CCI 500 vs. Fed 100 Small pistol primers

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presspuller

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I have always normally used CCI 500's. A buddy gave me 200 of the Fed 100's. Is there enough difference of these to worry about? Is it good to used them for an even trade with the same powder as before? I don't load near max on my loads either.
Thanks guys.
 
Only difference that I know of is supposedly the Federal are a little softer and preferred by most. I load all mine the same no matter what the primer
 
Both are small pistol standard primers. They may ignite different powders slightly differently but like anytime we change a component in the mix we should be working up our load again. Difference to worry about? Nope, I doubt it.

Ron
 
I haven't seen much difference other than cup hardness and how easy the Fed 100s are to set of compared to the CCI 500. That said, any gun will full power (Stock) springs will set off the CCI 500. The guys with light springs to help real light trigger pulls like the Federals.
 
Among the major brands I just use whatever is cheapest. Never noticed a difference. Headstamp and keeping consistant charge levels are gonna be the biggest concerns in producing accurate and safe ammo IMO.

However, on the occassions that I am aiming to make the most reliable rounds possible, I use Federals. Now I have never had a problem igniting any primer, but every little bit helps I guess.
 
Since both Federal and CCI are now owned by the same company is there any difference between the two brands of primers or do they both come off of the same production line?
 
There must be some difference as my revolver will always set off Federal primers, but will often balk when shooting cartridges loaded with CCI ones
 
Since both Federal and CCI are now owned by the same company is there any difference between the two brands of primers or do they both come off of the same production line?
ATK has several divisions and owns many dozens of companies. Their Vista Outdoors division is comprised of over 3 dozen companies alone. ATK manages these companies as wholly owned subsidiaries and they only interact if they can help the other increase business. They own Alliant Powders, Speer, Federal, CCI, Blazer, RCBS, Bushnell, Weaver, Redfield, Hoppe's and on and on. They seem to want to enhance their investments and not destroyer lessen any name brands.

Just a small example, their Alliant Powder load data site now features a lot of Speer bullets and they use both Federal and CCI primers in their data but not primers from companies not in their "family."
 
Years ago when shooting IPSC in 45ACP I started reloading with CCI, Winchester, and Federal primers. The Winchester and CCI had issues with ignition in my G-21. They would be 100% in my 1911. The G-21 was more competitive because of bullet capacity and stage design. That said by 1993 I had switched totally to Federal and use either Unique of AA2 as a powder for the G-21. The only time I load with Winchester is for the 1911 and the bags of bullets are labeled Winchester Primers. The Federals have been 100% across the board in both guns. Yes I know the posting was Small Pistol, but I had the same issues with both Small Pistol and Large pistol as Federal Primers in Large and Small pistol are softer and easier to ignite than some other brands.
 
It would seem to me ATK would simplify matters and thus save money by consolidating the production line for both Federal and CCI primers. I have noticed both Federal and Blazer/CCI pistol brass seems identical except for the headstamp.
 
It would seem to me ATK would simplify matters and thus save money by consolidating the production line for both Federal and CCI primers. I have noticed both Federal and Blazer/CCI pistol brass seems identical except for the headstamp.
As I said above, ATK doesn't buy up companies to merge them. They run them as wholly owned subsidiaries so as not to lose value. Besides, they can't keep up with the demand for Federal primers now. How bad would if be if they reduced production to one facility instead of two?
 
People who love the easy to set off Federals, and the folks who like the harder cup of the CCI would not be happy. No sense in merging two into one when they both are well thought of and have strong followings.
 
Sorry, but it makes much more economic sense for a company to run one big assembly line instead of two smaller ones. And the market determines the value of a product. Seems ATK is already consolidating its pistol brass production. I'll bet primers won't be far behind.
 
Sorry, but it makes much more economic sense for a company to run one big assembly line instead of two smaller ones. And the market determines the value of a product. Seems ATK is already consolidating its pistol brass production. I'll bet primers won't be far behind.
Do you realize how long ATK has owned both? One large line? The lines used by Federal and CCI are already huge. If consolidated it would put them at risk if something happened to shut it down. Again, even though ATK is the parent company each wholly owned subsidiary is just that, a separate company. To your way if thinking Federal, Fusion, Speer, CCI, Blazer, Independence and American Eagle ammo brands should also merge. (all owned by Vista Outdoor which is owned by ATK) You know that will not happen because if it did you would be destroying Billions in market share, brand loyalty and brand name recognition.

Same goes for their optics lines. Bushnell, Weaver, Simmons, Millett, Tasco, Night Optics and Redfield, all are part of Vista Outdoor and in turn part of ATK. Many have been for Decades but will not be destroyed and wasted by the parent company. They are too smart for that. As a matter of fact, Redfield was purchased from Leupold and the line expanded almost doubling that company's value on the market. They were not merged or consolidated but expanded.
 
but it makes much more economic sense for a company to run one big assembly line instead of two smaller ones.

It actually doesn't because the existing lines are already huge. While there is an economy of scale, there is also an upper limit to the size where not only does economy fall off, but the risk of only having one line (source)becomes greater then the benefit
 
CCI-500s are harder. In some new/tight cases Fed-100 primers are easier to seat - especially if you hand prime. However, if you're using the leverage of a press, it probably doesn't matter. Both go bang every time.
 
Remember Peters (Remington) or Western (Winchester) brand ammunition? They fell by the wayside due to duplicity in the marketplace. And market share, brand loyalty and name brand recognition are all secondary to profit. At one time Sears was a smart company. Then they were bought out by K-Mart. Anyhow, last post for me. Time will tell....
 
Remember Peters (Remington) or Western (Winchester) brand ammunition? They fell by the wayside due to duplicity in the marketplace. And market share, brand loyalty and name brand recognition are all secondary to profit. At one time Sears was a smart company. Then they were bought out by K-Mart. Anyhow, last post for me. Time will tell....
Remington bought Peter's before WWII. At the time they were competing companies and there was a depression going on. There was not enough market share for both so they merged. But remember, it was a true merger and the Peters name is still part if the Remington Ammo company. I'm not sure it would have happened if there was no depression.

As for Winchester Western, their is a different story. In the early 1930s Winchesters ammo division went bankrupt. The Western Cartridege company bought them and the W-W Mark went on their ammo. About the time WWII ended they reorganize the company and Olin was born...

I'm fairly sure if you look this stuff I'm close on the dates but in any case, it is not the same as a modern company adding good solid companies to their portfolio.
 
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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
 
If they are mixing and matching they will eventually lose market share to something that is more consistent. I just looked at some of my pre-craziness Blazer vs some middle of the craziness Blazer and they both look likr the ones on the right.
 
If they are mixing and matching they will eventually lose market share to something that is more consistent. I just looked at some of my pre-craziness Blazer vs some middle of the craziness Blazer and they both look likr the ones on the right.

That's why it pays to look at the lot #'s before you buy. Those pictures are from 8/9? years ago. Just happened to be talking about the same thing on another website back in 2007/2008?. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. And it's been going on a lot longer than when those pictures were taken.

On a side note:
Federal rimfire brass is thicker than cci/ww/remington/aquila/eley. People that swage their own bullets with them know this and tend to use a smaller in diameter post in the re-rimming process. If your post is too big the thicker federal rimfire brass will stick on the re-rimming post and is a real pain to remove. Those that have this problem sort their 22lr brass and don't use the federal cases. But as with anything a negative can be turned into a positive. I made a hybrid post when I made my de-rim die that could handle both the thinner 22lr jackets and the thicker federal jackets. The end result is the thinner and thicker brass get turned into bullet jackets that are the same thickness. The difference is the thicker federal 22lr brass stretches out to make a longer bullet jacket. Same de-rim die and post, the thinner 22lr jackets from the cci/ww/remington/aguila/eley make excellent 55gr bullets.


The thicker federal cases stretch out longer and make excellent 62gr bullets.


When federal makes those 22lr blazer's for cci they still use the thinner brass with the cci logo stamped into them. Makes you wonder if cci didn't send federal the empty cases to make bullets with???
 
Indeed.

And nice looking bullets. I got fascinated with the thought of doing that back in the day , but never pulled the trigger on it.
 
Currently (6/25/2017) the federal 100 small pistol primers are nowhere to be found. After reading all the great comments about hard/soft primers, 100 vs 500, what is your recommendation for an equivalent of the Federal 100 that is available?
 
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