Outstanding Primer Seating Tool from 21st Century Shooting
The tool-makers at 21st Century Shooting have come up with a very slick new Precision Hand-Priming Tool. This extremely well-made, benchrest-grade unit raises the bar among single-primer seating tools. Feel is great, changing shell-holders is simple, and nothing else on the market offers better control over primer seating depth. The tool’s precision-adjusting head provides clicks in .0025″ increments for precise seating depth. The tool’s body, internals, and shell-holders are stainless, while the handle is anodized aluminum. Price is $118.00 for the tool itself. Shell-holders (sizes from 17 Remington up to .338 Lapua Magnum) cost $7.99 each.
21st Century Priming Tool Review
By Boyd Allen
I have been priming cases, with various hand-priming tools, for about three decades, and in the process have pretty much tried them all, from least to most expensive. When I found out that this new 21st Century tool was adjustable for seating depth, I wondered about that. After all, what do I, who believes in seating by feel, need with adjustable seating depth? Well…..I was wrong. Let me explain.
Why Adjustment for Primer Seating Depth Is Important
Most hand-seating tools do not have an adjustment for how far up the priming punch comes up into the shell holder. As a result, when priming a case with a deep pocket, especially if there has been some wear of the tool’s linkage, the finger/thumb lever may contact the tool’s body before the primer is fully seated. Having a primer seated too high can cause a myriad of problems. Prior to this, the only seater that I had used that had an adjustable linkage was the Sinclair tool, and adjusting its linkage requires disassembly — regular disassembly if you want to keep it perfect. That’s not convenient. The Sinclair is good tool, but a pain in the neck to adjust.
Precision Control Over Seating Depth — With Click Adjustment
The 21st Century Priming Tool offers quick and easy depth adjustment (unlike its rival from Sinclair). The 21st Century unit can be adjusted in precise increments (.0025”) more quickly than you can read this sentence. The knurled head of the tool is threaded onto the body, which has a very sturdy ball and spring detent indexing system that is easy to adjust and precise. Clicks are secure and positive. With this feature, you can set the tool so that the handle is in any position (distance from the tool body) that you find convenient, when the primer is fully seated. Additionally, since leverage increases as the handle approaches the tool body, different stopping points afford differing mechanical advantages (more or less effort required) and sensitivity. By doing a little experimenting, I have found a point of adjustment that give me better feel for when the primer hits the bottom of the pocket, without overshooting the mark, while keeping the force requirement within a range that is comfortable when priming a large number of cases.
Quick and Easy Shell-Holder Changing
Changing shell holders is easily accomplished. No extra hex-wrenches or tools are needed, and there are no tiny set screws to roll of the desk, to be lost forever in the carpet, never to be heard from again until you hear them rattling up the vacuum cleaner hose. To swap shell-holders, simply screw the head off of the body, lift off the one that you one that you are replacing, set the one that you intend to use in place (assuming that it used the same size primer) and screw the head back down to the setting that you want. Changing primer sizes is equally easy. NOTE: The tool requires 21st Century-made shell holders. These may be turned (relative to the handle) so that the loading slot opening faces whatever direction you prefer.
Fit, Finish, and Feel
The body and head of the tool, as well as the internal linkages, are all made from stainless steel. These closely-fitted parts are precisely machined, with an smooth, attractive finish. The handle is black anodized aluminum. Overall, the tool is well-shaped, and built like a stainless/aluminum brick.
Bottom Line: Great Tool That Works Exceptionally Well
I can’t imagine anyone, who uses a single-primer tool of this type, not liking this tool. When it comes to hand reloading tools, I can afford to have pretty much whatever I want (within reason). After testing and using this tool, I pulled my Sinclair tool from its case, and replaced it with this one. That should say it all. After using this tool, I will have to give serious consideration to other 21st Century reloading products the next time I need a new tool. One thing is for sure — we have an important new player in the design and manufacture of top end of reloading equipment. 21st Century’s Precision Priming Tool “raises the bar” among single-primer seating tools.
Tool Size Considerations
I wrote the review and then took the pictures, which, upon reflection, make the tool look smaller than it is, because of the size of my hands. I thought about putting a ruler in the pictures, but rejected that as visual clutter, so I will simply tell you that from tip of thumb to that of my little finger, my right hand measures a little over 10 inches, and the palm is 4 inches wide. The size of the tool is just right.
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Tags: 21st Century Shooting, Benchrest, Boyd Allen, Click Adjustment, Primer, Priming, Priming Tool
The set screws are a big source of consternation with me. I ordered one up. Thanks.
So we have come full circle. The original Lee hand priming tool from the 1960’s uses threaded shell holders which work exactly like this new tool. They don’t have click adjustments, but I never needed that feature. Of course, this new tool is made from better materials, is much prettier and is twice the size. When my old Lee tool breaks I’ll buy one.
Having much experience with the old Lee tool, and having filed down the pot metal body to compensate for wear of the rather soft linkage, I can say that saying that this tool is like the early Lee is like saying that a plastic knife is like one made of good steel. If you have not used this one, perhaps you should at least have tried one before certifying their equivalency. No, they are not, by any stretch, the same.
I have had the Sinclair Priming Tool for four years and its going strong but those tiny screw that hold the shell holder are hopeless. The 21st Century tool sounds to be been better thought out… But i have never though there was a need for an adjustable seating depth, may be there is? May be im missing something….. Would i buy the 21st Century tool? If i dident have the sinclair tool yes.
. . .”upon reflection, make the tool look smaller than it is, because of the size of my hands.” Thats what I always tell my GF but she dosen’t buy it.
Editor: LOL. Maybe that’s why my brother advised me to “date girls with small hands.”
What are the adjustments taken to?
plug to Casehead? plug to Pocket? Primer to either?
Is the adjustment a stop, which prevents over-crush?
Solution to the set screws (Sinclair tool)- just buy a shell holder and head for each case head size you shoot. For most of use it would me maybe two or three.
The set screw (Sinclair) I don’t like is the one that must be removed to change the ram size. I don’t like thread locking it because I need to change it often but it will never stay set without it. It’s a pain.
When are you going to make (pistol caliber) shell holders? Like 9mm, 38/357, 44 spec/mag, 45ACP? One thing I do not like about the Sinclair is that you have to insert a single primer at a time getting primer dust on your hands and introducing dirt and oil onto the primer itself??
Please respond I’d appreciate it!
Sincerely,
Dr. Edwin Tostenrud
For the same price you can have 2 (small and large) RCBS universal primers and not have to touch the primers. I’ve been using these for over 30 years with no problems or failures at all. This looks like an expensive answer to an unasked question.
Editor: Jake, I own and use an RCBS Universal primer tool (the one with spring-loaded jaws and APS strip loader). It works and is pretty darn reliable (so long as you load the strip right). However, it lacks “feel” and requires a surprising amount of hand-squeeze force to seat the primers correctly. I sometimes use a two-hand grip to get the final bit of “crunch”.
By contrast, the 21st Century tool seats with an easy thumb push on the handle — I’d say it’s roughly 1/3 the force my RCBS tool requires — as the result of better linkage design and geometry. Additionally, you have a very sensitive “feel” for setting the primer. You also, importantly, have an actual mechanical control over primer seating depth. And, compared to the Sinclair BR priming tool the 21st Center is way, way easier to change from PPC to BR cases. For those guys who like to prime one-by-one, this truly is the “Rolls-Royce” of tools, based on my personal experience. For someone with poor hand strength (or perhaps arthritis), this tool makes life easier. I do agree that tools that have boxes or strips allow you to avoid handling a primer before seating. For that reason I recommend folks clean their hands (or use rubber gloves) before using a single-primer tool like this.
“For those guys who like to prime one-by-one……”
Methinks those guys must have never used a tray-fed priming tool.
I have a question about seating depth reference: to what part of the cartridge is seating depth indicated? Is there something on all cartridges that is a constant, or is a setup measurement taken before seating depth is set? I’m not sure what dimension exactly the same on all cartridges. I use the K&M which measures the depth of the primer pocket before zeroing the depth gauge. It’s not pretty like this one but it does seat primers to a known depth each time, it just takes a few more steps for each primer. If this seater will do that without all the added steps I’m definitely interested!
I talked to John who runs 21st Century. He explained that some top Benchrest guys use his priming tool for a final “Precision Primer Seat”. They’ll initially “rapid-prime” all their cases with a multi-primer tool with a primer tray, seating the primers just flush with the case head. Then they will use the 21st Century tool to do the final “deep-seat” to a precise insertion depth. This system offers the “best of both worlds”, i.e. rapid priming AND precision primer depth control with perfect “feel”.
Is going from large to the small priming ram the same as a Sinclair?