owenbright
Member
What do you prefer?
It seems like the CCI primers are slightly less expensive.
How are they different?
Thanks.
It seems like the CCI primers are slightly less expensive.
How are they different?
Thanks.
CCI vs Federal Primer for Pistol
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Phillip Allen
Member
the difference is sensitivity...the Feds are more sensitive by my testing...it won't matter if you don't mess with the striker fall but if you "adjust" it any toward a lighter fall, it will make a difference.
Federals have been noted to be more sensitive than all the other major brands for some years. Some people dote on this, and use nothing but Federals on that account. I'm a bit more cautious; CCIs and Winchesters are plenty sensitive enough for my shooting. Since I load on a progressive press (Dillon XL650) with an automatic primer feed that has been known to occasionally produce the "Mt. St. Dillons" effect as the entire primer magazine blows, I'm steering clear of Federals.
Never used Federal. Used CCI for over 20 yrs.
Bought some Remington. Once. At Cabela's. They didn't have CCI.
In that box of 1000. I had 8 no fires.
This never happened with CCI. The first couple were a little scary.
You think to your self. How long do I wait? 
Bought some Remington. Once. At Cabela's. They didn't have CCI.
In that box of 1000. I had 8 no fires.
This never happened with CCI. The first couple were a little scary. You think to your self. How long do I wait? Phillip Allen
Member
Zippy, I have used Remingtons for 40 years along with evey other type...I have had misfires with all at one time or another but never attributed to brand but rather to my mishandeling by either crushing the pellet (possible with softer/thiner primer cups) or solvents/oil contamination.
FieroCDSP
Member
CCI is all I use at this point, but I'm no pro. I've had rounds that fired with little more than a shallow dimple on the primer. I've only had two failures, and I attribute that to my own work.
ReloaderFred
Member
Federal's are more sensitive. I've got some finely tuned match guns that will only function reliably with Federal primers. They won't shoot CCI primers about 1/3 of the time, but I've never had a misfire with Federal primers.
In order of sensitivity, you'll find that primers fall this way, from hardest to softest:
CCI
Winchester
Remington
Federal
Hope this helps.
Fred
In order of sensitivity, you'll find that primers fall this way, from hardest to softest:
CCI
Winchester
Remington
Federal
Hope this helps.
Fred
Steve 48
Member
I havd a lot of misfires with CCI so I use Federal for my S&W pistol's that had a trigger job. Steve48
A previous post stated misfires with CCI primers after a trigger job. I suspect the trigger job included cutting coils or installing a weaker mainspring. I had problems with a Redhawk having misfires or no fires after installing some aftermarket mainspring. I decided the unreliability was not worth a lighter trigger pull.
One should not blame the primers when hammer strike energy is reduced to marginal levels. And I would not put my life on the line using such a pistol.
One should not blame the primers when hammer strike energy is reduced to marginal levels. And I would not put my life on the line using such a pistol.
Phillip. Did you mean crushing the anvil?
Oh, I tried putting oil on some primers. To deactivate them. Let the oil soak over night. They were still live.
Didn't want to, put them in the trash, and then some kid get them.
I was just relaying, some info., about my last box of Remington primers.
Reloaderfred thanks.
Oh, I tried putting oil on some primers. To deactivate them. Let the oil soak over night. They were still live.
Didn't want to, put them in the trash, and then some kid get them.
I was just relaying, some info., about my last box of Remington primers.
Reloaderfred thanks.
Phillip Allen
Member
Zippy, if, in my newness to the hobby, I misaligned a primer or just put too much pressure on seating, there were visable deformations of the unfired cup...I took these to my mentor and he pointed out that deformation would unseat the anvil and crumple the actual primer pellet. Subsequent carrying around of the reloaded ammo then allowed the fractured pellet to "sift" away from its proper place between the anvil and cup causing a misfire.
Okay.
I understand now. Interesting.
I have had them, go sideways. A couple, flip, upside down. The first upside down, was a little scary. I just pulled the bullet. Dump powder back in the pot. And VERY SLOWLY, punch out the primer. No problem.
All good.
I understand now. Interesting.
I have had them, go sideways. A couple, flip, upside down. The first upside down, was a little scary. I just pulled the bullet. Dump powder back in the pot. And VERY SLOWLY, punch out the primer. No problem.
All good.
Jayman
Member
Yeah, for my competition loads, I use Federal. For everything else seeing a normal striker spring, CCI works nicely.
JA
Member
The first pistol I owned was a S&W model 28 that the guy I bought it from had a "trigger job" done on it. It had a very light trigger pull and I started reloading for it using Federal primers. The local gun shop ran out of Federal primers and only had CCI primers so I bought some of them. Well my pistol wouldn't fire any of my reloads using the CCI primers so I took it to a gunsmith. When I went back two days later to pick up the pistol the gunsmith showed me that the "trigger job" done on the pistol was nothing more than backing out the main spring's strain screw. Which did decrease the amount of force needed to pull the trigger but also decreased the amount of force the hammer hit the primer with. So I ended up paying the gunsmith to do a real trigger job on the pistol.
I went to several gun shops around the city and bought Federal,Remington,Winchester, and CCI primers. Loaded up a box of ammo with each type primer and when I got the pistol back I tested them out. I started out backing the strain screw all the way out and tighten it up till the ammo with the Federal primers would fire. Then fired the Remington primer ammo which required tightening the strain screw to increase the force the hammer hit the primer with. Followed by the Winchester and CCI ammo which required tightening the stain screw even more so they would fire. The results of my primer tests were that the amount of force needed to ignite the different brands of primers from least to most was Federal,Remington,and Winchester and CCI being tied for taking the most force to ignite.
I went to several gun shops around the city and bought Federal,Remington,Winchester, and CCI primers. Loaded up a box of ammo with each type primer and when I got the pistol back I tested them out. I started out backing the strain screw all the way out and tighten it up till the ammo with the Federal primers would fire. Then fired the Remington primer ammo which required tightening the strain screw to increase the force the hammer hit the primer with. Followed by the Winchester and CCI ammo which required tightening the stain screw even more so they would fire. The results of my primer tests were that the amount of force needed to ignite the different brands of primers from least to most was Federal,Remington,and Winchester and CCI being tied for taking the most force to ignite.
Phillip Allen
Member
I got the same results with the same test
Phillip Allen
Member
Had a local cop get hurt using such a "trigger job". encountered a guy with a 44 mag. cop was hit twice; once at first encounter and second time after the cop milked his revolver dry from 4 feet...two rounds failing to go off. The BG was the worst shot of the two hitting cop once in the shoulder and once in a big gob of keys in his pocket...poor recoil recovery with an impressive magnum but dead just the same
gator378
Member
CCI vs Federal Primers
Use both, pistol and rifle. Never had a problem with either. For practice I will switch, but never saw any difference in accuracy or velocity with my loads.
44 Mag, 45 Acp, 10mm, 2506, 300 Weatherby
Use both, pistol and rifle. Never had a problem with either. For practice I will switch, but never saw any difference in accuracy or velocity with my loads.
44 Mag, 45 Acp, 10mm, 2506, 300 Weatherby
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