what's with the hand primer pump?

I looked under everything I could think of in the search and couldn't find an answer. I want to know what to expect when the hand pump is pumped? I recently removed the injector lines to gain easy access to the glow plugs. After reinstalling the lines, with the nuts at the injectors still loose, I pumped the hand pump till I was blue in the face, expecting to see weeping at the nuts. I didn't see fuel so I thought the hand pump was bad so I tightened the nuts and cranked a long time till it started.

I just changed a couple of glow plugs on my other car and also replaced the hand pump on it just for kicks. While the injector lines were still sitting on the air cleaner, I pumped until I heard the squishing sound. I thought I would see the fuel coming out of one or some of the ports of the injector pump and didn't. After a little pondering, I believe that the pumping action only pulls fuel from the tank and charges the filters and fills the injector pump.

To get the fuel lines full, I think that I will need to use the LarryBible trick of leaving the injector lines one turn loose at the injectors and have Wifeypoo crank and I'll tighten them one at a time as they weep.

Am I on the right track or what?