I'm looking to upgrade from my press priming setup. I'm open to any suggestions. Thoughts on bench primer vs hand primer?

So far I've looked at

RCBS bench prime
21st century hand prime and the version with lee auto prime tray
K&m Primer
Sinclair
Bald Eagle Priming press

I use the Lee hand priming tool that I purchased before current styles. Have served me well.

I have tried several and the older Lee one is my favorite hand primer. Hornady was seating primers too deep with the required hornady shell holders, RCBS was ok, the new Universal RCBS works quite well and might become my new favorite when the Lee wears out.

For a bench primer the Forster one is very good IMO

The 21st Century with the tray would be a good choice if it was the older tray. I have a half dozen of the older Lee's as the new ones seem to have issues with the trays or at least the one I bought did.
I also use the RCBS bench primer a lot too. Primed 200 rounds of 284 Win this morning on it and it works fine.

I'm still using Lee hand primer when using single stage presses. Been doing that since 73-74.... Certainly there may be better but I like my system.

It depends on your loading style and volume. I load single stage and mostly for centerfire bolt guns. I have both the Hornady and RCBS hand primers and like them both about the same. Both give good feel when the primer bottoms out. That is what I like for my rifle stuff. It is not high volume. I usually load 50 round batches. For pistol ammo and higher volume without the meticulous case prep, I use an auto primer on the press and prime at the same time I bell the case mouth.

My main one is the RCBS Universal. It works very good. The tray feeds VERY good. It did take a little break-in time with the "jaws" which holds the shell rim.

I also still use the press primer

My hands are arthritic old and priming hurts. I'm thinking of going to a "portable" bench press. I think the extra leverage will help me.

Been using the RCBS hand priming tool for ages, works well that I never decided to experiment with another. You can feel the primer bottoms out in the case.

The primal rights is the one I'd have if I had room for a traditional press in addition to the co-ax. The Bald Eagle bench mount looks really good by bullets.com

I use a Lee AutoPrime...it is one of the very few Lee pieces I own. I recently bought a new one with the white plastic fold in half tray. I don't like it as well as the square black tray with clear top.

Same here.

The Bald Eagle looks really nice Judd. I could C-Clamp it to my bench. Expensive critter though

RCBS bench mount is wat I use and like a lot better than the Lee hand held I used for yeas. The bald eagle is sweet just don't like the load one primer at a time. The primal rights is sick but for $600+ I'm out.

I also have the Primal Rights very nice piece of equipment.

It's beyond ridiculous. The guy who developed it is a genuine horse's a$$ and a total egomaniac. You don't need the world's finest steel to make an effective hammer, and I don't believe you could ever prove any advantage to using his Rube Goldberg priming machine. A Lee AutoPrime does just as good a job if operated correctly.

For single stage precision reloading, first uniform all primer pockets with Sinclair's primer pocket tool then prime with RCBS's Ram Priming unit set to a precise stop. It doesn't get any better than this.

Mine is the CPS Lite didn't cost nearly that much. I have also used a friends RCBS that's modified by Holland shooting Supply to measure seating depth.

I have the RCBS hand primer that comes with the Rockchuker kit. Has worked without a flaw for me.

I use the old Lee Auto Prime 2 press mounted system to prime my single stage cases. It allows you to adjust the seating depth of the primer, and it provides a constant amount of pressure to keep a consistent primer depth. You also get the leverage of the press for mechanical advantage. It also has a gravity feed trough that feeds the primers in. And, it uses regular RCBS and Hornady shell holders. I prime way too many cases to use a hand primer system.

I like the idea of the Primal Rights system. I will be looking into this one. I don't like how it uses the flat Lee style shell holders, since I can not get some calibers in these shell holders. The Bald Eagle one looks good, but forget loading 1 primer at a time.

A little about primer depth- you want your primer to be seated .002"-.008" deep, below flush, per ATK technical specs. The sweet spot is .003"-.004" deep. I go for this sweet spot when seating primers. I had some issues with some hang fires and primers not going off on some brass that had too deep of primer pocket on the brass. I made some calls about this, and got some good info of technical specs for primers.

Thanks for the recommendations.

I like the looks of the 21st century hand primer, but really not too sure I want to single load primers by hand and have heard mixed reviews on the lee folding primer tray. I'm wanting this for my precision rifle /hunting stuff, may load 100 or so at a time. For pistol I'll continue to use the priming system on my press.

NO WAY I"m paying $600 for the primal rights! I would be willing to swing the bald eagle unit, but again I'm back to single priming.

I prefer the Lee auto prime, it gives a better feel for loose primer pockets than priming on a single stage press.
Just my personal preference.

It's hard to beat the freedom a hand priming tool gives you. Especially since my reloading room is detached from the house. You can sit out on the porch or on the couch and prime cases.

I usually load 200 rounds at a time.

I have used hand primers a good bit but my hands start to hurt after a while.

I have started using the on press safety primer on my LEE press.
Punch out old primer and full length size on way up, prime on way down.
The press lever has nice feel so you can sense a loose primer or deformed pocket easily.

Think I'll go with the Forrester Co-ax primer system, mounted to a hunk of 2X4 for portability.

watch them all on YouTube. Forrester looks like a good one.