Any one use the Rock chuckar for priming their shells?

[grubbylabs]

I am trying to spend my money only where I have to, so I am wondering what kind of luck any one has had using the press to put the primers in? It is an older RCBS rock chucker. Any tips or thoughts on it?

 

[plainsman456]

When i first started, i used the press to prime.I now use a lee auto prime.

 

[Tim R]

Plainsman hit right on the head. I first tried to use my RCBS press to prime with and I didn't like the results. I tried the Lee hand held auto prime and have not looked back. It is the only Lee product I use. Down side is you have to have a shell holder made for the Auto prime. But for less than $20.00 bucks you have the Auto Prime and the shell holder you need. If you lube the auto prime per instructions they will last a really long time. I have one set up for large primers and one set up for small primers. This way if I do manage to break one I have a spare on hand. The main benefit to using a Lee Auto prime is the fact you can feel the primer seat.

 

[Shorthair]

I have always used the Rock Chucker primer, and in the 20 or so years I've been doing so have never, not one time, had any reason to try anything else. I reload .22-250, 6.5x55, 7mm-08, 30-06, 7mm Mag, .35 Whelan with it and do not intend to buy another piece of equipment to do this task, as I don't feel the time or feel is compromised at all. And my reloads always produce excellent accuracy once my development work has been done. Many of my loads are legitimate one-hole shooters at 100 yards, all but the .35 are consistent sub-MOA shooters.
Others may disagree, but I'm very happy with this process as it is.

 

[rrp]

You can use the press primer attachment. It will work just fine. When you get to load in higher volume, you may want to switch to one of the hand primers. Just make sure you're hands are clean, so you don't contaminate the primers. I personally have never had a primer, not fire, but have heard that it can happen from handling them. Good luck and enjoy reloading.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Grubby,

I bought my Rockchucker about 50 years ago, and the auto feed primer system on it was a great feature for its time. I did all my priming on the Rockchucker for about 20 years, and then I discovered the Lee Auto Prime hand tool. I have never been fond of Lee products, and while the Lee Auto Prime hand tool is typical of Lee's product quality, the fact is I found the Lee Auto Prime to be much easier and faster to use than my RCBS auto primer system.

A couple of years later, RCBS came out with their first hand primer tool. Compared to the chintzy Lee tool, the RCBS tool is built like a tank and made to last forever. While admitting my bias and prejudice for RCBS and Lee products, I have to clearly state that I prefer to use the chintzy Lee Auto Prime hand tool rather than the RCBS tool. The RCBS hand tool is far more complicated to change from one primer size to another and to change from one shell holder to another. The Lee is a breeze to change primer size and shell holders.

Once both hand tools are loaded, I would say the RCBS may be a little easier on the thumb in use, but I still use it rather than fussing with the RCBS tool. Like Tim mentioned, the Lee tool uses special Lee shell holders, but I bought an 11 pack which covered all the many calibers I load.

So, can you prime your cases on RCBS Rockchuckers and RCBS Juniors equipped with their auto prime systems? Absolutely. The RCBS primer system was great when introduced 50 years ago. In my opinion, however, the Lee Auto Prime tool is much easier and faster to use than the press mounted system.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[the_right_reverend]

I used the the press primer auto primer thing about 30 years ago and found it to be a hassle and wasn't satisfied withe the result.

used the lee hand primer a bit and wasn't happy with it either of course they may have improved the system over the one of the early 80's

I finally got off the $30 and invested in the RCBS bench mount auto primer and haven't looked back since

 

[jepp2]

RCBS Auto Prime

+1 on the RCBS Auto Prime tool:

https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainServlet?storeId=webconnect&catalogId=webconnect&langId=en_US&action=ProductDisplay&screenlabel=index&productId=2886&route=C06J030

I have used the Lee hand priming tool, but was always slightly nervous about the tray of primers detonating in case the one being seated went off. To me the RCBS tool does the best job on any I have tried.

 

[greco]

I always used the RCBS or Lee. This week I had to load some .375H&H. I didn't have the parts to put in the hand primers so I used the press. It worked OK, but I'm glad I only had to do a few rounds. In large numbers, it could drive you bonkers.

 

[longranger]

I too used the the priming system on my Rock Chucker press for over 30 years and finally went to a RCBS(universal) hand primer. I still use the priming system on the R.C. for 40-70 Sharps Straight,very tight primer pockets as the brass is custom made from billet brass.I was going to break the hand primer in using it for the 40-70 SS.The R.C. priming system gives me the leverage to seat the primer perfectly.

 

[BigJimP]

I used to use the Rockchucker to prime everything - 40 yrs ago .... but not anymore ... Its way too time consuming ...but I thought the results were ok / so I don't think there is anything wrong with using it.

I long since moved onto progressive presses for handgun ammo especially - or anything I want to reload in any kind of volume ..

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Rock chuckar?

Mine did fine until the cat ate him.


My apologies. I couldn't resist.

I used to prime on press, and still have a Lee "prime on press" attachment for small batches. Mostly I use an RCBS hand priming tool, a vast improvement in speed and comfort.

 

[uncyboo]

I used my Rock Chukker to seat primers for about the first 100 rounds, found it way too aggrevating, and bought a Lee priming tool for about 9 bucks back in 1983 or 4. Still using that tool for every load I've loaded since. I think they are still pretty cheap even today.

 

[87mustang]

I used my press to prime the first batch of shells I loaded then became wise and bought the rcbs hand priming tool. I would never use a press to prime again

 

[Bamashooter]

I use mine becouse its there and i dont see a need to go buy anything else. I never get in a hurry anyway. Going down and working on my reloads is my way to get away for a while, so i dont mind the time it takes

 

[Sigman40]

I use the RCBS hand primer. It is much faster than the press set up. It's great for doing large quantities of pistol brass.

 

[FrankenMauser]

I have primed -maybe- 20 cases with a press-mounted priming arm (single stage only, progressives are a different story).

From the day I started reloading as a wee lad, to the day I bought my own press; I used my dad's or brother's Lee AutoPrime. When I bought my press, I bought the RCBS RCII kit, which comes with the RCBS Hand Prime.

I absolutely hate handling primers with my fingers, so press mounted systems (other than, maybe, APS strips) won't work for me.

If you're considering a hand priming tool-
The Lee AutoPrime seems to be suffering from lower quality standards, the last 15-20 years, so I don't know that I would buy one.

The RCBS Hand Prime is poorly engineered, and can jam itself while doing a primer size change, or shell holder change. I wouldn't recommend it. The RCBS Universal Hand Prime is far superior, and doesn't require shell holders.

 

[Kawabuggy]

I normally prime using the RCBS hand primer, but on occasion if I am just working with a couple pieces of brass I'll use the primer arm on the press. Just 2 days ago, I was priming a single case, and the primer pin snapped off the little arm that lets it swivel out of the way. A quick call to RCBS with my dilemma and they have 2-yes, that's TWO new primer set-ups coming to get me fixed up. Can't complain about their customer service because it's top notch!

This is the first, and hopefully only, problem I have had with my RCBS RockChucker Master/Supreme reloading kit.

 

[rikasam]

I use the press itself to load if I'm loading only a box or so. I put enough primers in my flipper tray and use tweezers to set the primer in the arm. I use the rcbs hand tool for larger qtys.

 

[kgpcr]

I have used a Lee auto prime for years. its fast and works great! Cheap too