From the Bench

What manly man doesn’t appreciate finely made machines? For rich guys, maybe it’s cars and antique motorcycles; for humble me, it’s guns and reloading tools. My wife claims my pupils dilated when I opened the box and pulled out Hornady’s new Versa-Prime Bench Priming Tool, and I recall impulsively stroking the shiny little machine like it was a purring kitten. I think she was actually jealous for a moment.

Hornady’s Versa-Prime is a hefty chunk of billet aluminum and hardened steel that could nearly anchor a kayak, the top of it polished and engine-turned (jeweled) like the bolt in a fancy bolt action rifle, and Hornady’s logo lasered into the front surface. While at first it looks like there’s a lot going on with screws and holes and clamps and such, the Versa-Prime feels as solid as an M-60 tank. The only disturbance to its solidity is a slight rattle of the primer seating handle, which is necessary because it has to move freely on its pivot pin without binding. The Versa-Prime really is a well-crafted piece of machine work, and on the back it bears an individual serial number, as does any good machine.

Hornady packages the Versa-Prime unassembled. Printed assembly instructions are uncomplicated. Okay, they seem at first a little complex because there are so many steps, but they are easy to understand, and the photo illustrations are blessedly clear. If you’re more of a video person, Hornady has video instructions for the Versa-Prime and other Hornady tools on its website.

The first step is to select a spot on your bench where you will mount the tool; it’s easier to assemble it when it is immobile, and that goes double for using the tool to seat primers. The Versa-Prime’s four mounting holes, not coincidentally, match up with the mounting holes for Hornady’s AP, Classic and Iron presses, so it isn’t necessary to drill more holes in your benchtop if you have one of those already mounted and you don’t mind removing it to temporarily accommodate the priming tool. I found that mounting the Versa-Prime with two bolts (or one very tight one) is enough to keep it anchored, as the tool doesn’t require any oomph to operate; if you need to apply significant oomph to seat a primer, then something is wrong, and it’s best to stop and investigate. The back page of the instruction manual, incidentally, is printed with a two-hole template for drilling your benchtop to fit the Versa-Prime’s hole size and spacing.

This is a truly ambidextrous tool. If you are among the one in six people in the world who are left-handed, you can attach the handle on that side of the Versa-Prime to suit your particular exigency. Primers are delivered from the vertical primer feed tube to the primer punch (seater) via a rotating primer feed plate that spins in either direction, clockwise or counterclockwise. Combined with the option of installing the vertical primer feed tubes on either the left or right side of the machine, this allows use of either hand to spin the primer feed plate in a natural motion – for me, that’s spinning the plate by simply curling my index finger around its knurled edge. The versatile setup makes the operation so ergonomic that it doesn’t take long to get an efficient rhythm going. Sometimes rhythm seems as pertinent in handloading as it is in music. I know you know what I mean.

Feed tubes for small and large primers hold 100 primers at a time. As you know, with such primer tubes – not just Hornady’s, but with all makes – there exists a possibility that if a primer were to detonate for some unfathomable reason, it could set off a chain reaction, detonating more or all primers in the tube. I don’t know that it’s ever happened to a handloader, but all manufacturers warn about the possibility. Hornady adds a level of safety to the Versa-Prime with a steel tube that threads into the machine to surround the primer tube. If a detonation occurs and ruptures the aluminum primer tube, it should direct the force upward rather than outward, hopefully sparing the operator any injury.

Switching out large and small primer punches, primer tubes and rotary primer feed plates takes only moments. Two tiny clamps secure an ordinary Hornady shell holder to the top of the machine. Slide a cartridge case into the shell holder with one hand and operate the handle with the other; remove the primed case, spin the primer-feed plate one click and repeat. The motion is pretty much like resizing cases or expanding case mouths in a single-stage press, where we dedicate one hand to the cases and the other to the press handle – and either hand can spin the primer feed plate centered horizontally in the back.

Changing from small to large primers doesn’t require any tools; the only tool needed, really, is a 1⁄8-inch Allen wrench to loosen or tighten the shell holder clamps when changing cartridges to be primed or to adjust the primer handle stop that adjusts primer seating depth. Hornady thoughtfully includes a primer flipper tray with the machine, as well as two each of the large and small primer feed tubes. Shell holders, of course, are sold separately.

We can’t blame a manufacturer for promoting its own products, and Hornady recommends using only Hornady shell holders in the tool. Hornady cautions that using any other brand of shell holder voids the Versa-Prime’s warranty, which seems a bit of an empty threat because the Versa-Prime’s middle name is Beef, and it seems unlikely someone else’s shell holder could cause it any damage. Heck, you could toss the Versa-Prime from the roof of your house onto the driveway, and you probably couldn’t hurt it (no, I didn’t test that theory).

Yet I wanted to report whether Hornady’s caution is really just product promotion or if something else is at play, so I installed another brand of 38 Special shell holder and carefully operated the unit. I discovered that with the non-Hornady brand shell holder and with the primer handle stop adjusted as far as it would go, primers still would not fully seat in the cases. Obviously, the other maker’s shell holder is manufactured a bit taller than Hornady’s shell holders. So, it isn’t just self-promotion; apparently, only Hornady shell holders will assure proper operation of the Versa-Prime.

Retail prices for the Versa-Prime run from $250 to $300 at your usual favorite resources for the latest and greatest in reloading supplies and tools, and there’s more information and instructional videos at Hornady.com.