"Poorman's" PCPS set up and overview (part 1) 

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.

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.

Good effort for 1st video. Excellent audio & narration which is an Achilles heel for most reloader early efforts.

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.

Got mine this week as well. Pretty impressed so far!

Great first video. Keep tu coming.

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.

Poor man’s was just a joke. Let’s try to call it precision competition primer seater instead…. 😂😂😂 glad you like the little jewelry we made. 😅

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.

Interested in seeing the next video on repeatability.

Would be great if they made an adapter to use on the Nexus press.

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?

Good video. Although I was looking forward to a demo showing how product works.

Question for everyone. What press would work best for this?... All I have is a Dillon 750 and Co-Ax. Appreciate your feedback.

I've got one and really like it...

Sorry, should have watched closer the first time, what primer tube are you using there? The red one? Very cool. Thanks for any info!

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 😂.

How much does the primer seating depth matter? Do you have to do some testing to find the optimal one?

Unfortunately due to how it is made, being the perfect copy, it has the same problem as Primal Rights. It is rim thickness dependent.

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

Why do you have gloves on?

Got mine yesterday also