I’ve had mine for over a month now and loaded a couple hundred rounds on it. The seating depth is as consistent as your case rim thickness. If you have 1 case with a rim that is .0005 thicker than the case used to set the depth, the primer will be seated .0005 deeper. Good brass with consistent rim dimensions = consistent primer seating depth.
Somebody who actually understands "rim thickness" Good for you. I have a CPS that I developed some hardware for that keeps my primer seating depth consistent to witin .0005", no matter what the rim thickness. Very easy to do and I might make some simple plans/drawings for this for a small fee. No more sorting brass afterwards by primer seating depth.
A little bit about different brands and types of primers. Which ones to use, when and why. All CCI and Reminton primer, plus Winchester's small pistol are the safest to use in automatic priming tools. Federal burns hotter and cleaner, yet are according to the Richard Lee manual "one tough dragon to control in the automatic priming systems". Modern Reloading Second Edition Richard Lee Revised 2021, page 60: To find out why some brand primers explode violently, I talked to an expert, Dave Anderson, now retired from CCI. He told me primers are charged with one of two types of charging compound. One is called "basic" and the other is "normal." The primers that use "basic compound" must not be used in Lee Priming tools because an accidental discharge is very violent. The "normal compound" is less violent and causes little damage to the tool. The user is easily protected by safety glasses. Metallic Cartridge reloading, Robert S. L. Anderson, page 20: In the firearms industry there are two types of lead styphnate primer compounds - "normal" and "basic." There are presently four manufacturers of primers in the U.S., and all of them except one uses the normal lead styphnate primer compound. Federal is the only manufacturer that presently uses basic . The common ingredient to all small arms primers is lead styphnate of which there are several different varieties. Basically it is in crystalline form and is very explosive. Normal lead styphnate is composed of large irregular crystals, which are slightly acidic when wet, somewhat more brisant at lower temperatures (good for military use), and they burn with a cool flame at ambient temperatures. However, it is somewhat harder to get an even mix of components in normal lead styphnate primers because of the larger irregular crystals and the fact that the "mix" often requires some metallic fuels (such as powdered aluminum) to help make a magnum primer. Basic lead styphnate is composed of small regular crystals and unlike the normal mix is not as acidic and will not attack primer cups when wet. Basic lead styphnate is easier to mix than normal variety and there is no need to add metallic fuels. The basic primer flame is very hot and will easily ignite most powders and therefore Federal does not offer a magnum pistol primer. However this style primer is slightly less brisant at very low temperatures (- 20degrees F. to - 40 degrees F.) which would make normal primer more suitable for military purposes. Metallic Cartridge Reloading, All New Third Edition, M.L. McPherson, page 29: Certain brands of primers might be unsafe to use in some priming tools like Lee's AutoPrime because of the potential for mass detonation. With these tools, should an operator detonate one primer, as can happen when a handloader tries to seat one primer on top of another, the detonation subjects other primers in the tray to shock and an incandescent flash. If this shock and flash can detonate a second primer, there is the potential that most or all (perhaps 100 or more) primers in the tray might detonate en masse. Such a simultaneous detonation would be a disaster. Lee has tested all available primers and, excepting CCI and Winchester, all brands produce an unacceptable number of mass explosions when the primer being seated is forced to detonate (by heating in a remote explosion-proof box). By comparing Federal and CCI primers, we can gain some understanding why brands very in this regard. Federal primers do not have a foil covering over the primer pellet; an application of a type of paint replaces the foil. That sealant is easily ignited and highly flammable, possessing a very low kindling temperature. These are beneficial characteristics; among other things, they help reduce combustion residues. However, use of this pellet sealant makes these primers very easy to ignite. Exposure of the open front of the cup to the flash from an adjacent primer easily does the job! Conversely, CCI primers have a paper foil almost completely covering the front of the pellet. This foil deters pellet ignition because it is only moderately combustible and has a relatively high kindling temperature. A short duration flash from a primer is unlikely to ignite the foil or penetrate through it to ignite the pellet underneath.
For that price, not bad by the sounds of things, the general idea makes sense, and could certainly be an improvement over a lot of priming tools for those that don't like handling individual primers.
Now I’ll round out with a few horror stories - {these are not meant to scare you away from reloading but rather to encourage you to always follow all the safety precautions and heed the warnings in the manuals for a safe and long Handloading journey}. Any Shoot Will Do, The A-Square Handloading and Rifle Manual, page 16: Let’s start with guys who didn’t read the safety chapter. All of these are real incidents involving experienced reloaders. #1, A commercial handloader producing handgun cartridges in quantity used to begin his day by filling a coffee can with primers to pour into the machine. He would pull out each tray and, with a flick of the wrist, empty it into the can. One day he used too much flick: one primer went off, initiating a chain reaction that filled the air with shrapnel and cost him both his eyes." [a commercial reloader that thought about how many rounds he had loaded and never had a problem whereby he did not bother with safety or safety glasses, until one day he wished he had taken heed to the warnings, but it was too late by then.] The Complete Handloader, John Wootters, page 37: The Power of Primers Never under estimate the potency of priming compounds. ... a workman at a priming manufacturing facility was carrying a bucket of loose primers ... and the whole bucket detonated. ... they never found any part of the workman except his shoes. An acquaintance of mine had ... about a hundred rifle primers detonate in a plastic medicine vial in his left hand. He lost his hand and the sight in his left eye, and he underwent a series of operations for cosmetic repairs to his face, arm, and upper body, suffering a great deal of pain, a staggering financial setback, and the loss of part of his livelihood. He was a gunsmith. Primer Precautions Such tragedies illustrate the inherent explosive power of small-arms primers, but they can be avoided totally by understanding and adhering to a few simple precautions. The first is never store primers in any kind of container other than the original factory packaging. The second is go back and reread that last sentence several times. Do not keep live primers, however few, loose in any sort of miscellaneous container, and most especially not one made of glass. A fellow RU-vidr told a story of hand priming in his Lazyboy chair when one went off. They found the lid to the primer tray stuck in the ceiling above the chair. According to the story it had just missed his face. So be extra sure not to have it aimed at your face when hand priming with these tools. And safety glasses would be a very good idea as mentioned throughout all the reloading manual over and over again.
following basic safety precautions will ensure a lifetime of very low risk reloading. Safety glasses won't save you from carrying a bucket of live primers, but it will protect your precious vision in case of an accidental detonation during a priming op. Again, its something so easy to do, yet alot of us take it for granted that nothing weird will ever happen.
I have one of the original CPS Lite primer tools. At the time I bought it there was nothing like it and so much better than the hand primer tools I owned. I actually wore out my Lee seater and replaced it with another one that drove me nuts with primers flipping or turning sideways. I also tried Hornady's version it wasn't much better. I did some modifications to my Lite. I slotted the threaded push rod for a screwdriver and also made a knurled nut with a Delrin insert to make is self locking so I wouldn't have to tighten the split nut that was provided making depth adjustments easier. Even with that adjusting it is tedious but once set it doesn't change. I also made blank shell holders or anvils to go in my press instead of using standard ones that do the pushing on the rod. The Lee shell holders that go in the primer seater are a little sloppy I had one for .223 that wouldn't hold the shell in place. When I put pressure on the seater to seat a primer the brass would pop out of the tool. I found another Lee holder that was tighter and threw the other one away. This looks like a great unit has lots of features the Lite doesn't have and is priced conservatively. For a press mounted seater it's the way to go I would replace mine with one but I don't see it giving up any time soon. For a bench mount I would go with a CPS for high volume and convenience not tying up a single stage press.
thanks for your input sir, i accident misspoke in the video and meant to say cps lite (i said cps basic). I agree with everything you said, I think the folks here really hit a homerun with all the features and quality at this price point.
I honestly thought it was officially named the poorman's CPS. That is my bad, but honestly, I think the poorman's CPS has better marketing power behind it.
Wow thanks for the great review. VERY nice, simple and to the point video. Too often there is the unboxing, un-wrapping and time wasted reading instructions and such.
@@michaellinane212 well..... I did finally wrote a PDF instruction manual on our site. you can read if you choose to.But I guess you already hacked this device....
Carl is shipping me some of their new precision shellholders that i'd like to show off in the next video, I should have them in a few days. I will be directly comparing the seating depth precision it to the primal rights unit. Hoping to have a video up in the next 2 weeks.
So please forgive the ignorance but I have recently returned to reloading after a 30 year hiatus. Currently I am using my Dad's old Bonanza single stage press to reloading copious quantities of 9mm. Can you give me the name of your turret press and where I can find out more about it?
The co-ax press. It would do away with the progressive reloading of the Dillon. The 750 has a very good priming system as it is. Unless the are really into bench rest competition or extreme long range shooting a product such as this is not necessary and you would likely not see any advantage to using it.
it is from my primal rights unit!! i think they are rebranded tubes from double alpha. They are very nice tubes and fit quite nice in the pcps, not tight but not loose, they are much looser in the primal rights unit which is odd....
@@BenchrestBraxtonThanks! I assumed that, but then when I looked at their product (primal rights) the tubes were all silver. They are nice ones. Q: do you do anything with the three Allen head set screws on the micrometer? Mine are set down just to touch the inner sleeve and I haven’t done anything to them.
@@BenchrestBraxtonAlso, was just figuring out after talking to Carl, that for my Dillon primer pickup tubes anyway, I’ll need to remove the plastic “drop” end and drill a hole through the end for the little hitch key. Assume that’s the same for the DAA tubes…. He also confirmed that those Allen heads can be tightened down to lock the micrometer head, but that may be eliminated in future versions as it’s really less than necessary.
@@E.L.RipleyAtNostromo the ones that came with my primal rights already had all of that...not sure about the ones from DA. Yeah I didn't see a need to lock them down but good to know! thank you for sharing sir!
@@BenchrestBraxtonAfter getting the info from you I was looking at the DA ones yesterday, and they are basically upgraded versions of the regular Dillon tubes. I need some anyway so will pick some up just for the PCPS and make that one mod, should be easy. Glad I noticed yours! Thanks again. 🙏
This is really impressive. I have the very nice comparator set from Carl, and the Ugly Annealer on order. I saw this a couple of months ago and kind of discounted it. I still use an old and to my mind excellent RCBS 88507 hand primer, the one that uses the APS strips, but after buying all the strips and strip loader of course RCBS discontinued it a couple years ago. 🙄 So hoping it never breaks! I like how that gives me a hand feel for seating primers, but it’s certainly not as precise or adjustable as this. Until your video I had no idea it was so well machined, and for the work that is easily worth the asking price. My only question would be how you measure primer seating depth, using the precise adjustments on this? Love your press by the way, beautiful. Wish I could justify one, but have a Lee Classic cast for decapping, some resizing, etc. (and would use it for this) but have a co-ax for everything else. This is the 419 press? That ram alone screams precision. BTW, excellent quality clear video, and appreciate your low key presentation so definitely a new subscriber, thanks! 👍
the best way to spend a lot of money for tools you never need as thw are a loto of other tools on the market and much cheeper by doing exactly the sam job 😂.
Personally, I seat them firmly to the bottom of the primer pocket and do not worry about seating depth, as this can change according to rim thickness and primer pocket depth. All I care about is seating the primer firmly down at the bottom of the pocket as most all reloading manuals state. So with a tool like this I would simply set it so to be able to crush the primers, but stop by feel when the primers seat firmly at the bottom.
Somebody who actually understands "rim thickness" Good for you. I have a CPS that I developed some hardware for that keeps my primer seating depth consistent to witin .0005", no matter what the rim thickness. Very easy to do and I might make some simple plans/drawings for this for a small fee. No more sorting brass afterwards by primer seating depth.
@@dem1157 To solve the problem it is sufficient to implement a screwed system like that of the Sinclair manual primer seater instead of using a classic shellholder.
Thanks but I looked at that. What I have devised is using a pin gauge of the proper size for your neck ID that you insert in your neck and the system pushes down on the inside case head preventing any movement upwards of the case in the shellhoder.@@giorgiopetrini
looks promising BUT is it repeatable......can you seat some primers in uniformed primer pockets ad show us results, I tend to ignore comments like the gomerpile made
rust inhibitor, i reloaded off and on from 15-25 and all my old equipment would get rust/oxidation. when i invested $20k+ in my new reloading room and equipment I vowed to keep everything as pristine as possible. i also keep a consistent 68 degrees plus i run a dehumidifier at 40%. i've had this set up for almost 2 years now and not one speck of anything so far!