Primer Brands for Handguns

[jbradley]

Looking for info on primers. Are there any to avoid? What would you recommend? Do you use the same for any handgun caliber or do you change?
The first and primary one I am looking for is for 9mm.
I am curious though on 38spl, 40 and 45.

Thanks

John

 

[Drail]

Federal or nothing. I have used them for over 25 years and several hundred thousand rounds of .38, .41, .44, and .45. They're consistent and fit more brands of primer pockets than any other. I've never had a bad one. Avoid Remington unless you plan on using only Remington brass. CCI/Speer require more hammer strike to ignite than all the others. Federals are the softest.

 

[dodgecummins]

I have used CCI, federal, Winchester. I will shoot what I can get, With the price now if i run accross a good deal I will pick up a thousand or so. I reload 45 long colt, 40 and 9mm. All with range pick up brass.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have used CCi, Winchester and Federal pistol primers and they all went bang. The few that did not fire in over 30 years of reloading were a hand gun problem, not a primer problem.

I recently tried some Tula primers with good results.

The only Remington primers I have used are 7-1/2s and 209. Also without issue. Remington pistol primers have not been generally available where I shop.

Like dodgecummins, I use what I find although I am beginning to mail order primers more frequently so that I can buy my favorites.

 

[[email protected]]

most any brand of primer will suite your needs as long as your not using a reduced power firing pin spring. I have used winchester, cci, remington, and tula small pistol primers and all have went boom. I did notice with most of my loads the winchesters had slightly higher velocitys, the cci's began to form craters sooner similar to the remingtons, and the tulas seemed a little harder. As with anything that I load, I first determine what I want out of the load. If I am making go boom loads then I use the cheapist componets on hand which means lead bullet (or plated),fast powder,tula primers. If I am loading for hunting or SD rounds then I look more into componets and spend more time with load development. I have used winchester primers longer and I trust them to do the job in my hunting /SD rounds. Im no benchrest shooter and a two inch group at 200 yrds from a rifle is fine. If I hit in the general area where I aimed at with a pistol is just fine by me too.

 

[mc223]

Drail Please support your claims with data.

Avoid Remington unless you plan on using only Remington brass.

What is the thought behind this bit of fallacy?

CCI/Speer require more hammer strike to ignite than all the others.

And this one.

Federals are the softest.

Do you have data that will show the Federal to be softest? Please provide said data.

 

[[email protected]]

Everyone knows that federal primers are the softest just like if you reloads a 40s&w for a glock it Will kaboom :banghead: I cant resist when I see the urban legands of reloading and shooting

 

[Nevmavrick]

I've used enough pistol primers at least have an opinion on them...maybe 150-200k.
I've used CCI, Rem, Win, Federal, and Magtech. I've been unable to get Tula/Wolf here in town, so I'll probably have to send somewhere for enough to justify the hazmat.
I've never had a problem with any, except when I didn't seat them deep enough. That's what I get for being in a hurry, and not paying attention.
I've never been able to figure why one would lighten the hammer-strike, then again, I've never competed in bullseye.
I have competed in trap, IDPA, and sillywet, both pistol and rifle. Pistol was always Hunter, and the rifle was 5-6 different types, including MilSurp.
I have preferences, but they are mostly personal, rather than performance, choices.
Much of my shooting has been over the chronograph, so that I could quantify the differences between brand and heat-range.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of difference, but with SOME powders, there is a bit!
Have fun,
Gene

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I've used them all and never had any that didn't go bang...I recently bought 5k small and 5k large pistol Tula's. They were harder to seat with Hornady L-N-L press. However, they worked fine with my Lee hand primer.

 

[Walkalong]

Federal primers are the easiest to set off, with CCI being toward the other end on hardness. Ask any pistol competitor with lightly sprung guns.

 

[gamestalker]

I'm convinced this is a personal prefrence thing. CCI is the best primer on planet earth!

 

[rcmodel]

I prefer CCI or Winchester.

If you have a lightly sprung target gun?
Winchester is slightly softer then CCI, followed by Federal.

My only complaint against Federal is the stupid big box's they pack them in sideways.
I end up spilling some on the bench every time I empty a package into my primer feed tray.

Oh, and the other thing is, they are the worst of all brands for jamming up in my RCBS hand priming tool and seating sideways.

CCI & Win run flawlessly through it 100% of the time.
Rem runs almost as good, maybe 99%.

Federals, not so much.

rc

 

[918v]

If you are into accuracy, like me, then get all the brands you can get your hands on, then try them all. There is a huge difference in some loads, not much in others, but it's worthwhile to try.

 

[Funshooter45]

My only complaint against Federal is the stupid big box's they pack them in sideways.
I end up spilling some on the bench every time I empty a package into my primer feed tray.

Oh, and the other thing is, they are the worst of all brands for jamming up in my RCBS hand priming tool and seating sideways.

Amen on the giant box. They take up at least twice the space in my primer cabinet. And they don't dump onto the tray very well at all. So far I've not had any problems with them jamming in the primer tools or seating sideways, but I don't use them very often because of the above issues. For some of my cartridges, I have noticed that they seem to seat with less force into the primer pocket. More of a mushy feel compared to the crisp feel I get from CCI. I guess it's related to the softness issue mentioned above. They fire just fine, no issues there at all. But I only buy them when the shop is out of other options that day.

 

[Walkalong]

There is a huge difference in some loads, not much in others, but it's worthwhile to try.

Yep.

 

[BeerSleeper]

Federal primer box sucks. I went through half a brick before I learned that you don't have to manually turn the primers, if you shake the tray of the priming tool, they will right themselves anvil up (DOH!)

Remingon's not much better, but at least it's not huge (still holds the primers sideways)

Winchesters are packed perfect, put the package face down on the primer tool, slide it out of the box, and they're all facing the right direction, from the beginning.

I haven't used any CCI yet, so I don't know what they're like.

 

[BYJO4]

For over 30 years I've used CCI along with some Winchester. When primers became hard to find, I tried Magtech. They have been good. Since Magtech primers cost several dollars less, I have continued to use them (about 15,000 so far). I have never had a misfire with any of the above.

 

[GLOOB]

1k of CCI LPP vs 500 Winchester LPP to date:

My only observations are:

A tray of Winchester LPP are all facing the right way most of the time. This saves time if you hand prime on a press. In fact, I can't recall a single upside down primer in my first five trays. I've never seen a tray of CCI without at least 1 upside down primer.

CCI's will have 1-30 primers upside down per tray. Typically 5-12, I think. Although I could be confusing with SPP, of which I have only used CCI.

CCI are plated and somewhat purdier.

They are packaged pretty much the same way, except the 1k sleeve of CCI opens on the ends. The Winchesters open from the top, which is kind of loopy. If you have a bunch of sleeves stacked on a shelf, you have to take the whole thing out to open the Winchester sleeve.

Winchester trays are very slightly bigger. This spaces the primers out just a little bit more. If you hand prime on a ram, this makes them a little bit easier to pick up, once you've transferred them to a loading tray.

Win uses the same LPP for standard and magnums. CCI have 2 separate primer types.

Overall, I give CCI a +1 for smarter, more efficient packaging and the plating. Winchester +2 for having all the primers facing the right direction and for having only 1 primer type to deal with if you use magnum powders.

I buy whatever is cheaper. So I've never tried Federal or Remington. All my SPP used to date has been CCI. Now that I know Rem's and Federals are packaged sideways, I will have to pass, since I prime by hand. Regular spacing helps for efficiently handpriming on a ram. Shaking primers to get them face up would make a mess of the spacing.

I heard Tula primers are a little bigger. This has its pros and cons. They might be harder to seat, but you will also not have to throw away as much brass if/when the primer pockets get loose.

 

[1SOW]

The first and primary one I am looking for is for 9mm.

I have never found any concern with how primers are packaged if you have decent reloading equipment to install primers.

If your pistol is tuned for a lighter pull, The primer that requires the lightest strike to ignite reliably is Federal. Federal still uses an older and more sensitive primer formula and a softer cup. (Federal primers use aluminum spagnate priming compound. Every other manufacturer uses lead styphnate. That is why they ignite with a lighter strike.)

Win, Magtech, CCI and Rem are all dependable primers for most 9mm (and other std cal) pistols.

Wolf has some well-documented occassional FTF history.

Hope this helps.

 

[GLOOB]

I have never found any concern with how primers are packaged if you have decent reloading equipment to install primers.

I have the best. Lee single stage press.

If your luger handgun doesn't have a light fp strike, then you might want to save some bucks by stopping by Cabela's and buying a sleeve of small rifle primers. They're 19.99, right now.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I use mostly CCI primers but I have nothing against Winchester primers. I never use Federal primers because they cost more than others, are hardly ever available and their packaging is 4X as large as any others so they take up way too much precious space on my loading bench.

 

[jonn5335]

I use cci primers just because I like to buy one brand and stick with it unless it fails me but I wont pass up a good bargain if other brands are on sale

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Have used more CCI than others with Remington second and Federal of late.

Never had a problem with any.

 

[BigBob3006]

I use CCI for everything.

 

[txloader22]

Like others, I've used all the major primer brands with success. Winchester, CCI, Remington, and Federal have all done the job. For small pistol, I lean towards CCI and Federal, simply because they function the best in my Hornady hand-priming tool. Win and Rem for some reason like to occasionaly flip over as they're being funneled into the ram.

The Federal packaging has never been a big deal to me. Yes, it's larger and they are on their side, but a few shakes of the priming tray will have them all oriented the right way. If it's the primer I want for a given load, the packaging is not a deal-breaker.