the lee hand loader that came with my kit is junk . what other brands do yall recommend ?

RCBS hand primer seater.

Used it for many years. But I swear the high end brass makers started making primer pockets tighter.

I went to an RCBS bench mount primer seater last year. I am very happy with it.

The older Lee primer was better than the newer ones. RCBS and Hornady are ok and I agree with Fireman on some brass these days. Guess if the primer pockets are tighter they will take longer to stretch out.

On the RCBS and Hornady hand primers use the corresponding brand shell holder or you might run into seating depth issues on the primers. Mot all shell holders are exactly the same and those are made for their shell holders.

The Lee used to be the one to have, the round tray…then they upgraded to the “square tray” it was a step backward…then this fold in half piece of [censored] is insane. I get pissed every time I use it.

I have so many things that are bench top I’ve fought that move but I know that’s where I’m headed.

RCBS Bench Mount. Mount it on a 8", 1"X4" piece of wood, then Use a C-Clamp to secure it to your bench

Topic is hand primer and I use RCBS. I would have gone Lee but the old design is better than the new one. Parts for the round Lee are discontinued.

I have the square Lee and am not very happy with it. My buddy has the Frankford Arsenal and I’ve used it a couple of times. Great unit compared to the Lee that I have.

https://www.frankfordarsenal.com/perfect-seat-hand-primer/110006.html

I have the Lyman EZ Prime. Works for me.

I still have the old style Lee hand primer, and use it on handgun rounds. I have an RCBS (not the universal one) for rifle brass.

I really like RCBS. Back in the 80’s, I bought a single use RCBS hand primer. Slow, but simple and worked great. After 35 years or so, it broke. I called RCBS and they had one left on a shelf in the warehouse, and they sent it to me for free. It broke. I called RCBS and they sent me the newest model for free.

I use a K&M hand seater, it uses the Lee auto prime shell holders and it seats the primers perfect every time with no distortion or marks of any kind. It takes a bit more time but it’s uniformity is too good to pass up.

I also have the RCBS hand primer and it can be fickle at times it does a decent job but nothing like the K&M

RCBS universal

Well you can use the old LEE Loader hand primer, pin and base to put the primer in, tap away.

If anybody has any parts for the old round Lee hand primer that they want to get rid of I would be interested in buying them.

My old round Lee finally broke. I bought the new Lee and it sucked beyond belief. I ended up buying a frankford arsenal hand primer and I love it. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1016958988?pid=582486

I use the hand tool from my Hornady one kit. I'm not good enough at shooting or reloading to know if this I need better. Works for me.

Btw, I also want a bench model I think. Mostly to save my hands. Priming is after brass prep so it seems like it would help.

RCBS bench. Since forever. Do not know if you load at the range.

Rcbs Universal

I have used two different RCBS hand primers.

- Model 90200 uses shell holders to keep the case and primer aligned. I had this one for a long time and it works great. I just replaced the large and small primer feeds - called RCBS and the parts were free.
- Model 90201 is the newer version. It is "universal" and doesn't use shell holders. It grips the shell at the case head similar to what the Forster Co-Ax Press does (just not as good). You have to push the case in pretty firmly and then if the primer and case are misaligned.... the case and primer come flying out of the handle. I could only prime a few cases at a time.... and ..... the tool arrived with parts missing (set screw, small primer plug and primer plug wrench). RCBS sent me the missing parts, no issues.

I'm sticking with the older model that uses shell holders.