About Purple Primer

Hi, I’m Tyler, and Purple Primer is my one-man shop in Georgia, USA.

It started at a monthly bolt-action military rifle match. A fellow competitor shot a K31 and had a hard time with his charger clips. He had plenty of original Swiss clips, but only a handful still fed reliably, and the newer reproductions he’d tried would drop cartridges out the bottom with a good shake.

Nothing available worked well, so I set out to design a clip that would beat both. He had a large collection of K31 and K11 rifles, so we tested in batches: five versions at a time, each with one small change, then notes and another batch. Eventually we landed on a design that worked very well, well enough that I decided to start selling it.

Then I wanted it tougher. Clips get dropped and stepped on at the range, so I started standing on test clips on a concrete floor. I broke a lot of clips that way. It took reinforcing the design, dialing in how they’re made and switching to US-made PCTG before they held up.

Customer feedback still shapes the design. When one customer’s Model 1889 wouldn’t feed cartridges out of the clips, I sent him test clips labeled with adjustments in 0.1 mm steps. Once we found the best fit, I rechecked it in the K11 and K31, and it became the new standard. That’s the thinking behind the Fit Guarantee: if your clips don’t work in your rifle, I’ll work with you on clips that do, or refund you.

As for me, I’ve been sport shooting for more than 20 years and reloading for about 10, especially older military cartridges, because I enjoy building reliable, well-performing ammunition. I’d rather shoot my rifles than collect them, and I design gear the same way: to be used.

The die holders came from my own bench. I keep specialty dies and spares out of my toolheads, and nearly every rack I could find mounted to a wall, so I designed one that sits on the bench. The Reloading Die Holder now comes with a benchtop stand or a wall mount base, toolhead stands for the Dillon 550 are available too, and a toolhead stand for the 650/750 is coming soon.

I make everything in small batches in my home shop and pack every order myself, with occasional “help” from my toddler.

Thanks for stopping by,

Tyler