Accidents with Primers ?

[Clark]

Twenty years ago my brother took a college girl out on a date that had scars on her face.
She said her father bought some primed brass, but wanted different primers. She was tasked with depriming. The pool of de primed primers went off and shot her in the face. She said that every few months an anvil would work it's way to the surface of her skin.

 

[BluesBear]

In almost 3,000,000 CCI primers I have never had a bad one.


But then again it took me almost 40 years of shooting .22 rimfires to get that first dud and then I had several from the same two boxes.

 

[Wildalaska]

I cant complain about CCI primers...

Never used one in my life

WildfederalonlyAlaska

 

[taliv]

dang, blues bear. what is it you do that lets you shoot 3 million times with the same primers?

at $15/box, that's $45,000 just for primers!

if you shot 1000 rnds/ week, 50 weeks/ yr for 40 years, that's only 2 million.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Oh oh...Bluesbear...Caught...You may have to fess up here. You go to the range every day or two? That's alot of shootin'. You mean when I finally retire I can shoot as much and go broke even faster?

Ain't tall tales fun? First lier don't stand a chance. At least that is what I've been told.

 

[BluesBear]

Caught? I don't think so.


I know a least few of the members here remember a decent little enterprise called King Cartridge Company back in the late 1970s and 1980s. It was sold directly to Police Departments, Security Agencies and Gun Shops, primarily east of the Mississippi River. At that time my FFL, License to Manufacture Ammunition, was #61-14967.

I was King Cartridge Company. And yes I loaded every single round myself.


And don't worry Taliv, they're quite a bit cheaper when you buy them 25,000 at a time.









Bushmaster likes to disagree with many of my posts and that's his right, but if he wants to call me a liar I suggest that he gets his sorry assets out to Washingtin State and tells me to my face. But we all know that'll never happen.

Right now I've only got one good hand but that's all I'll need to slap you silly.
Hells Bellsâ„¢ boy, I'll even meet you at the airport that way you won't even need luggage.


Oh Bushmaster............... Now you have been told.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Bluesbear. I'm from the Great Northwest. Spent most of my life in Oregon and Washington. One of my sons lives in Lynnwood. Just in california to get some gold and return home. Spent 16 years hunting and fishing the Snoqualmie river basin. Caught a 5 lb Golden trout out of lake Philipa when you had to hike back in there. Shot many a Blacktail up in the Sunday Creek Canyon and have hiked and camped at Lenox Creek Falls. Caught steelhead out of the Green River. And Silvers out of Hood Canal at the Sub Base Bangor (of which I am a Plank Owner) As you can see, I know the area well. (Don't let them build a dam at the mouth of the Snoqualmie Basin)

As far as picking on you...Ya need to soften yer shell a bit. But if that isn't in the cards, I will let up on ya. Of course, there will go all of the safe gaurds. I'm just a poor retired Sailor that has traveled the Pacific all over and hunted (Thanks to the US Navy) in many places. Now my contract Company to (NAVSUPSALV) is letting me travel to the Med on jobs. (Lucky me.) In between all this I have a whole bunch of stories that are untold, but will save them for my Grandchildren. Ruffled your feathers? My deepest apologies. (Still think he should use his sense of humor more often. Makes ya wonder if he really did all those things) Oh Sorry...Did it again...Darn.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

Progressive reloaders and primers

The Star progressive reloader came on the market back in 1931 and its primer feeding was based on Western? primers which became Winchester/Western then Winchester. I believe Winchester helped Federal get started and the progressive reloaders invented by that time used Winchester, Federal and Remington primers successfully. When CCI was invented their dimensions were sloppy and had ltttle or no quality control and they exploded when forced in to the precise dimensions of the primer feeding systems of the earlier reloaders.

Anyone using non progressive presses may never know the difference.

When Dillong started hanging around Star looking for proceedures to copy for his reloader I gather he took into accounnt the sloppiness of the CCI's by having larger dimensions his reloader feeding systems but in reading the Bullseye list whenever there is any primer complaints guess who caused the problem.
I should have taken a picture of the fellow with the corkscrew shaped brass primer magazine in front of his face full of CCI primer pieces.

 

[taliv]

i imagine they were quite a bit cheaper back then, too.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

CCI were TOO CHEAP

And I kept telling my reloader customers that when you buy something cheap you get a very cheap product in more ways than price. Like cheap in reliability. Lack of quality control, not fitting and jamming in standard size primer magazines so some followers when pushed down hard had the magazine explode.

In the 1970's the three main brands were standardized in diameter, roundness, height of the cup and consistency in the seating and height of the anvil. There were no magnum primers.

The only difference between them was that the Remington primer formulation made their ammunition reliable when exposed to being carried in and out of extreme cold and hunting cabins. That was the opinion at the time to justify their higher price and were recommended in northern climates.

CCI was invented and as a sales gimmick invented magnum primers. In tests of the time it was determined that the CCI magnums were the same strength as the big three primers. So what did that say for the standard CCI primers?.

So to defend their market share and with the invention and use of the new .41 and .44 magnum calibers the big three invented their own magnum primers.

A commercial reloader friend who was an example and mentor to me bought 3 million CCI primers at a time for his Gromak Industries police reloads and it was a sight to see 3 million primers on the forklift pallets all together.
I would have really hated to have a traffic accident with the 18 wheeler that delivered them.

Another friend bought 10 million primers dirt cheap that had gotten seriously wet so he rented an empty warehouse in the Majove desert and I forget the amount of time they needed but when they became dry he made a bundle selling them.

Another thought is that it pays to have a lip on the front edge of your reloading bench to keep primers from rolling off and being stepped on.

 

[The Bushmaster]

A comming or lip on the edge of your work bench...Not a bad Idea. It would keep those little rascals on the bench.

I still feel that times have changed for CCI's. I have been loading with them for about 20 years without incident. I like the fact that they are just a tad weaker then Winchester (By about 30 to 50 fps). It gives you a little tuning room when working up a tight load.

 

[taliv]

don't hold back there, fitz. if you don't like cci primers, just say so!

 

[The Bushmaster]

Yup...He did say so. About 6 or 8 times now.

 

[Smythe77]

Been reloading basically h/gun loads in Small Pistol & Large Pistol for something like back in '74. Never heard a bang, accidently put a few in upside down, but popped them out & put them back in again with same results of others in that batch.

I wear glasses anyway so no problem. My PPC revolvers & all other center-fire revolvers receive Federal while my 9mm & 45ACP take in CCI, & Winchester, though I carry a fair stock of small so sometimes a chap will ask if I will trade my Federal small for their Large of any make & so cometimes come across Federal Large Pistol for my 45s still no sweat.