If you have a chronograph, now would be the time to use it. I do a lot of testing with the cci vs federal primers in different pistols and revolvers. I use a chronograph looking for lower es's. Consistent ignition ='s accuracy. The other thing using a hard vs soft primer will tell me is if the ignition system is dirty or weak. If I test a pistol that is suppossed to hit primers like a sledge hammer (cc/sd firearms) or firearms like contenders. And the huge es's go away when I switch from a hard primer to a soft primer. That's called a clue and the firearm in question gets some work done to it and then re-tested.
I do find the comments on merging the 2 companies interesting. Of the 4 big US mfg's ATK owns 1/2 the market or 2 of the 4 companies. Both federal and cci have huge following of extremely loyal customers. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Having 2 different plants in 2 different locations is actually a plus. And make no mistake about it cci will make products for federal and federal will make products for cci. All's you have to do is look at the lot #'s on the primers/ammo/components you buy.
CCI uses letters for the 1st marker in their lot # codes.
Federal uses #'s for the 1st marker in their lot # codes.
An old picture of CCI blazer 22lr ammo from 2008/2009?. As you can see both bricks of ammo are marked blazer. 1 brick has a flap (cci) to open the brick. And the other has a tear off strip (federal) to open the brick. 1 has a clear flat plastic tray (cci) to hold thee bullets. The other has a white plastic tray with legs to hold the bullets (federal). Both bricks are marked blazer ammunition.
A close-up of the 2 different trays/bullets. As you can see they are 2 totally different bullets. and as everyone knows, 22lrs can be picky about what you feed them. If you have a 22lr that loves blazers but doesn't like federal 510's and you bought the "federal" made blazers. You just got bent over.
Anyway look at the lot #'s of the different cci and federal products.
A # 1st (example/33F45678) ='s federal.
A letter 1st (example JM456721) ='s cci