Cheapest primers and most common/popular powders?

I bought Tula primers on my last order. Cheapest available and have had good luck with them so far. Powder is more of a preference but I ordered 8#s of win231 and Varget.

Tula primers are thre cheapest. CCI and Win are $6 /k more. For pistol I use HP 38, Bullseye, and AA #5, Shotgun is Red Dot, Clays, Longshot, Rifle is AA 2230, Big Game, IMR 4350. I get most of mine here:
http://www.powdervalleyinc.com/

Try Powder Valley.

I'd suggest CCI and Winchester primers, cuz they're only 5-6 dollars more per k than Tulammo, right now. And some people are reporting spotty ignition with recent manufacture Tulammo SPP, specifically. I'm personally switching over to domestic made primers after having 5 or so duds my last K of Tulammo SPP. As long as the prices stay competitive, I'll be shooting Winchester. Actually, there was a poll on the forum, recently, and something like 60% of the respondents stated CCI as their favorite primer.

If I were opening a powder store, as it were, I'd for sure have these on the shelf:
Bullseye
Titegroup
Unique
HP38
H335

acfixerdude said:

My hp-38 smokes quit a lot with my 9mm. I'm loading 4.2gr.

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I get some smoke but not much with 9mm 125 gr cast with 4.1 gr HP38, 3.7 gr Bullseye and 5.1 AA #5. What smoke I get is from the lube not the powder and I get no leading.

Only Wolfs I've used are .223 and LPP.

1k Wolf .223 - 2 duds/light strikes. They might be too hard for my rifle, maybe.
3k Wolf LPP - zero problems

Funny you mentioned the smoky 9mm. I too, noticed more smoke with HP-38 than with Unique or AutoComp when using cast bullets in my 9mm pistols. I reckoned the HP38 must be burning hotter, since it's a faster powder, and this burns up more lube.

acfixerdude said:

I'll try it at 4.1gr and see what I get. What bullets are you using? I just ran out of the ones I was using previously (from my gs @$65/thous). Think he said they used blue angle lube or something like that.

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I use 125 gr flat points, ( a 38 super bullet) 9 cone,and SWC from Missouri Bullet. I have some 125 gr round nose coming from Zcast.

Anybody have experience with Wolf primers?

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I have and did not have any problem except they where harder to seat. There were a bunch that had lots of problems with FTFire. These were with the SP size. They were also harder to seat when compared to CCI, WW, Rem.... I did not have any Fed to test against but I would guess they would be easier too. A lot swore never to buy Wolf again, that's when Tula showed up, both are out of Russia maybe from the same plant.

If these are just for practice ammo and don't mind have a few problems (if they arise) go for them. For every 5k you will be able to get another 1k free when compared to US made primers.

Anybody have experience with Wolf primers?

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The Wolf and Tula primers are both made in the same Russian factory. I have used the Russian large rifle primers since about 2002, when they were imported by a guy in Arizona in the original Russian packaging. Good primers! You don't state what cartridge you are loading for, so kinda hard to recommend any powders? I have bought primers and powder from Powder Valley, Wideners, and Graf and Sons, and all are good companies to deal with.

Don

http://www.hi-techammo.com/

for 223/556 get their WC844 and these guys are the cheapest I've found on CCI military primers for your ARs. (website is kinda cheezy but they are good to deal with) I don't know what you're planning on loading, but the WC844 military powder is roughly equivalent to H335 and at $85 for 8 pounds it will make up for the hazmat fee if you buy in quantity. Some of the most accurate loads on my AR15 were loaded with WC844.

I bought 10k Tula primers about this time last year and have zero complaints. I probably will order another 10k this week.

As far as powders go, if I could only have one powder it would be Unique.

Tula small rifle primers are harder than other brands to seat in .223 Rem.

Rather than waste any more time, and after selling off a couple revolvers than ended in my favor, ordered 6K CCI primers, more Alliant Unique powder, brass for my .45-70's and a variety of bullets for what I really enjoy shooting (.38 Special/.357 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 ACP). In good shape to keep shooting for a couple years, and will thin out the stuff I don't need shortly to get more. Now's the time to look at your inventory and move on stuff you want, I think.

Not sure what you're asking . . .

Are you going into business? Or are you buying components with you and a few friends on a bulk order?

I'll address the second scenario.

Regarding components to buy - get a list together from everyone's wants. Don't try to guess what they might prefer for Pete's sake.

Powder Valley is a popular bulk order company. So is Graf and Sons. Graf's had a policy that waived the HazMat fee if the order was at least XXXXX amount of powder. Check to see if they still have it.

When I made a bulk order last fall, I priced both Grafs and Powder Valley. One was less on primers, the other on powder. In the end, the TOTAL cost cost on a $1,600 order was cheaper by about $15.00 in Grafs favor. A different mix of primers and powder could have had P.V coming out cheaper.

You just need to get your order together and price it out to see who's total cost is less.

For the slightly higher price I would buy CCI primers over Wolf and Tula, just my opinion.

As for powders, what are you loading? That's the only way we can recommend the most common powders.

For handguns I use mostly W231/HP-38 and the 3 powders I use most are W231 (HP-38), W540 (HS-6) and W296 (H110).

Rifle powders are a little harder.
I use a lot of H335, H4895 and H4350 but I also use IMR4198, Varget, Leverevolution, IMR3031 and a few others.

acfixerdude said:

Doing a group buy for both my club and some extra to sell, so kinda business related

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That sounds like a good way to get stuck with components you spent your own money on.


You sound like a young fellow who means well. Forgive me, but you'd be well-served having someone with knowledge and experience mentoring you through this whole college gun club idea.

The W540 is WSF now. I've used it for years (1970's) to load 20ga.
452AA is now WST a 12ga powder that is good for 45acp. Burns super clean.

Blue68f100 said:

The W540 is WSF now. I've used it for years (1970's) to load 20ga.
452AA is now WST a 12ga powder that is good for 45acp. Burns super clean.

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Are you saying WST is the replacement powder or it's the same powder as W540? You do know W540 = HS-6, right?