Opinions on primers (Brands)

[_N4Z_]

I have been reloading for about 6 months now, both .357mag and 7.62x54r.

I've used several different types of bullets and powders with each. Primers though all I have fired is CCI.

CCI 500 Small Pistol, and 200 Large Rifle. I'm through about 500 of the pistol primers, and a couple three hundred of the rifle.


About a month back one of the pistol primers required a second hit to light off in my GP100. This raised my brows a bit, but I'm sure it happens from time to time.

Last weekend while shooting groups with a Mosin I had a round click - cook - bang. The whole thing happened in under a second, but there was a distinct pause between the firing pin striking, and the load going off. Brows up again.

So now I am thinking of making a change from CCI to another brand. And to head off the incoming question, everything here is kept in a nice dark dry place. Should be no moisture/dirt/etc issues. Also, none of these items are stored for long periods between loading and shooting. As stated I've only been doing it for less than year.

So which primers do you guys like best? I am leaning towards trying some Remington 9-1/2's next for my rifle rounds. Probobly use up the rest of the CCI's on the magnums first and then look at a different brand there as well.

 

[.38 Special]

I use Federal because they have the reputation of being the easiest to ignite, at least in handguns. I cannot recall ever having had one fail to pop, in either rifle or handgun.

However, I have had very good luck with every other brand as well. I believe that A) every manufacturer will occasionally make a bad primer, and B) almost all "primer" failures are the fault of the gun, the load, or the person who assembled the ammo. That has been my personal experience, anyway.

 

[Envisaged]

For the .357 magnum I would use the Winchester small pistol magnums. CCI wasn't burning all the powder in my loads. CCI is known to be hard - and any lightening of tirgger/trigger work could cause this problem.

Rifle - well since Fed210's have been hard to get a hold of - I switched to CCI BR2's. No issues as of yet.

 

[The Bushmaster]

The one that took two hammer strikes was probably a primer that wasn't quit seated properly. The hang fire was probably a contaminated powder charge. Review your reloading procedures to insure this won't happen again...

CCI, Winchester, Remington, Wolf and Federal primers are of excellent quality and most problems with primers and powder charges can be traced to the reloader...

 

[Walkalong]

Yep. All the primers have proven reliable. All the brands have folks who use them and really like them. I have used Remingtons, Federals, Winchesters, and lately, CCIs, all with good success.

 

[357mag357]

N4Z. Have the same trouble with my GP100 with double strikes. It only happens using double action, never with single action. Never any problems with CCI, however winchester and wolf primers on occation will require a double strike. Good luck!

 

[The Bushmaster]

357mag357...Same problem. Primers not properly seated. You might also make sure you haven't messed with the hammer spring or no one else has...

 

[NCsmitty]

I've used nothing but CCI for the last 30 years, absolutely reliable.

NCsmitty

 

[rcmodel]

Yep! Me too.
Whatever your problem is, it isn't CCI primers I betcha!

BTW: Have you cleaned all the dried cosmoline out of Miss Mossy's bolt?

IMO: Most, if not all, primer problems can be traced to not seating all the way until the anvil is in firm contact with the primer pocket.

Or crushing the primer pellet by over-seating & smashing it.

 

[Clark]

I have done all kinds of experiments for accuracy and pressure, and I have found a little difference between primer types, but not enough for me to detect between brands.

I have had problems with firing pins, hammer springs, head space, and ball powder exposed to humid air, but no primer brand problems.

I think you almost have to be a bench rest guy to detect the difference in primer brands.

 

[GRIZ22]

I'm another satisfied CCI customer for about 35 years.

 

[1858rem]

what do you think about federal primers for 45 colt? found some at 2.99/hundred, where cci are 4.59/hundred, but i did get the brick/1000 for 35$ saved a bit lol. fed still look worth a try...opinions?

 

[ds/ks]

cci never had a problem

 

[.38 Special]

what do you think about federal primers for 45 colt? found some at 2.99/hundred, where cci are 4.59/hundred, but i did get the brick/1000 for 35$ saved a bit lol. fed still look worth a try...opinions?

Like folks have been saying, it just doesn't matter. If your gun is in good shape and you aren't doing something silly like trying to light a hundred grains of RL22 with a pistol primer, any brand will work -- Federal included.

 

[Crazy Fingers]

There definitely is a best primer out there for every caliber.

It's the one that happens to be cheapest!

 

[bullseye308]

I've only loaded 6000 this year for my 38, 357, and 9mm all with CCI 500's and have had no problems with any of them. My Ruger GP-100 went bang every time single action or double, so I'll stick with CCI. I also only use CCI for my rifles and have had no problem in 5000 rounds this year.

 

[rogn]

Just ran into a unique problem with Wolf large rifle magnum primers. The cup is slightly shorter than the normal US brands and apparently has a hard cup, this has led to very god accuracyin 300WSM and &mm WSM but several failure to fire in Browning Abolts and Savage 12s. These rifles have a light firing pin and seem to have less impact than the Remington 700, which has yet to fail. The dimple from the Remington is 2-3 times deeper and is larger than the other 2. Just a heads up.

 

[Clark]

Crazy Fingers
Senior Member


Join Date: 09-04-08
Posts: 239

There definitely is a best primer out there for every caliber.

It's the one that happens to be cheapest!

My cousin stated 30 years ago that all beers taste the same.
We did a blind test and concluded that I could taste the difference between any two beers and he could never taste the difference.

I am more like my cousin when it comes to primers.
They all work good enough for me.

 

[Hairballusmaximus]

I have used all brands except wolf, and have loaded some 50,000+ rounds over the last 20 years and never had a primer failure.

I have however, had factory ammo with primer duds, go figure.

 

[Larry E]

CCI's tend to be harder and more difficult to ignite than some others. If there's an ignition problem with a gun that cushions firing pin impact they might not go bang regularly. I've got a .223 Ackley that's got a slightly long chamber. With CCI 400's I got about 50% failures to fire while fireforming. With WSR's they went bang every time. After fireforming the CCI's worked fine.

 

[redneck2]

FWIW...I've used Federal, Winchester, and CCI's. In my TC .357 Herret, the CCI's will not light off maybe 30-50% on first strike, but Federals will. The TC's are known for light strikes. I can also tell you that CCI's are harder to seat than Federal in some brands of cases. I use WW in pistol because I'm lazy and can use them for both standard and magnum loads.

As noted, I think it's a Ford-Dodge-Chevy thing. If it works, go for it. If not, change. Ask five people and you'll get five answers and all are right.

 

[Superreverb]

I've used nothing but CCI for the last 30 years, absolutely reliable.

NCsmitty

20-years, same-same, for me. CCI for metallics, Winchester 209 for shotgun. Never had a problem. Never.

As always, tho - YMMV.

Regards - Ed

 

[Ky Larry]

They all go bang for me. I'm not a good enough shot to tell much difference in accuracy.