I don't think there is a huge difference in hardness....but I'd probably say CCI is the hardest..../ and its one of the "hotter" primers as well.../ Federal is probably the softest.../ Rem and Win are about the same ( and you get way less pressure on both Rem and Win - so I prefer them usually.
I've used a lot of Winchester, Reminton, CCI and Chedite 209 primers...and I didn't see a big difference.
However, I'm assuming you know - that not all shotshell 209 primers are interchangeable ....you'll need to find the right recipe for the primer you pick ...
as an example, 12ga, Rem STS hull, Hodgdon Clays powder, 1 oz of shot, Wad is WAA12SL, velocity at 1235 pfs ...using a
CCI 209 primer powder drop is 17.5gr 11,200 psi
CCI 209-SC primer powder drop is 17.4gr 11,300 psi
FED 209 A primer powder drop is 17.7gr 11,300 psi
REM 209 P primer powder drop is 18.7gr 9,400 psi
WIN 209 primer powder drop is 18.4gr 9,500 LUP ( not PSI, like rsrocket1 pointed out ) ...sorry !
I'm not saying 1gr of powder in a shotshell is dangerous one way or the other ....because you'll find loads from 1125 fps to 1345 fps ...using 1 oz loads in a 12ga.....but I would still follow the published recipe.
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Since you're firing pins are hanging up ....the first thing I'd do is take the stock off...inspect the firing pins and springs...and clean and lightly lube both .../ look at pins under magnification - make sure there is no erosion on the head of the pins...and reassemble before I decided if it was ammo related or the firing pins.
The other question is .....what hulls are you using.../ maybe its a hull problem ...or a hull resizing problem.../ if you're not resizing your hulls when you're reloading them, I'd suggest you do that as well. Some of the cheap hulls...with steel bases (like Chedite, Estate, RIO, etc ...can be a pain in the butt to reload and resize ).....in 12ga, 20ga, 28ga and .410 ....the only hulls I reload are Remington STS or Remington Nitro....I used to use the old Win AA's in 28ga and .410 ...but when Win switched to these HS 2 part hulls ....I quite using Winchester and went to Remington.