Question About New Primers

frogfurr said:

With the nightmare of getting primers for a good while the only thing that I have been able to find in LRP at less than a breathtaking price is Ginex. I recently bought 2K and shot a couple of hundred. With the exception of being a little hard to seat they are as good as any other I have tried. May just stay with this brand until the gouging is over or maybe longer.

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The satterly method shows a big difference in some primer brands. Maybe you got lucky and it's close to what you were using before.

frogfurr said:

I wasn't using anything before. New at reloading 308 and Ginex was the first LRP primer I was able to find.

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Then that's a perfect reason to get a few more boxes so you don't have to change. Comp guys try and get enough of the same primers to match the matching 8lb jugs of powder.... the less times you retune for new components the less wasted components...

Before all the madness I used mostly CCI and Winchester primers. I didn't use Federal much because they cost more and where I live Remington wasn't really available.

Years ago when the first shortage hit I used Wolf, Tula, MagTech, Fiocchi, S&B and a few other I can't remember right now. All were fine although sometimes accuracy wasn't the same.

Remember, rework your loads when you change any component, especially primers.

I have not tried any of the new crop of primers coming available there days. Now the names are all new to me like Unis Ginex (you bought) Muron, Cheddite, ZSR, Servicios Aventuras and a few others. I have heard nothing bad about any of them. Be happy you found 2K of what you needed.

I haven't tried the Ginex primers as I am not critically low yet, but when I need more primers I will buy what I can get regardless of brand. Until and if the shortage eases it's take what you can get time.

ArchAngelCD said:

Years ago when the first shortage hit I used Wolf, Tula, MagTech, Fiocchi, S&B and a few other I can't remember right now. All were fine although sometimes accuracy wasn't the same.

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The first shortage I can recall was the summer of 1979 when the truckers went on strike and the gas stations, grocery stores, warehouses, all went empty. The gun stores weren’t hit as bad since most were run by WW2/Depression-era vets and they knew to keep more in-stock than they’d need for their customer base - but, the “big three” in central Florida I went to did run out of primers and most powders before the trucks starting rolling and backlogs got filled. As a kid I worked as a gas monkey at a full service Tommy Oil station and I remember well the angry people screaming at me about empty pumps and hungry babies...

AJC1 said:

Comp guys try and get enough of the same primers to match the matching 8lb jugs of powder.

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For my match rifles, I try to get matching lots of powder, primers, and bullets to cover the entire life of each barrel. Getting several thousand matching lot number primers has been obviously difficult in the last couple years.

Here’s an example - this was the entire life of one of my 6 Creed barrels a few years ago. Same lot of powder, primers, and brass throughout, with only 3 lots of bullets used in it (2 brands, 2 lots within one of the brands).



Get with it and if it works, stick with it. Most guys don’t need to bother with diddling the small knob of primer tuning. But do rework your loads if you run out of any given lot and have to make a change. Should only take a couple dozen rounds total to confirm or correct the node.

I lived through the 1979/80 drought that GeoDudeFlorida refers to - as well as every shortage since then.

Early on, I learned that for the cartridges I reloaded (30 Carb, 223 Rem, 38 Spl, 45 ACP) a change in primer had no impact on the performance of the load.

Shooting off a bench for score with a rifle? Same lots matter unless your goal is to finish in the bottom half.

Everything else, like hunting, shooting for score in IDPA, plinking, pistol silhouette, self defense etc primer brand doesn’t matter as long as primer reliability isn’t out of family from the rest of the manufacturers.

Try Aquila they work.

Way back in the age of plenty I would buy a couple hundred of whatever primer was available. Then shoot and compare. Whatever worked well and cost the least was where I put my hard earned cash. Much harder to do at this present time. If you have loads worked up with these already and they work OK I would buy more.

Varminterror said:

For my match rifles, I try to get matching lots of powder, primers, and bullets to cover the entire life of each barrel. Getting several thousand matching lot number primers has been obviously difficult in the last couple years.

Here’s an example - this was the entire life of one of my 6 Creed barrels a few years ago. Same lot of powder, primers, and brass throughout, with only 3 lots of bullets used in it (2 brands, 2 lots within one of the brands).

View attachment 1113582

Get with it and if it works, stick with it. Most guys don’t need to bother with diddling the small knob of primer tuning. But do rework your loads if you run out of any given lot and have to make a change. Should only take a couple dozen rounds total to confirm or correct the node.

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I buy in bulk. There’s a few thousand rounds

South Prairie Jim said:

I buy in bulk. There’s a few thousand rounds

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It’s been driving me nuts the last few years - hard to get bulk lots. I did get 5400 of the 109 ELD’s when they came out, two bulk boxes of 2700. But I haven’t done well getting Bergers in bulk, I occasionally split 10,000-14,000 bullets with a couple guys, but we’ve been delivered 500rnd boxes.

Varminterror said:

It’s been driving me nuts the last few years - hard to get bulk lots. I did get 5400 of the 109 ELD’s when they came out, two bulk boxes of 2700. But I haven’t done well getting Bergers in bulk, I occasionally split 10,000-14,000 bullets with a couple guys, but we’ve been delivered 500rnd boxes.

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I don’t go through near the rounds you do, a couple thousand Vapor trails last me quite awhile. I noticed my Berger 108’s are almost as much nowadays as the customs.

NOTE: I am tagging on to this thread versus starting a new one…hope that is okay but if not please advise and I’ll start anew:

I am looking for advice on ZSR primers. Specially SPP’s, but in general. I see they are made in Turkey. Want to use them for basic pistol training and range shooting.

Anyone have experience with them and if so, good or bad? Thanks!

Buzznrose said:

NOTE: I am tagging on to this thread versus starting a new one…hope that is okay but if not please advise and I’ll start anew:

I am looking for advice on ZSR primers. Specially SPP’s, but in general. I see they are made in Turkey. Want to use them for basic pistol training and range shooting.

Anyone have experience with them and if so, good or bad? Thanks!

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The easiest way to find information is to setup a account on Ammoseek.com and read the reviews. Good information on venders and products.

I signed in to ammoseek but cannot see where they show primers…only see ammo.

Buzznrose said:

I signed in to ammoseek but cannot see where they show primers…only see ammo.

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It is down at the very bottom of the page and easy to miss. You can sort by reloading, ammo, firearms, ect.

Click the down arrow to the right of the reloading tab.