it would seem the anvil on Federal Primers is a touch higher than CCIs.  I have not measure the primers but I intend to before I start loading the Federal Primers using the Primer Pro.

 

Something I see possibly becoming an issue in the future with the Primer Pros, is the wearing out of the plastic where the screws attach to the bowl (I believe they screw into the bowl) becoming wore out from constant maintenance cycles. As of now I have no complaints with the Primer Pro.  It beats the hell out of flip trays and even my Frankford Arsenal Vibra Primer loading tool.  I have not used any primers other than CCI, so that's probably why I have had good luck up to this date.  As with most things that are new there is a learning curve.  It prob ably should have had more bugs worked out before its release.  It will be interesting if any upgrades are made.  I imagine they will have to come up with a procedure for bowl assembly and possibly even primer specific plates.  

 

Has anyone tried using the V1 plate with Federal Primers?

[TONY BARONE]

Has anyone tried wiping parts with a clothes dryer sheet?

[erwos]

The good news is that the plates appear to be cheap and molded, so it's not going to kill DAA to replace them as required.

[hiflyer51]

I have used the Primer Pro for several months. At first I had 3k CCI primers and they loaded up fast - about 50 sec per tube.

After that I used about 4k Federal primers - no problem loading just slower than the CCI.

And lately due to availability I have used about 3k Winchester - again no problems except slower loading than CCI.

I did a couple hundred Remington the other day and they fed fine - slower than CCI , but seemed faster than Winchester.

I have not made any adjustments to the primer pro for different primers. I have wiped it clean a few times.

I have had 2 upside down primers out of all that I have loaded.

Usually I load the primer tubes when I am doing other things, so I isn't really a problem if they load slow. I generally start a reloading session with full magazine in the press and 5 primer tubes loaded.

 

[Sl8tr]

Ive had the Primer Pro for a while now and as mostly been trouble free. Lately however, some primers are dropping underneath the bin and are jamming the machine.

Anyone else have this problem?

[JDIllon]

After reading this topic and having owned one. The best decision I ever made was sending it back!! I did every one of those solutions at least twice and never could get it to work. They kept saying they have thousands that work fine. From what I can tell no one on this forum got one of the good ones! Just my .02 JD 

[slavex]

@jdillon there are numerous replies directly above you from people who got ones that work just fine. Mine works just fine. well over a quarter million primers run through it since I got it, cleaned it a few times now due to Winchester primers that I ran through it for a buddy, which meant I had to reapply Pledge, that's it. Those that couldn't get them to work are in the very small minority.  Was it annoying that some tinkering was required to work with some primers? Yes, did Saul address that? Yup, he did and he worked with people to solve their issues too. 

[Kema]

Magtech SPM or SP dont work with V2 or V1 plate, too many upside down primers. 

 

Cant get anything else cause of covid so thing is pretty much useless.

[JDIllon]

On 9/15/2020 at 12:53 AM, slavex said:

@jdillon there are numerous replies directly above you from people who got ones that work just fine. Mine works just fine. well over a quarter million primers run through it since I got it, cleaned it a few times now due to Winchester primers that I ran through it for a buddy, which meant I had to reapply Pledge, that's it. Those that couldn't get them to work are in the very small minority.  Was it annoying that some tinkering was required to work with some primers? Yes, did Saul address that? Yup, he did and he worked with people to solve their issues too. 

You are evidently reading a different post than I am. I’m 77 years old, and I am trying to reduce my day to day problems, not increase them.  Best to you and the 1000s that got the ones that work. JD 

[Rich406]

Had to switch back to Winchester primers today. What

 An exercise in frustration. 

[OptimiStick]

Man I must have gotten lucky. Winchesters work just fine in mine - no real difference from CCI and WSPs

 

Must be karma paying me back for the countless hours I've spent fiddling with the RF100, that most people don't seem to have issues with like I do.

 

 

[weeniewawa]

I just got one of these last week and I did the silicone in the box trick with some Winchesters which is what I was in the middle of using before I got the DAA and they worked OK. I then had some Wolfs that it didn't like very much but worked OK  with the silicone. I then had a few hundred Remingtons to use up and those were the absolute worse. It didn't really help using the silicone. I have another 1k of those and they may be trade bait with a friend or so. Next up was CCIs and those work perfect. Then I ran out of 40 S&W bullets. I am waiting on some 9mm brass then I will be back at it in a couple of weeks.