federal primers

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Reservecop

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i ran out of small pistol primers yesterday and all my local dealer had in stock was federal, i am not familiar with these because all i have ever used is winchester and cci. is there anything out of the ordinary i need to know about federal primers before i start using them?
 
Federal are excellent primers, but are more sensitive than Winchester or Remington. If you using a standard press, this shouldn't be a problem, but some progressive presses (Lee comes to mind) warn against using them.
 
Like you, Reservecop, CCI and Winchester are the primers that I always buy. My son gave me some Federal Small Pistol primers for Christmas. I use the Lee AutoPrime to do the priming chores here and I was aware of Lee's warning about using Federal primers. However, I exercised care when using the Federals and have successfully loaded them all up.

You can search "Federal primers" here on THR and find many threads where lots of enthusiasts have successfully used them with Lee equipment. All the best to you in your reloading work.

CP
 
I use the autoprime almost exclusively if loading on the Lee 1000... mine's a bit old and worn and has a tendency to flip the primers over. Nothing wrong with Federal primers, although I admit to using Winchester and Remington a little more often. But for my benchrest pieces, I've used the Federal match primers for .243 and .243 WSSM with good results.
 
Sensitivity Training Required

Tom S: Federal are excellent primers, but are more sensitive than Winchester or Remington.
Click to expand...


Just because they're more sensitive is no reason to pick on them! I though that THR practiced "Don't ask, don't tell". You right-wing gun nuts are all alike.

:evil:
 
I"ve loaded thousands of them on my dillon's as they are all I use for my lightly srpung cas six shooters.
They also fit just s smidge tighter than other brands,another reason I like them.
 
Federal is my primer of choice for most pistol round loading, but they've been hard to come by lately. I think Throckmorton bought them all up in the Northwest........

They're excellent primers.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I'm well over the 200,000 round mark in pistol calibers loading with federal primers. In all that time I've had exactly 1 bad primer(no compound in a large pistol). I'd say that's a pretty good track record.
 
Federal pistol and rifle primers are not reccommended by the handloading press manufacturers. Having said that, I have used nothing for years but Federal. I have four Dillons. My single actions have a very light hammer spring and, generally, will not pop a CCI or Winchester.
With stock springs in the rifle, pistol, or shotgun, any should do if they are included in the reccommended load.
 
Federal are soft. That's usually a good thing as far as ignition is concerned. As far as using them in progressives, unless you're running way too fast or hard with the ram, I doubt you'll ever have a problem.
 
Federal Primers are used by the guys playing gun games with light springs. They reliably fire with hits that won't fire a Winchester round---I know.
 
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