Frankford Arsenal Vs. RCBS Hand Primer

Reloading is one of the most misunderstood topics in the gun community because most beginners, like me, get intimidated when thinking about all the technical aspects of it. The good news is that you don’t have to feel intimidated if you have the right equipment with the right explanation of how to use each tool. There are a few companies that make reloading easier and we’d like to highlight a couple of them because they make great tools for everyone to use. Today, we’ll discuss the top 2 selling hand primers, the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer, and the RCBS Hand Priming Tool.

What is a Hand Primer Tool?

Before we get into the best hand primers on the market, it’s important to understand what a hand primer is and what it does. to keep things as simple as possible, a hand primer is a tool that allows you to install your primers into your cleaned brass. One of the most important features of any hand primer is its ability to prime multiple calibers. The last thing you want to do is have 3-5 different primers, luckily the primers on this list are universal.

Platinum Series Perfect Seat Hand Primer

When installing primers in your cases it’s important to have versatility and uniformity because you want all of your primers to sit at the same depth in every case. There is no other hand priming tool that works like the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer. You can adjust the seating depth from 0.001 to 0.05 to ensure that your primers seat evenly and uniform with the casing. Making adjustments to the height of the priming ram is much easier with this tool because you can use your eyes to determine if the ram is too low or too high for the case you’re using. It works with at least 265 different calibers by switching back and forth between the large and small priming ram. There is no other tool on the market today that has the versatility of what Frankford Arsenal has out.

There are many features to like about this tool, but my favorite is the speed and safety of the tool when priming 100 rounds or more. The priming ram and the handle work together to ensure that no matter how hard you squeeze down, they will never over seat your primer in the priming pocket. Many other tools on the market can crush your primers if you squeeze too hard and ruin primers and/or priming pockets in the casing. As you squeeze the handle, if the handle stops and it feels like it’s stuck, don’t squeeze anymore.

When you feel the handle isn’t moving anymore, chances are the primer isn’t set correctly or you’re feeding multiple primers at a time. The best thing to do is flutter the handle a few times until you feel the pressure give in. You’ll never have to guess on the amount of force to use because you will never have to squeeze with all your might to get a primer in, if you do feel the need to squeeze that hard, you’re doing it wrong.

When I load my primers, especially when I’m doing hundreds of rounds, I can load 100 primers in less than 5 minutes. At the very beginning, it’s a slow process, but once you’re in a rhythm, you’re going to be able to save 30-45 minutes loading primers with the Perfect Seat Hand Primer. As far as the priming tray goes, it’s better than the RCBS and Hornady without question.

One thing to consider is that you never want to handle your primers with your hands because the oil on your skin can cause a primer not to seat as well or may not ignite. Luckily, Frankford Arsenal thought about this and created a tray with tiny bumps. These little bumps on the tray allow you to ensure that all of your primers are on the right side up by shaking the primers until they all land with the smooth side up. It accomplishes this by using the rigid side of the primers to agitate them until the bumps catch the primers and flip them. They won’t flip back to the wrong side because the smooth side of the primers will never catch the bumps.

What Does the Perfect Seat Hand Primer Come With?

1. 12 shell holders to cover almost every caliber that’s ever been made
2. Self-righting primer tray can hold at least 100 primers, depending on the caliber you’re trying to load
3. 3 extra posts to store your custom shell holders
4. Look-up table for all the calibers you can load

Why I Should Buy Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer?

Simply put, it’s the easiest hand primer to use, most versatile, and incredibly fast. Make sure when the primer traycase is on and you’re ready to load, you place your hand down, so the primers feed properly. Once you get a good rhythm, there is no hand primer that is easier, safer to use, and faster than the Frankford Perfect Seat Hand Primer. You might be able to spend $20 less on another product, but you’ll instantly regret the purchase once you start loading your primers.

RCBS Hand Priming Tool

The RCBS Hand Primer is the most popular hand priming tool on the market today. I believe it’s like one of those things where people tend to go with what’s familiar to them and RCBS has been out longer than the Frankford Arsenal hand primer. I really like the safety feature that separates the seating operation from the primer supply to ensure you don’t get any unnecessary friction in the tray, which can cause a primer detonation.

The RCBS Hand Primer is going to cost about $20-$30 less than the Frankford Arsenal Hand Primer, but for good reason (we’ll get into that below). My favorite thing about the RCBS is the price point. At $50, it’s an affordable tool that you can use if you don’t want to spend an extra $20 on a better product. As you watch the video below, you can tell that the RCBS hand primer isn’t very well designed and takes forever to put together and get working.

What Does the Perfect Seat Hand Primer Come With?

1. 2 Primer Rams (Labeled L=large, S=Small)
2. Large Primer Tray for well over 100 primers
3. Allen Wrench
4. Safety pin to go inside handle

RCBS Hand Priming Tool

at Brownells

VIEW DETAILS

Prices accurate at time of writing

Which Hand Primer is Better, Frankford Arsenal or RCBS?

There is no doubt in my mind that the better tool is the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat hand Primer. All you have to do is watch both videos of the setup to know and understand how easy it is to use the Frankford setup. I created a numbered list on why I think the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer is the better tool.

1. The RCBS Hand Primer doesn’t come with shell holders; you have to order those separately, which will cost well over the $20-$30 you’ll save on the original price.
2. The RCBS tool feels like you’re putting together an IKEA table with the screws and difficult priming ram setup. It doesn’t have an adjustment tool to change the depths of the primer, which basically eliminates any chance of adjusting your depth once you seat the primer.
3. The Frankford Arsenal hand primer will allow you to adjust the depth and prevent you from guessing the correct depth.
4. The handle itself on the RCBS is so stiff that you better be a professional arm wrestler or MMA fighter to insert the primer with one hand. You will almost always have to use your off-hand to ensure the primer is fully set in the case.
5. The Frankford Arsenal handle is silky smooth and as long as you follow the directions above, you’ll be able to seat your primers without ever having to use your off-hand.
6. It takes about 3 minutes to set up my Frankford Arsenal hand primer, whereas, it takes about 15 minutes to get the RCBS hand primer ready to go.
7. There are too many moving parts that require an Allen wrench to insert and tighten correctly in the RCBS.
8. Frankford Arsenal has all of their features built-in to the hand primer so you don’t have to worry about putting it together while watching Youtube and simultaneously looking at the manual.
9. The primer tray doesn’t sound like a big deal, but as you can see in the video above, the reviewer has trouble getting the primers to stay upright in the RCBS tray.
10. No one will ever have a problem with the priming tray for the Frankford Arsenal hand primer because it connects at the edges, not a hole in the center of the tray.
11. Frankford Arsenal hand primer comes with 12 distinct shell holders for different calibers, whereas, RCBS comes with 2.
12. I mean no disrespect, but the RCBS is not even on the same level as the Frankford Arsenal tool and will cause you more stress over time than it’s ever worth.

If you’re interested in learning about other related topics or gear, read our blogs below

• Step-By-Step Guide | Reloading Your Own Ammo
• Top 5 Must-Have Gun Range Products
• Top 5 Things to Buy for New Shooters

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