I have been reloading for a while, I use a single stage press and typically make small batches of ammo. As I have gotten older, I have noticed my hands don't like certain task anymore, lol.

I recently purchased a Lyman Case prep center. Man does this thing make a difference. Saves so much time prepping cases. I think its freaking sweet



Probably the worse now is priming my cases. I was using the older Lee autoprime hand primer. Overtime its has gotten where it won't completely set the primers and was a pain in the arse. I purchased this Lee Auto Bench priming tool. Got it yesterday and set it up on my bench. It works great. hardly any pressure needed to prime the casing. I primed 400 cases in less than 20mins. I will say that the primers can be finicky feeding but not hard to fix as you go. It has been great thus far. Safety concern according to the documents though, is to do a single primer at a time when using Federal primers due the potential of setting one off and detonating the entire tray of primers.

I used to prime on a Lee Turret press with the T shaped primer holder and you had to handle every primer. Never had one not go off so I think the contamination warning is sensible but over blown. I also prime on the Dillon Progressive and thats so much faster if I am setup for that caliber. I tried the RCBS hand primer and its hard on the hands I found. I bought the RCBS bench mounted tool and I really like it. Someone posted a ridiculous sale RCBS was having and I jumped on it. Since it uses standard shell holders that was a plus.

Those will work. I bought the RCBS case prep center several years ago, Like the lyman one you got much better.

I have the Frankford Arsenal version. I use an RCBS primer uniformer on mine in place of the useless "primer pocket cleaner" it came with. The uniformer cuts the pocket to dimension. I run crimped cases through the RCBS swage first then this cutter. I like the Frankford because it has a case trimmer too. I have it set up for 5.56X45mm because that's the only case I actually trim.

Tha Lee priming tool did not make it one day with me. It began damaging precious Fed 215-M and was not seating them into the brass.

The RCBS Bench mounted primer has now primed probably 5000 pieces of brass and works like it did new.

I bought that Lyman Case prep about 2 years ago. I love it. One of the best reloading tools I’ve bought. The latest Lee hand primer is total garbage. I have one it’s way too temperamental. I used it a few times and gave up. I bought a Frankford Arsenal hand primer and it’s worth it. The build quality compared to the Lee is a night and day.

I'm learning how it is when the hands become arthritic. I used to use the RCBS hand-priming tool but found that squeezing that thing three or four hundred times in an evening to seat primers was just a bit more than I wanted to deal with. I got the RCBS bench mounted priming setup and it's MUCH easier on the old hands. I was concerned about "feel" before I actually used it because of the vastly improved leverage, but in fact I can feel the primer bottoming out in the pocket much better with all that leverage.

Oh yeah...and these motorized case prep centers are a-okay too.

I now feel very fortunate that the Lyman Case Prep Center was in my initial batch of equipment when I started reloading. I think it's a must for any reloader's repertoire.

I like that Lyman case prep center. Congrats on the tool upgrade. I have the RCBS. It is a time saver and was a big upgrade for me. I like the looks of your Lyman better. I load on single stages as well. My favorite recent reloading tool upgrade is adding an auto prime on the Hornady single stage I load handgun ammo on. I bell cases on the down stroke and seat primers on the up stroke. I was skeptical when I put it on the press. The primer tubes took some getting used to. If it craps out I may change my mind but it is currently my favorite way to prime cases. I like shooting handguns and have primed several thousand cases with it now. So far it has not had a single hiccup.

Early on I listened to all the hype about you must use a hand priming tool to prime cases. You need to have a sensitive feel to properly seat the primers for accurate ammo. I bought several Lee's early hand primer, Lee's latest hand primer, couple of RCBS hand primer & Sinclair's hand primer. Eventually I bought the RCBS bench primer. One of the best pieces of reloading equipment I ever bought. Luckily, folks still believe that nonsense about hand primers & I was able to quickly sell-off all my old hand tools (with a profit I think?) for enough to pay for the RCBS desk unit!

I've been thinking about a prep-center but I still do things by hand or with a cordless drill. Just from this post, looks like Lyman is one of the best choices, although I don't look to Lyman first when adding reloading equipment (I've had my problems with Lyman's customer service in the past).

Good post.

I’m still using the hand primer seater. So far, no problem. 80 yoa.

I have an RCBS hand primer that was given to me along with a scale, a loading block, a Uni-Flow, and some other stuff when I started out reloading. It works well. If I am planning on a large batch then I will use it while I am watching TV, etc. I also use the old style on press primer feeder from Lee on my LCT (turret). Once you get the hang of it, it's fine. It uses the round trays. I have TWO spares I got cheap when I saw they were being redesigned because I read so much about how awful the redesigned Lee hand primer was. Figured they'd mess up the on-press version just as badly.

and dont look back

Same thing I use for prep and works awesome. I do all my priming on an AP press though, none of that hand stuff - I never much liked the idea of playing with explosives in my hand LOL... if I'm going to be screwing with primers and have one go pop and give me a heart attack, I'd rather it go pop in the press and not in my hand.

Buzz, where did you get the primer tool?

Buzz, is any of your stuff bolted down? You're the C clamp king.

When I had surgery in 2018 or so I had nothing to do and wasn't allowed to stand for long periods on time so I bolted some press equipment to a 2X6 and clamped it to my kitchen table.