Federal primer packaging? Why?!?!!

Why ask why?

It does make life a little more difficult but I've learned to deal with it. First thing I do is cut those little tabs off of the back of the box. I figured if I struggle to get my primers loaded into the primer tray maybe I am having an off day and better walk away before I cause myself a serious problem. I do one box at a time I don't load 5-10. You will get used to it.

I once asked this question of a gentlemen who works at the Anoka, MN plant in R&D. He's a regular at my home rifle club, as are several other employees from line workers to executives. The answer he gave, was that their packaging was originally to comply with USPS regulations for shipping back when you could do that. It is cheaper for them to continue the obsolete packaging than convert the line to a more efficient package. Remingtons are also sideways, likely a throwback to old packaging methods.

Ohen Cepel said:

Sorry, I ponder some things too much.

Why does Federal put their primers sideways in their primer packaging? Is that to test our dexterity and ability to pour them everywhere? Also, why is their box (aside from being sideways) 2-3 times larger than everyone else's? Why the little tab in the bottom of the box to make it hard to open and close it (after I pour them all over my bench)?

Is there a reason for this which I am missing? Does some system need sideways primers?

Thanks for helping me "solve" this little mystery.

Click to expand...

My inner scepticism tells me they do that so you end up spilling half the primers on the bench and floor, where you then lose half and then are forced to buy more!

The dollar, all about the dollar...lol

They are not the only ones that have done it, just the only ones to do it with such large containers. Maybe they are trying to compensate for something.

Ohen Cepel said:

Sorry, I ponder some things too much.

Why does Federal put their primers sideways in their primer packaging? Is that to test our dexterity and ability to pour them everywhere? Also, why is their box (aside from being sideways) 2-3 times larger than everyone else's? Why the little tab in the bottom of the box to make it hard to open and close it (after I pour them all over my bench)?

Is there a reason for this which I am missing? Does some system need sideways primers?

Thanks for helping me "solve" this little mystery.

Click to expand...

To annoy you of course....perhaps your simply not crotch..i mean venerable.... enough to understand that, and thus must look for a logical reason.

Im teasing of course.
(and my dads moving in with us....)


Ive got a decent pile of those federals, and they certainly arnt the easiest to work with, but more annoying is my SR primers are only really usefull in pistols......

When I began reloading in 09 or thereabouts I chose Winchester and CCI for large and small primers just for that reason. I've since obtained a primer tray a few years ago but Federals seem to sell out before anything else so its never been a problem.

Federals seem to be last on the shelf locally. I've just gotten used to it. I found the last 1k pack of large pistol primers locally and a week or so ago ordered Small pistol magnum primers online in a 1k pack and they both just happen to be federal. I hate ordered primers online but at least they upgraded me to match grade for no extra cost. I will be doing the federal primer dance for the next few months.

I've used Federal, Winchester and CCI primers and can't say I've noticed any difference in how they perform. But given the choice Federal is at the bottom of my list because of the packaging. I prime one at a time on my press and with other primers I can carefully upend the tray onto an empty lid and 98% of them are the way I need to pick them up. Can't do that with Federals. It's a little thing and certainly doesn't stop me from buying them if they are all that's available.

Whether it's the packaging of something else in these times of shortages Federals are what's usually available if anything is.

The more who buy other than Federal primers the more there are Federal primers for me to buy.

When I use Remington 9 1/2 primers I feel spoiled by the easy way the box opens and the easy way they pour into the primer tray. On the other hand, when I use Federal 210M primers I almost always get frustrated at the way the box is designed. The box is so big it takes up a large amount of storage space, when you try to get the box open it almost always hangs up, and when you pour the primers into the tray you really have to watch to keep from spilling them. The box must have been designed by a study group or as a part of a team building exercise. Good primers but a poorly designed box. Someone should tell Federal about that damn box! I'm a Chevy fan but I think some of the same people work for General Motors because their newer truck really need help.

Federal primer packaging size is to comply with DOT shipping regulations. They are known to be the softest cup or easiest to ignite. And they are the most prone to sympathetic detonation. Winchester packaging is a bit smaller, while CCI and Remington packaging is smaller yet. So in this case the smaller the package the harder the primer is to ignite, and resist sympathetic detonations. Federal would love to make their packaging same size as CCI, but they’d never be able to ship them.

It is true that the Federal packaging is for DOT compliance. Specifically it is for the DOT-6C burn test compliance. All primer manufacturers use package spacing to comply with DOT sympathetic detonation requirements. Federal primers are known for being the best igniters in the industry. This is because they produce the highest level of hot particulate with the lowest gaseous overpressure, at the slowest rate.

Sincerely,
Federal Communications Team

sage5907 said:

when you pour the primers into the tray you really have to watch to keep from spilling them.

Click to expand...

No, no, no!
Place the flipping tray on top of the primer tray.
Turn it upside down with the flipping tray tightly on the primer tray.

No spill, no primers bouncing away...



Hope this helps

Hondo 60 said:

No, no, no!
Place the flipping tray on top of the primer tray.
Turn it upside down with the flipping tray tightly on the primer tray.

No spill, no primers bouncing away...



Hope this helps

Click to expand...

Lol, why would anyone make a primer flip tray that is smaller than the primer packaging tray? I bought my Dillon big brass primer flip tray 30 years ago and have never really used any other.

It would be interesting if there were some way to use the unique orientation of the Federal packaging to make them easier to load the primers into tubes. Hmmm...

P.S. I will add one more Federal primer packaging hate comment. For those of us that don't load primer tubes and reload at the same time... The Federal primers don't come with the handy tube labels that most other brands come with.

Ditto on the Dillon primer flip tray.
Eliminate frustration for a few $$, regardless of the primer packaging.
For whatever it matters, I use mostly CCI, but ready for whatever is available.

Yeah, I bought a few thousand at full price months ago and I don't like how huge the containers are either. It's like the old Buffalo Bore boxes that were all sized for .500 S&W Mag and they'd sell .380 in the same size box.

I would think that they would be harder to accidentally set off in their packaging from an impact if they are on their side, vs laying flat. Fiocchi primers are on their side also.

When I used to fill primer tubes by hand I always liked the flat containers because I could keep a used one and flip 100 primers over into it then set it on the primer flip tray so they were all bottom up in rows. This was the fastest way to pick them up.



The Dillon tray is big enough to catch all the federals but it’s still a shake or flip and poke a bunch of side by side primers at that point.

Primer tube fillers make life easy.

Sound like "house arrest" is taking it's toll on some folks!

I can't remember fighting a primer package, other than my fat, old fingers fumbling with them. My method; I put a paper towel down on my bench, open a sleeve and place it on the towel. I invert the primer tool tray on top of the sleeve, then flip the sleeve/tray together. Shake the tray to orientate the primers, insert the tray in the tool and go to work. The paper towel allows me to easily pick up any primers that fall out (a trick I learned when I used a ram prime a lot)...

But I have a new priming tool on order and entering a new type of bench priming. I purchased an RCBS bench primer that uses tubes. I hope I can figger out how to fill the tubes...

I don't object to the way they are in trays I just don't like the size of the carton, too big compared to other cartons when trying to find space for storage!
Heard it from a friend! All my reloading powder and primers were lost in that terrible boating accident!

RCBS (does now or atleast did) makes an overly large square flipping tray.
It even handles Federal's packaging.

Federal primer tray fits my Hornady 1911 auto primer trays. When I use the RCBS round tray for hand primer I have no issue with primers all going on it. It is easier using Winchester, CCI or whatever other that can be put on tray all the right way but for the few seconds it takes is no big deal with me.

Why?

Sympathetic Detonation

from Wikipedia:

“A sympathetic detonation is caused by a shock wave, or impact of primary or secondary blast fragments.

The initiating explosive is called the donor explosive, the initiated one is known as the receptor explosive. In case of a chain detonation, a receptor explosive can become a donor one.

The shock sensitivity, also called gap sensitivity, which influences the susceptibility to sympathetic detonations, can be measured by gap tests.”

Federal primers are more sensitive (or at least Federal thought so when they did the “gap test” and designed their packaging) therefore, they added more gap between primers, which made the packaging larger.