RF100, put it in the attic or send it back to Dillon

[Sarge]

11 hours ago, RangerTrace said:

they seem to be out of business.

Umberto is still making them

[DeepFried]

What does the PAL look like? Sounds like it’s ‘hand held’?

[Sarge]

12 minutes ago, Seoderus said:

What does the PAL look like? Sounds like it’s ‘hand held’?

Pistol grip style

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Sarge

[HOGRIDER]

56 minutes ago, Seoderus said:

What does the PAL look like? Sounds like it’s ‘hand held’?

This is an OLDER video showing the basic operation of the PAL Filler.  I think there have been upgrades since then; specifically there's no need to manually hold the Dillon primer tube during filling.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by HOGRIDER
sp

[Cuz]

definitely the PAL filler for the win.  I got mine a couple of years ago and it's been awesome.  Now I'm thinking I should get a second one "just in case", since I never want to go back to filling tubes any other way...

 

[RangerTrace]

3 hours ago, Sarge said:

Umberto is still making them

Maybe you could put together a group buy?  Maybe those are against the rules, I can't remember.

[Furrly]

I would go in on a group buy, wouldn't mind owning a 2nd one. 

Mines loads 100 primers in about 20 sec. 

[Furrly]

Here is a thread with Umberto email address 

 

 

[ltdmstr]

28 minutes ago, RangerTrace said:

Maybe you could put together a group buy?  Maybe those are against the rules, I can't remember.

 

I suggested a group buy for something else recently and one of the mods jumped in said they're not allowed.  No idea why.  

[Sarge]

50 minutes ago, ltdmstr said:

 

I suggested a group buy for something else recently and one of the mods jumped in said they're not allowed.  No idea why.  

Doesn’t list why but:

Advertising
The general forums are not for any advertising whatsoever.

"Group Buys" are not permitted on Brian's Forums. 

[RangerTrace]

6 hours ago, Sarge said:

Doesn’t list why but:

Advertising
The general forums are not for any advertising whatsoever.

"Group Buys" are not permitted on Brian's Forums. 

Thank you for helping me remember!!  

[Johnnymazz]

On 7/31/2023 at 1:52 PM, ltdmstr said:

The guy who makes the PAL filler is in Italy.  When I bought mine, I sent him an email and he wrote me back and I had it in a matter of weeks.  About a year later, I decided to buy a couple more, one for backup and one for a friend, and did it the same way with about the same delivery time.  That was probably 18 months ago.  Not sure what's up right now, but I'd try contacting Sarge or PAL directly (think his name is Umberto).  Another thing with the PAL is it runs on a small electric motor that you can get from amazon for a couple bucks.  So, works great, very easy to service, and likely to last a very long time if you just replace the little motor if/when it burns out.

Good info thanks bro. Ive been kicking this around for years since I shoot 20K of 9mm a year. I always steered clear of these products because of all the bad reviews, but this one seems like a winner. Thanks !

[oddjob]

I just bought a PAL filler about two months ago.  He's very responsive & quick.  Its a great primer filler..... I just loaded 10 primer tubes & watched a zombie movie!

[weldon20]

In April of this year(2023) I purchased 3 motors for the Pal filler from Umberto.  The cost with shipping was a bit less than 25 Euros and at the current exchange rate equals around $27.00.  Why try to save a few bucks if it is even possible by purchasing thru Amazon when you can buy directly from Umberto.  He is very responsive to emails and is very nice to deal with.  At the time he requested I use PayPal friends and family for payment.  The PAL filler is an awesome tool and unbelievably well built and machined.  It works well but for me it is not particularly fond of Winchester or Federal primers but works very well with CCI.  Seems to me the Federal and Winchester are not as round as the CCI.

 

Below is his contact information:

Umberto Pallavicino

umberto@umbertopallavicino.it

 

[ltdmstr]

No issues buying the motors direct.  Just that it's a generic item that costs a couple bucks and probably has next to no return for his time and effort.  So, I figured I'd just source them locally.  As for primers, I have no issues with Federal.  Winchester have gone down in quality big time in recent years.  Seems ever since they stopped plating the cups.  So, I avoid them.  I currently have CCI, Federal, Fiocchi, Magtech, and Remington, and all work just fine in the PAL.

[shred]

On 7/31/2023 at 9:40 PM, Sarge said:

Doesn’t list why but:

Advertising
The general forums are not for any advertising whatsoever.

"Group Buys" are not permitted on Brian's Forums. 

"Group Buys" are not allowed because they very often go sideways and then the bickering starts.  Way back when Brian didn't want that and the mods have never felt a need to change it.

 

[IVC]

I vote "Attic." 

 

RF 100 is finicky at best and the upside down primers are extremely frustrating no matter how rarely they happen. And they aren't that rare with my setup. Also, different primers feed differently because some are more uniform than the others and the "shiny sides" are more or less slick depending on brand. Worse, the recent batches of Winchester primers looked like they were manufactured by monkeys, with visible irregularities (they fire fine, though). 

 

The DAA feeders, both the collator and the "shaking table" are only good as concepts. It's cheap plastic that will keep jamming and that's even more frustrating than dealing with the RF 100. My favorite is when the primers get stuck in the funnel and won't drop into the tube, whether correctly oriented or not. And I had them try to pass through sideways. Not usable. 

 

Primers require either a fully professional setup that will have a working collator, or just pick them up manually in the tubes. The joy of *knowing* all primers are correctly oriented and *knowing* none of them are sideways, jammed or otherwise stuck is priceless. Shake a bit, flips the last few manually, pick them up quickly and be done. I have dozens of tubes so it's easy to devote some time to just primers and then not have to deal with them during reloading. 

 

And no more "squished yellow bug on a windshield bits" in the primer feeding bar on 1050, which would happen with other "solutions." Manual in this case is both fast and satisfying. But, YMMV, as in everything else... 

 

 

[ltdmstr]

2 hours ago, IVC said:

Primers require either a fully professional setup that will have a working collator, or just pick them up manually in the tubes.

 

I just loaded 6k rounds of .40 practice ammo.  All primer tubes were filled with a PAL filler and ammo loaded on a RL1050.  I had zero upside down primers and zero defective rounds.  It's not rocket science.

[IVC]

PAL is a type of manual pickup. None of the consumer-level "automated" systems I've tried ever worked reliably. 

[Tampa-XD45]

The PAL filler works great.  I ordered mine in January and had it in a week via FedEx.  It comes with a spare motor.

[Johnnymazz]

22 hours ago, IVC said:

I vote "Attic." 

 

RF 100 is finicky at best and the upside down primers are extremely frustrating no matter how rarely they happen. And they aren't that rare with my setup. Also, different primers feed differently because some are more uniform than the others and the "shiny sides" are more or less slick depending on brand. Worse, the recent batches of Winchester primers looked like they were manufactured by monkeys, with visible irregularities (they fire fine, though). 

 

The DAA feeders, both the collator and the "shaking table" are only good as concepts. It's cheap plastic that will keep jamming and that's even more frustrating than dealing with the RF 100. My favorite is when the primers get stuck in the funnel and won't drop into the tube, whether correctly oriented or not. And I had them try to pass through sideways. Not usable. 

 

Primers require either a fully professional setup that will have a working collator, or just pick them up manually in the tubes. The joy of *knowing* all primers are correctly oriented and *knowing* none of them are sideways, jammed or otherwise stuck is priceless. Shake a bit, flips the last few manually, pick them up quickly and be done. I have dozens of tubes so it's easy to devote some time to just primers and then not have to deal with them during reloading. 

 

And no more "squished yellow bug on a windshield bits" in the primer feeding bar on 1050, which would happen with other "solutions." Manual in this case is both fast and satisfying. But, YMMV, as in everything else... 

 

 

Thats funny I have a few tubes myself.  LOL

[RangerTrace]

19 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

 

I just loaded 6k rounds of .40 practice ammo.  All primer tubes were filled with a PAL filler and ammo loaded on a RL1050.  I had zero upside down primers and zero defective rounds.  It's not rocket science.

It's not.  But I agree tend to agree with IVC that pick-up tubes are a sure bet and it does give you more confidence knowing that all the primers are right side up.  I've only got 10 pick-up tubes, but I've gotten to where I only load in 500 round batches on a more frequent basis.  The thought of loading 6k at one time in nauseating.  I assume your setup is automated.....

[ltdmstr]

Just want to clarify, I'm loading on a manual press, so no way do I load that many rounds in one shot.  I typically fill 10 primer tubes with the PAL, then load the 1k rounds and call it a day.  So, maybe about a week to load 6k.  Also want to add that if I didn't have the PAL, I'd be back to manual pickup with the tubes vs. the Dillon or DAA. 

[RangerTrace]

8 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

Just want to clarify, I'm loading on a manual press, so no way do I load that many rounds in one shot.  I typically fill 10 primer tubes with the PAL, then load the 1k rounds and call it a day.  So, maybe about a week to load 6k.  Also want to add that if I didn't have the PAL, I'd be back to manual pickup with the tubes vs. the Dillon or DAA. 

My old routine, when I was using the Rf100 was to shoot until I could see the bottom of my ammo cans and then pick a weekend to load roughly 4k to feel up the ammo cans.  At the rate I shoot, it takes me months to shoot that much and I felt like I was having to learn the press all over again.  Now I load 2-3 times a month in short sessions and it seems to work much better.

[GrumpyOne]

If you are using Winchester primers, a trick you can do is take an empty primer tray, put it exactly over the top of a full primer tray, then turn upside down, holding the 2 of them together. Most of the primers will flip into the empty tray. Some will be sideways, but you can run your finger along them and finish flipping them. Then, take your primer flip tray and place on top of the now flipped primers, and holding the 2 together, flip again onto the primer flip tray. Remove the empty primer tray. Most of your primers will be flipped the correct way, in nice & neat rows, evenly spaced, very easy to pick up with the primer tubes.