Incidents with Federal Primers?

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altitude_19

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So I was asking about some softer primers in another post (and not even CONSIDERING Federal at the time) but a few posts might have changed my mind. So have any of you guys actually had an incident loading Federal primers (especially in an APS)?
 
I even went against Lees recommendations, and used Fed primers in my Lee hand primer without incident. I hate the boxes federal uses!! I will go back to Winchester primers, when my local guy has them again.
 
I also go against Lee recommendations and use the Lee hand primer. So far after approx. 15k various primers in the last 2 years--no problems yet. With the primer availability troubles I have used many of them as that was what I could get my hands on and they all worked fine. Also Wolf were harder to seat but I had no problems with them other than that.
 
How did the story get started? There are archives, there are Internet archives, before Internet archives their were books, one interesting book that is not read by those creating archives on the Internet is a book by R. Lee about 'EVERYTHING ABOUT RELOADING'.

The first person that read the book and told the story had a problem with reading comprehension, after reading the book they posted what they thought they read as being fact and posted the information on the Internet, after that? everyone repeated (cut and paste) the story about what they thought R. Lee wrote.

R. Lee, in his book about modern reloading did not say he tested Federal primers, he said he did not test Federal primers because Federal did not donate primers to be tested, Federal primers are MORE POWERFUl, that is what I want, more powerful primers.

Then I made up the part about the large primer tray used by Federal, I said they make the tray too large for Lee's hand primer/flip tray to give R. Lee something to complain about.

Now I see Lee reloading has a new hand primer with a large tray AND it is square.

One day I started out to set off a primer in a hand primer, not easy, I used the Lee and RCBS hand primers, forget using two primers stacked one primer above the other, not enough leverage, after 2 hours I set one off, it was not a Federal and it was not an accident, it was deliberate and it was not the first attempt at setting off that one primer.

Setting the primer off was right up there on the list of things I have done that has upset the wife, setting the primer off in the shop was right up there Dart Vader.

F. Guffey
 
I used to use my Lee hand priming tool with Federal primers then discovered that Lee recommended against using Federal primers in their tool.

So, i bought a different hand primer and retired the Lee.

So far, I have not had any issue with Federal primers.
 
I'm on my second 100,000 purchase of Federal primers and have never had one go off without being hit by a firing pin. Those hit by a firing pin all went off.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Been using them for years with no problems. I also hate the packaging but as far as the primers themselves go, they are great for my operation.

The Dove
 
I had one go off in a Dillon 650 when I tried to prime a military case that had had the old primer crimped in. The primer didn't feed into the pocket smoothly, got squished, went bang. My pal (who's press I was using) and I said, "Wow," and then I finished the rest of the case.
 
nope.

I like the silver color and the way they ignite more reliably in my softly sprung guns. I dislike the gi-normous packaging they come in.
 
Hasn't happened to me, yet, BUT ... I sold a Lee autoprime on ebay a while back which I picked up as part of a box of stuff in trade. The charring in the chute made it clear "something" happened, like the whole tray went off.

LEE_autoprime2.jpg

Can't blame it on Federal primers specifically since I wasn't there, but I guess Mr. Lee might just be right. Watch yourself. Got a good price for it even so.
 
Please stay away from Federal primers, just to much danger of a explosion. please buy other brands, so there will be more for me to buy at a cheaper price because hardly anyone wants them, but shooters like me. :evil:
Never mind the above statement, if you can't tell, I'm joking.:D I use Federal primers all the time, and have not had a problem. LM
 
Hmmm....I might just take the leap. APS strips do a lot to stave off sympathetic detonation, so any problems are unlikely and if they do happen, should be minor (yes I wear eye protection).
 
Lee Roder said:
The charring in the chute made it clear "something" happened, like the whole tray went off.
Click to expand...

That's not charring. Mine has looked like that for years. (It's not an AutoPrime either. I think that one's called a Ram Prime and I would have sold it too since using a press pull to prime a cartridge seems wasteful to me :))

I did have one primer go off when seating. It wasn't a Federal primer and it was all my fault for trying to force it past a crimp I hadn't completely removed. It was in the living room and I'm glad the wife wasn't home. Much louder than I ever expected...

I have used Federal primers when they were cheaper or I couldn't find anything else. Their packaging just took up too much of my valuable storage space.
 
fguffey said:
R. Lee, in his book about modern reloading did not say he tested Federal primers, he said he did not test Federal primers because Federal did not donate primers to be tested, Federal primers are MORE POWERFUl, that is what I want, more powerful primers.
Click to expand...

Could you clarify? Who wanted more powerful primers, you (fguffey) or R. Lee?

Then I made up the part about the large primer tray used by Federal, I said they make the tray too large for Lee's hand primer/flip tray to give R. Lee something to complain about.
Click to expand...

Now I'm really confused. :confused:


And does all this tie in with the following from Lee's webpage for the Lee AutoPrime? I am assuming that CCI & Winchester are the companies that donated primers the first time around.

Users have reported that the primers in the tray of an Auto Prime can explode for various reasons, some of which include: a cocked primer, or an attempt to prime a case which has a primer already in place, or more than one primer on the punch, or priming a military case with the crimp not completely removed. Should an explosion occur, our tests have demonstrated that safety glasses will normally prevent serious injury to the user if CCI or Winchester primers are used, because the explosion is minimal. Other primers, however, can explode with sufficient force to seriously injure the user, or persons nearby. We do not take any position with respect to the quality or performance of primers available on the market. However, only those primers manufactured by CCI or Winchester are recommended for use in the Lee Auto Prime, and when loading those primers, safety glasses should always be used. No other primers should be used with the Lee Auto Prime.
Click to expand...
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1289881681.5408=/html/catalog/primtool.html
 
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