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Dillon RF100 Auto Primer Filler


Max Payne

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I was considering buying one of the Dillon RF100 Auto Primer Fillers sometime ago & checked it out on the Wire. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative at the time, so I forgot about it. I'm wondering if things may have changed by now & that maybe the latest versions are working well.

 

I'm currently using the Frankford Arsenal Vibra-Prime, which works semi-okay - certainly better than screwing with the pick-up tubes. The Vibra-Prime is really tempermental, but still better than the tubes.

 

If the RF100's have gotten better & work well, I'd like to get one.

 

What can you tell me?

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Max,

 

I had heard the same years ago.. Finally, had to get something when my PALVIK took a dive and a two week search led to no repairs or parts avaiable.

 

I bought the RF100 and had pretty good results for a while then for whatever reason it started flipping the over at about 10% of the time.

I got a new upper guide piece then re-calibrated it for vibration and finally got 100% operation.

 

I just found it tempermental and really needs watching, and no way to fix it while running,  just re-feed the tube and run it again.

 

In the meantime I found a way to get a mini motor and a way to save the counter-balance for the PALVIK and rebult it.

 

It is one of the best primer tools in the world,  you can load 6 tubes in 15 minutes and you can watch every primer all of the way into the tube. And, you can stop it remove the tube and take out the upside down primer if need be.

 

Now,  try to find a new PALVIK to compare!  I don't know who carries them anymore.

 

I still have the RL100 as well..

 

My $0.02 worth

 

Ol'  #4

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I have the PALVIK and it is the best primer filler I've seen.  One thing about it though, I've found that if the battery runs out you can still fill the tube up by just shaking it back and forth quickly and that motion gets the primers to drop quickly.  It's a little more work but it fills the primer tubes just fine.

 

I think the PALVIK was made in Italy and I think they have stopped manufacturing it. If someone knows different please provide updated information.

 

Kajun

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I have used a RF100 for many years then it got to feeding to many primers upside down to satisfy me.  Mentioned to Dillon rep at WR one year and he told me to send it to him and he would have it upgraded.  I did and they really worked it over at no charge.  However, it still will feed an occasional primer upside down so I have to observe the feeding which takes time then more time if I see one go in tube upside down.  If I do not watch and have cartridge loaded with primer seated wrong then that takes even more time to knock out bullet and run threw again.  After timing the whole thing (when error occurs) versus just hand feeding tubes, I decided the 100% method is hand feeding with tray and doing several tubes.  Granted if no error in feeding then the RF100 is faster but, for me, there is just not enough of those perfect runs.  Perhaps it is my choice of GM200M primers, but I doubt it.  

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I understand that Double Alpha (Mr. Bullet Feeder) also makes a primer feeder and it suppose to be cheaper than the Dillon.  I think that it only works with small primers.  I have not heard from anyone that has one as to how well it works.  Anybody have one that can fill us in?

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My RF100 started loaded primers upside down and I stopped using it. Called Dillon and they told me to send it in and they'd make the repairs and adjustments, I haven't taken the time to send it back. 

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IIRC Dillon put out an upgrade / fix for the RF100 a few years ago that helps with the feeding.

I'll looked through my old notes and below are some really easy things that you can do to make it 100% reliable. Scoured these off the Brian Enos and Dillon forums

 

1. Make sure the insert is loose - for me the screw almost touches the top edge of the primer tube when it is inserted

2. Adjust the clear cover (over the last portion of the primer ramp) toward the outside of the primer ramp until primers won't enter, then very slowly adjust inward until they will just start going through and tighten down snug. 

3. Rheostat - for me using the lowest setting was the best, if I turn it up much it starts to flip primers. Most people use between lowest and slightly above the lowest setting

4. May depend on your primers, but for me having it on a gun mat (or a small mouse pad) helped smooth things out 

5. the loud vibrating that comes and goes at times is the spring in the insert on the base (what you set the primer tube on) vibrating against its housing and is NOT the screw touching the top of the primer tube i.e. nothing you need to "fix". 

6. The unit has to be spot on level especially side to side. Sometimes it helps to let it lean ever so slightly forward.

7. Redo all the adjustment when changing brands of primers.

 

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I’ve had a rf100 for a decade.   At the beginning had the same issues (Maybe 1-2 flipped per 100) until I installed the variable speed adjustment upgrade a few years ago and have not had a primer issue since then. (Maybe 1- per thousand). 
 

well worth the investment (have two, in large and one in small primer)   Just like anything, once you get it set up right , it will run great for a long time.

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My wife bought one for Christmas 20 years ago. It worked great for many years and then started to give me fits. I took it to Dillon and the put new rubber feet on it, sandblasted the tray and it works great. You have to replace the insert that drops the primer into the tube frequently. I found a used one for dirt cheap at a gun shop last year and brought it to Dillon and they refurbished that one no charge. I do get an upside down primer 1 out 2 or 300 hundred. I just set them aide and fix them all at once. I like the fact that I can keep reloading while it runs. Filling primer tubes by hand is one of my least favorite parts of reloading.

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15 hours ago, Max Payne said:

I was considering buying one of the Dillon RF100 Auto Primer Fillers sometime ago & checked it out on the Wire. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative at the time, so I forgot about it. I'm wondering if things may have changed by now & that maybe the latest versions are working well.

 

I'm currently using the Frankford Arsenal Vibra-Prime, which works semi-okay - certainly better than screwing with the pick-up tubes. The Vibra-Prime is really tempermental, but still better than the tubes.

 

If the RF100's have gotten better & work well, I'd like to get one.

 

What can you tell me?

I've seen posts similar to this come up several times and from what I have read I can't justify the cost. I just checked Dillon's website and it is listed for $380.00, I can buy a lot of primers and bullets for that price (and make Scarlett happy). I decided to make a video of loading a primer tube the old fashioned way (I only have one tube) and see how long it takes. As you can see it took me 1 minute and 47 seconds to load a tube. I can't see buying anything else. I apologize for the video, I propped my phone on the top rail of my guncart while sitting in my garage.

 

Just my opinion, to each his own. 

Randy

 

 

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44 minutes ago, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:

I've seen posts similar to this come up several times and from what I have read I can't justify the cost. I just checked Dillon's website and it is listed for $380.00, I can buy a lot of primers and bullets for that price (and make Scarlett happy). I decided to make a video of loading a primer tube the old fashioned way (I only have one tube) and see how long it takes. I can't see buying anything else. I apologize for the video, I propped my phone on the top rail of my guncart while sitting in my garage.

 

Just my opinion, to each his own. 

Randy

 

 

R,

That's about the time I get in a tube/tray method, but if watching the RF feed, not to mention taking out the one primer that is upside down, that will pretty much consume that amount of time and probably more.  IMO, if having the slightest trouble with RF, as I mentioned with my post about Mr Bullet, just do the simplest thing (as Non Stop would say, "KIS") for overall best results "at the end of the day", and certainly avoid frustrations & maintain more of a uninterrupted flow in the reloading. (Hey, if you made Scarlet happy then that's a plus too.) 

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1 hour ago, Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator said:

R,

That's about the time I get in a tube/tray method, but if watching the RF feed, not to mention taking out the one primer that is upside down, that will pretty much consume that amount of time and probably more.  IMO, if having the slightest trouble with RF, as I mentioned with my post about Mr Bullet, just do the simplest thing (as Non Stop would say, "KIS") for overall best results "at the end of the day", and certainly avoid frustrations & maintain more of a uninterrupted flow in the reloading. (Hey, if you made Scarlet happy then that's a plus too.) 

Billy Boots, do you have the Primer filler from Double Alpha also?  If so how does it work compaired to the Dillon?

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20 minutes ago, Nickel City Dude said:

Billy Boots, do you have the Primer filler from Double Alpha also?  If so how does it work compaired to the Dillon?

No, just the RF-100 and the RSE type.  I would like to hear reports on them though.   I remember years ago when on one of my visits at Longhunter's when he lived at Hartley he had a nice primer tube filler of some kind in his reloading area that he was pleased with.  Perhaps the one as #4 mentioned.  I may try some of the suggestions above and see if I can get better satisfaction with the RF but since I have several tubes the RSE method is pretty error free for several hundred loads before filling..

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18 hours ago, Ol Number4 said:

 

 

In the meantime I found a way to get a mini motor and a way to save the counter-balance for the PALVIK and rebult it.

 

It is one of the best primer tools in the world,  you can load 6 tubes in 15 minutes and you can watch every primer all of the way into the tube. And, you can stop it remove the tube and take out the upside down primer if need be.

 

 

 

Ol'  #4

 As you can see it took me 1 minute and 47 seconds to load a tube. 

Just my opinion, to each his own. 

Randy

 

15 minutes divided by 6 tubes is 2 minutes 30 seconds per tube for Ol'#4 and Randy at 1 minute 47 seconds for one tube.  The aggravation of Randy's method led me to Ol'#4's PALVIK solution and I loved it but the motor went south same as Ol'#4.  Back in Randy's method , I need to do what Ol'#4 did. 

 

Kajun said: I have the PALVIK and it is the best primer filler I've seen.  One thing about it though, I've found that if the battery runs out you can still fill the tube up by just shaking it back and forth quickly and that motion gets the primers to drop quickly.  It's a little more work but it fills the primer tubes just fine.

 

I have not tried Kajun's method but it feels to me Ol'#4 has it correct. 

 

Fordyce

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Fordyce,

 

send a PM  I still have the info on the motors, and a spare here.

 

Do you still have yours??

 

olnumber4@gmail.com

 

Ol'  #4

 

 

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23 hours ago, Max Payne said:

I was considering buying one of the Dillon RF100 Auto Primer Fillers sometime ago & checked it out on the Wire. The feedback was overwhelmingly negative at the time, so I forgot about it. I'm wondering if things may have changed by now & that maybe the latest versions are working well.

 

I'm currently using the Frankford Arsenal Vibra-Prime, which works semi-okay - certainly better than screwing with the pick-up tubes. The Vibra-Prime is really tempermental, but still better than the tubes.

 

If the RF100's have gotten better & work well, I'd like to get one.

 

What can you tell me?

Well Max you have one other option available to you.  I know you are not too "short" on help, you have a "little" help close by and she can be the "primer poker" whilst you are loading the ammo, chamber checking everything and cleaning the guns.  Heck, she could even serenade you while you load.  (No thanks are necessary, that's what true friends are for :D)

 

Kajun

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Great feedback from all, as usual! My handheld Vibra-Prime is looking a lot better to me now. However, I might do a little research on the Double Alpha mentioned.

 

Kajun, as to my short partner helping, she only shoots 'em. No gun cleaning, no brass cleaning, no reloading. To be fair, she handles all of the house BS, making food, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, paying the bills, reviewing insurance EOB's, etc. I'm happy with arrangement & glad she loves cowboying as much as I do.

See you Saturday!

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I have 15 tubes and they take 1.5 and 2 minutes to load, and I do it while watching tv My primer flipper easily holds 3oo which I think speeds things uo.

so I load all 15 fill the press with one and refill it, I then have 1600 ready and that is about as many as I my poor old body can load in one setting.  I do have a 

vibra prime (I have done all the tricks I can find to make it work better) and it is way to hard on my impatience to continue trying.  

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13 hours ago, Your Nemesis said:

I have 15 tubes and they take 1.5 and 2 minutes to load, and I do it while watching tv My primer flipper easily holds 3oo which I think speeds things uo.

so I load all 15 fill the press with one and refill it, I then have 1600 ready and that is about as many as I my poor old body can load in one setting.  I do have a 

vibra prime (I have done all the tricks I can find to make it work better) and it is way to hard on my impatience to continue trying.  

 

I haven't used the Dillon feeder, but I have had 2 different versions of the hand-held tube fillers.  One of them I gave away & the other is gathering dust on a shelf in my shop because they were both more trouble than they were worth.  It's a lot less trouble to fill them with the poke-&-peck method using the pickup tubes.

 

We have (3) small primer pickup tubes & (6 or 7) large pickup tubes.  When Kay Sadeeya is ready to load ammo, depending on which primers she needs, I fill all the tubes & have them ready for her.  When she empties one, I fill it back up for her then go back to casting bullets, cleaning guns, loading shotgun ammo or watching TV, whichever is more important at the time.  Generally 300 to 400 primers will get her through an afternoon's loading.

 

Holler

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I have 3 of the Dillons. Have the typical problems with them. The adjustable speed control helps. I have more problems with Federal small pistol primers than any others. I have not seen one but have heard that the Double Alpha works about as well as the Dillon. I don't know if the Mark 7 can be used with primer tubes or only on their awesome(expensive) presses. 

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Got Frankfurt Arsenal Vibra Prime like two years ago never used when I tried on March did not work (still on the pack) so keep using the sticks.

Which are tedious on long runs but works.

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So many of us find poke/pick not bad in final analysis and certainly producing more of a trouble free process..  New question, do any of you p/p guys use the more expensive, heavier Dillon tray or stick with the plastic RCBS style trays?  I still use the square RCBS tray but have considered the Dillon.  I think the cost keeps me holding back.

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2 hours ago, Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator said:

So many of us find poke/pick not bad in final analysis and certainly producing more of a trouble free process..  New question, do any of you p/p guys use the more expensive, heavier Dillon tray or stick with the plastic RCBS style trays?  I still use the square RCBS tray but have considered the Dillon.  I think the cost keeps me holding back.

I use the RCBS to flip the primers (works better than the Dillon for me) then put them in the heavy Dillon to poke them in the tube. The metal Dillon doesn't have to be on a hard surface to use. I bought the Dillon tray at a match for $5.00 from a Cowboy getting out of the game.

 

Randy

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I got one of those years ago.  Sent it back to Dillon two time.  They finally just gave me credit and took it back.   I now realize that

taking a break after 100 round and loading a primer tube is so much faster in the long run.  I need that break to help eliminate

errors on my part.  Take my time and just never have any short strokes or high primers anymore.   When I start back after loading

new primers, I start very slow and slowly speed up.....and wow.....another 100 done.   

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My reloading mentor gave me an extra heavy Dillon flip tray that he had.

Have tried a couple of vibrating tube fillers but they where more trouble,

to me, that they are worth. So stay with the Dillon flip tray. So it's p/p for me.

 

Marshal Stone

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I have two, large and small primer and both work well.  level of vibration has to be just above getting the primers to move.  

 

like the fact that at the end I can fill the primer tube while dumping powder back into jar and cleaning up.  

 

speed modification is well worth it

 

 

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I have to add a PS to my earlier comments.

 

I read with great interest about the Dillon and some other folks suggestions.

 

I did follow two of those and I now see a great improvement. However, since I got my PALVIK running again I have more confidence in it so it is my "goto" tool.

 

No external  flip tray (it has one as part of the vibrator tray), uses Dillon Tubes and I can visually check every primer before loading into tubes and all during the process.

 

Ol'  #4

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