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Primers?


Rance - SASS # 54090

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Few years back primers were at a shortage..

I myself reload 38's rifle and pistols

 

I had in the past always used Winchester Small pistol primers..

I know some on ya swear at them :angry: .. but I've never had a problem.. not one missfire in probably 4-5 years.. :)

 

Shortage hit.. couldn't gettem' anyplace... all were hard to get.. I found and I bought some CCI... started having missfires..

 

Posts on the wire said CCI's at that time were the hardest material...Federals were the softest (easiest fired)..

They are all plentiful in our area now..

 

My Question??

If you could only buy & only use one primer..

with all the choices that are available..

BUT.. that's the only primer you could use (no other)..

 

Which primer would you put all your faith in to make your purchase?

 

Rance <_<

Just wonderin' :blush:

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1. Federal

2. Winchester

3. CCI

4. All others

12

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I've had good luck with Winchesters, had some magtech that I had a couple of bad ones in my guns, and about 10 in ammo I gave to another shooter, I felt bad about that, but I was shooting from the same batch that day and all mine went bang, I suspect his rifle was the problem there, at least to some extent.

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I use fed. mag small primers in my 38s and win. in my shotshells.

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Howdy,

Federal. I also had misfire issues in my handguns. I'm using the last of them in our 45 ACP practice ammo.

 

Nawlins Kid

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:)

 

I had in the past always used Winchester Small pistol primers..

I know some on ya swear at them :angry: .. but I've never had a problem.. not one missfire in probably 4-5 years.. :)

 

With that long run success story, If I were you, I would stick with Winchester primers. ^_^

 

My Question??

 

 

Which primer would you put all your faith in to make your purchase?

 

To answer your question,,,,,Federal mag primer

 

 

Rance <_<

Just wonderin' :blush:

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Federal.

 

Failure to fire with the others is not a flaw. The reason is the hammers are to light to set off harder primers. All will function properly with factory hammer springs.

 

That said, we use Federal because they fire well with lighter springs. They bring out the gamer in all of us.

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+1 on the Federals...........CCI's are okay in a pinch but Winchesters are the only ones I've had problems with.;)

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I started out with Winchester and will stay with Winchester and no problems at all. I bought a bunch when Obama took office, prices went thru the roof then, not to low right now, but thinking of getting more just to have on hand just in case, will have to pay the higher price now, but oh well, will need them someday

 

 

All for now JD Trampas

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If I was buying now, CCIs.

 

I am currently using a batch of ALCANs purchased from Ozark Monte when he was doing a "moving" sale. they work great.

 

I bought a couple of thousand Winchester LP in the great primer crunch. Decapped all I had loaded and sold the rest. Hated them.

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Which primer would you put all your faith in to make your purchase?

Rance, you do know that there are many brands of primers and none of theses companies are not out of business because their primers fail to ignite!

 

Your question has been discussed a multitude of times on the Wire and the reason always seems to be folks are looking for the 'softest' primers

So, pick one brand and Federal's are not the softest ones if that's where you trying to go...

 

22 Oct 2010 Test of My Primer Inventory

Test Procedure: Using a Lee Hardness Tester that measures Brinell hardness, placed a new primer on a piece of steel. Held the indent ball on the primer for 30 seconds. Measurement is the diameter of the indent, smaller numbers indication harder brass

 

Pistol Primers

0.32 – CCI 300 LP

0.38 – Federal GM150 Match LP

0.40 – Federal 155 LP Magnum

0.40 – Winchester WLP

0.42 – Federal 150 LP

0.42 - Federal 100 SP

0.44 – CCI 400 SP

0.48 – Remington 2 ½ LP

 

Rifle Primers

0.26 – CCI BR-2 LR

0.28 – CCI 200 LR

0.32 – Federal 215 LR Magnum

0.34 – Remington 9 ½ LR

 

Note: Rifle primers are harder than handgun primers!

Lot Numbers were not recorded

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John Boy,

Your chart is well taken and I'm sure well intended. However, it hasn't proven to be the absolute in real life.

 

I have had FTF problems with Winchesters and Remingtons, and have never liked CCI's for other reasons, which I won't go into at this time. I have been a lifetime shooter, so have used about everything that was ever available to a reloader.

 

When I started CAS shooting, being fully aware of lightened hammer springs etc., I turned to Federal Primers in everything. Pistols, Rifle, and Shotgun. I am happy to report that I have NEVER had a FTF with these primers.

 

Recommendation, Use Federals and don't look back. They work every time, regardless of lightened hammer springs. In the case of shotshells, the very hot Federal 209A's do a great job of giving positive ignition to the reduced powder loads we use in low recoil shot shells.

 

Cheers, RBK

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Rance, you do know that there are many brands of primers and none of theses companies are not out of business because their primers fail to ignite!

 

Your question has been discussed a multitude of times on the Wire and the reason always seems to be folks are looking for the 'softest' primers

So, pick one brand and Federal's are not the softest ones if that's where you trying to go...

 

22 Oct 2010 Test of My Primer Inventory

Test Procedure: Using a Lee Hardness Tester that measures Brinell hardness, placed a new primer on a piece of steel. Held the indent ball on the primer for 30 seconds. Measurement is the diameter of the indent, smaller numbers indication harder brass

 

Pistol Primers

0.32 – CCI 300 LP

0.38 – Federal GM150 Match LP

0.40 – Federal 155 LP Magnum

0.40 – Winchester WLP

0.42 – Federal 150 LP

0.42 - Federal 100 SP

0.44 – CCI 400 SP

0.48 – Remington 2 ½ LP

 

Rifle Primers

0.26 – CCI BR-2 LR

0.28 – CCI 200 LR

0.32 – Federal 215 LR Magnum

0.34 – Remington 9 ½ LR

 

Note: Rifle primers are harder than handgun primers!

Lot Numbers were not recorded

 

Very instructive! Thanks, John Boy. :)

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Guest Tommy Reb

Many have indicated a preference for Federal primers. Me too until awhile back I started having misfire with Federal large pistol standard primers. Firing pin strikes looked good. Got to looking and discovered about 20% of the primers had no priming compound at all. Contacted Federal and sent them some examples to examine. Sure enough, they agreed, "no priming compound". Now anybody can have a quality control problem once in awhile but what upset me was that Federal would not replace those faulty primers. This was during the height of the primer shortage and, even though they agreed the primers were faulty, they would not replace them saying they needed all their production. So, no more Federals for me. I now use CCI's. They are widely available and work every time in my CAS guns, rifles and pistols, all with lightened hammer springs.

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Rance.

 

Like many others, I have used Winchester for many years and have fired thousands of rounds. I have never had a single problem. I have also used CCI with no problems. So, I guess to answer your question, I would stick with Winchester.

 

Irish Tom.

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Howdy Rance

 

I got some special sure fire primers I am sending you for free! But only for matches that you shoot when I am there. I, no-no, I mean you will really like them. They produce less powder fouling and that makes it easier to clean your guns. And I know how much you like clean and shinny guns.

 

Marlin

 

PS: Don't let Lacey use them, she don't need any help!

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Many have indicated a preference for Federal primers. Me too until awhile back I started having misfire with Federal large pistol standard primers. Firing pin strikes looked good. Got to looking and discovered about 20% of the primers had no priming compound at all. Contacted Federal and sent them some examples to examine. Sure enough, they agreed, "no priming compound". Now anybody can have a quality control problem once in awhile but what upset me was that Federal would not replace those faulty primers. This was during the height of the primer shortage and, even though they agreed the primers were faulty, they would not replace them saying they needed all their production. So, no more Federals for me. I now use CCI's. They are widely available and work every time in my CAS guns, rifles and pistols, all with lightened hammer springs.

 

I also got a batch of Feds without any compound, they were purchased in the so-called primer shortage. They're all good when they work, and bad when they don't. Now I inspect all my primers for compound before I place them in the press, especially before a big match.

 

Inspect them all!

 

LL'

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I would almost bet my pension that since both Federal and CCI are owned by the same parent company, ATK, that they are now made on the same product line and just packaged seperately. I have found current CCI primers to be much softer than CCI of old and the new Federals are harder.

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Sgt Smokepole is right on the money.CCI is now producing Federal Primers.I use primarily Federal because that's what I was able to get when the shortage was rampant.Have around 30,000 of them in Small Pistol,SP magnum and SP match.Also have about 7000 Winchester in both small and Large Pistol.I've used both and have had no-fires with both.Steered away from CCI's because the word at the time was they're too hard.Have a fellow shooter that uses CCI's all the time in LP and they always have worked for him.When these companies are running millions of primers at a time,there's bound to be some duds.I just hope that someone else gets them when that happens,but so far I've had my share.Have some Remington too,but haven't tried them yet.

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Rance, you do know that there are many brands of primers and none of theses companies are not out of business because their primers fail to ignite!

 

Your question has been discussed a multitude of times on the Wire and the reason always seems to be folks are looking for the 'softest' primers

So, pick one brand and Federal's are not the softest ones if that's where you trying to go...

 

22 Oct 2010 Test of My Primer Inventory

Test Procedure: Using a Lee Hardness Tester that measures Brinell hardness, placed a new primer on a piece of steel. Held the indent ball on the primer for 30 seconds. Measurement is the diameter of the indent, smaller numbers indication harder brass

 

Pistol Primers

0.32 – CCI 300 LP

0.38 – Federal GM150 Match LP

0.40 – Federal 155 LP Magnum

0.40 – Winchester WLP

0.42 – Federal 150 LP

0.42 - Federal 100 SP

0.44 – CCI 400 SP

0.48 – Remington 2 ½ LP

 

Rifle Primers

0.26 – CCI BR-2 LR

0.28 – CCI 200 LR

0.32 – Federal 215 LR Magnum

0.34 – Remington 9 ½ LR

 

Note: Rifle primers are harder than handgun primers!

Lot Numbers were not recorded

Please explain the physics of why a softer metal case equates to primers that go off with less energy in the firing pin hits? I have a couple of guns that will not set off anything reliably except Federals no matter what the metal hardness is. At the peak of the primer shortage I tried CCI, Remington, Winchester and Federals. None worked every single time but Federals. My conclusion is that metal harness is not the total story. Must have something to do with what is inside the primers also.

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