Frankford Arsenal Vibra-tube Filler

[rtr]

Just got one recently, works great, much cheaper than the Dillon.

[Rico567]

Given my reloading volume, I never would have considered the Dillon unit, it's so expensive. The Vibra-Prime is exactly the correct unit for me. I pulled out the supplied metal tubes from the black (large primer) and white (small primer) adapters, and just use the Dillon tubes, which it fills in a fraction of the time that it takes using the (nearly unseviceable) Dillon giant metal plate primer flipper. Got it on sale from Midway for $27.95. What a great accessory!

[raz-0]

I bought one and a bunch of the FA tubes for it. Which work fine with my hornady LNL AP. Saves a hole bunch of time, and more importantly doesn't get my hand and wrist all wigging out from pushing on hundreds of teeny primers.

[HSMITH]

Since this floated back up........

Has anyone taken theirs apart yet? Mine is getting tired, feels/sounds/smells like it is time for a cleaning and brushes freshened up. Being a cheapskate I was thinking about taking it apart and cleaning the commutator up, then if there is enough meat left on the brushes I would clean them up. Anyone else cheap enough to do this yet?

NO complaints on the unit though, WAY over 100K primers went through it and for $24 I can't complain about the life of it at all.

[milanuk]

I got one of these a month or so ago... just kind of getting going with it. Seems to work fine with large rifle primers; having some issues w/ small rifle using the supplied small primer tube... occasionally have some primers hang up and jam in the tube. Flipping the whole assembly over, getting the primers above the jam back out in the tray w/o spilling them, then clearing the jam is a real peach, lemme tell ya.

Also having a much higher occurence of flipped primers... probably at least 10 out of the last 80 rounds. Most of them I caught... some before I seated the primer, some after, and I have four loaded rounds w/ backwards primers sitting on my bench awaiting disassembly.

Not sure where they are flipping over at... I'm watching carefully as the primers go down the side of the tray and fall into the tube on the VibraPrime... somewhere btwn there and when they come out on the primer arm on the 550 something is going haywire somehow. And yes, I'm using the end of the tray marked 'Small' and the appropriately sized tube adapter.

Any ideas?

[straightshooter1]

I have had mine since about the time they first were marketed. Found out that it works the best, for me at least, if I use the Dillon tubes, rather than the ones that come with it. I just stick the bottom of a Dillon tube up the chute on the bottom, wiggle it and it slips right in the correct spot, pull the trigger and the primers come out perfectly-no flipped ones. With the Dillon tubes and rifle primers, whether large or small, I can only get about 96-97 in the tube but that is absolutely the only drawback to this system that I have found. My tubes are probably 15-20 years old, so maybe Dillon makes them a bit longer now.

Bob

[Larry White]

The plastic tips on the tubes hold 2 primers(maybe 3 if they are not pushed all the way on. When I load a box of primers I just take 2 off the tray and set them aside.-----Larry

[HSMITH]

Bob and Larry, the new tubes have a blue tinted plastic tip that fits the end of the tube. It basically gets you another quarter inch of tube length. The tubes set up like this will hold 102-103 primers.

I still have some of the old ones that take the hitch pin in the aluminum tube itself and getting 100 in them has them FULL.

[XD Niner]

I have one of these. It is definitely a great investment. You can fill a primer tube in under a minute including putting the primers into the tray once you use it a few times.

[straightshooter1]

Thanks HSMITH-maybe I'll pick up a couple of the newer ones. Mine are the really old style with the pin in the shaft.

Bob

[Merlin Orr]

Just get the blue tips from Dillon and add them to your old tube/shafts....

[straightshooter1]

Thanks Merlin, I just ordered some stuff from Brian, but I'll do it next time I need something.

Bob

[boo radley]

Threw one of these Vibraprime units in the online shopping cart last time at MidwayUSA.

After almost two years of "pecking" the difference is amazing.

Edited December 28, 2006 by boo radley

[Flexmoney]

I got one back in August. Not perfect, but sooo much better. Love it.

[Chris Keen]

It takes some time to get the hang of it. I've been using mine for over a year and I still have a few hang-ups with it. It seems to work better with Federal small RIFLES than it does with the small PISTOLS. I think the rifles are taller than the pistols are. But once you get used to it, and get an appropriate number of tubes to fill up, it's the cats meow.

I fill up about 8 tubes (all I have) and then I can load for hours before needing to fill more tubes. I cant really imagin going back to picking up primers 1 at a time. :o

[XD Niner]

I found that pulling off the plastic adapters actually results in better performance. I just put the upper end of the tube into the opening and hold it there with my left hand. I can then adjust it to allow a smooth flow of primers. When I used the adapters, I often had blockages occur.

I rated this at five stars. Given its low price and the huge amount of time and tedium that it saves, it is a steal.

[Flexmoney]

I do the same. I hold my tubes in there.

[9MX]

i stopped using mine because of blockage and inverted primers. but with your work arounds, i think i'll use it again.

[XD Niner]

I do the same. I hold my tubes in there.

Wow Flex! The nuns I had in grade school told me I would get hairy palms if I did that.

[dfwmiket]

Love mine.

[warpspeed]

I really like it. It has taken some fiddling to prevent the upside down ones but I'll trade teh 1 in 500 upside down primer for the time saved.

[Flexmoney]

I do the same. I hold my tubes in there.

Wow Flex! The nuns I had in grade school told me I would get hairy palms if I did that.

Heck..what do they know. (That is why they call them "nuns", right?)

[yoshidaex]

I use it with the adaptors and it works fine till i get some of those stuck primers. i'll have to try the no adaptor technique. But overall i think its a cheap, good alternative to the RF-100.

[RePete]

how much work to change from large to small primers????? Thanks,Randy

Taking my time, about 4-5 mins.

I remember seeing an ad for the VibraPrime about 20 years ago.

RePete.

[DarthMuffin]

I thought I'd mention that the tubes fit the newer Hornady LNL AP just fine. This thing is such a time saver, I love it. I had to bevel the edges of the feed hole just slightly to get it to feed smoothly--10 seconds work with some sand paper. Since then it's been great.