Primers...
- Thread starter biogenic
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NeuseRvrRat
Member
if only it were that simple...
UKWildcatFan
Member
Remington. Not sure why, really, as I haven't really tried the others too much. I just am loyal to them.
Steel Horse Rider
Member
I have almost always used CCI, except during the years of the great primer shortage when all I could find here were Winchesters. They have all worked just fine.
ChefJeff1
Member
CCI, Idaho.
Not enough choices to vote.
Remington 7-1/2 for 17 Rem, 204 Ruger, and 223 Rem varmint/match ammunition.
CCI and Winchester for about anything else depending on what i find at the time.
I have used Federal when nothing else is available.
I tried some Tulammo primers. they work, but i think I avoid them unless I can't find anything else.
Remington 7-1/2 for 17 Rem, 204 Ruger, and 223 Rem varmint/match ammunition.
CCI and Winchester for about anything else depending on what i find at the time.
I have used Federal when nothing else is available.
I tried some Tulammo primers. they work, but i think I avoid them unless I can't find anything else.
Certaindeaf
member
Russian pig strong!
Don't mind me. I use CCI go bang good.
Don't mind me. I use CCI go bang good.
LiveLife
Member
Winchester for me, although I do like CCI BR2 for .308. 
Looking back, I've never had a bad primer from Winchester, CCI, or Remington. But only did 1k of Remington and several K of the first two. Not being a benchrest shooter, I can't tell you which ones are more accurate. So between Winchester and CCI, here's my take on the trivial differences I've noticed between these two (that amount to nearly nothing):
Esthetics:
CCI: Primers are bright silver.
Winchester: Primers look like they're corroded, right out of the box.
+1 to CCI
Packaging:
CCI: A little more compact, and the cardboard looks new.
Winchester: looks like it was printed on recycled cardboard with a press from the 1960's.
+1 CCI, if you're a packrat with limited storage space. +1 Winchester if you're a treehugger.
Packaging 2:
CCI: 3-20 primers per tray are flipped upside down
Winchester: 99.9% of the time all primers are right side up
+1 Winchester
Primer markings:
CCI: all CCI SPP and SRP look exactly the same
Winchester: each primer is color coded on the top of the anvil.
+2 Winchester. This is the only manufacturer I know of that does this. It's great, esp if you occasionally substitute regular/magnum/rifle/pistol between each other and prime your cases in advance. If you have any doubt, you can shine a flashlight into the case to see which primer is in there. Or if you have a lot of assembled ammo sitting on a dusty shelf with no label, you can pull one bullet and look in the case.
Other: I've run 1k of CCI SRP through my Glocks with zero light strikes. Never tried that with Winchester. So +1 for CCI SRP, for the versatility.
Price:
Right now, at Powder Valley, CCI are 26/k for SPP and SRP. Winchester are 25/k for the same. That's pretty much a wash. Federals are also the same price, so I might finally give them a try.
Esthetics:
CCI: Primers are bright silver.
Winchester: Primers look like they're corroded, right out of the box.
+1 to CCI
Packaging:
CCI: A little more compact, and the cardboard looks new.
Winchester: looks like it was printed on recycled cardboard with a press from the 1960's.
+1 CCI, if you're a packrat with limited storage space. +1 Winchester if you're a treehugger.
Packaging 2:
CCI: 3-20 primers per tray are flipped upside down
Winchester: 99.9% of the time all primers are right side up
+1 Winchester
Primer markings:
CCI: all CCI SPP and SRP look exactly the same
Winchester: each primer is color coded on the top of the anvil.
+2 Winchester. This is the only manufacturer I know of that does this. It's great, esp if you occasionally substitute regular/magnum/rifle/pistol between each other and prime your cases in advance. If you have any doubt, you can shine a flashlight into the case to see which primer is in there. Or if you have a lot of assembled ammo sitting on a dusty shelf with no label, you can pull one bullet and look in the case.
Other: I've run 1k of CCI SRP through my Glocks with zero light strikes. Never tried that with Winchester. So +1 for CCI SRP, for the versatility.
Price:
Right now, at Powder Valley, CCI are 26/k for SPP and SRP. Winchester are 25/k for the same. That's pretty much a wash. Federals are also the same price, so I might finally give them a try.
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1SOW
Member
Federal SPP
-Fires reliably with lighter strikes than any other primer. The only primer that contains nitro-g.
-MOST reliable primer with lightly sprung pistols or revolvers.
-I prefer the "nickle look"
-Fires reliably with lighter strikes than any other primer. The only primer that contains nitro-g.
-MOST reliable primer with lightly sprung pistols or revolvers.
-I prefer the "nickle look"
ArchAngelCD
Member.
I use mostly CCI but like many other reloaders I did use anything I could get during the "shortage" and now I also have a lot of Winchester handgun primers.
For rifle ammo I use CCI almost exclusively while I can't tell the difference between CCI and Winchester in handgun ammo.
I rarely use Remington because where I live they cost more, sometimes a lot more. ($28/1000 compared to $34/1000)
I refuse to use Federal primers because they always cost more than CCI, they were often out of stock even before the shortage as far back as 2004 and also, their packaging is huge and takes up way too much space on my shelves.
For rifle ammo I use CCI almost exclusively while I can't tell the difference between CCI and Winchester in handgun ammo.
I rarely use Remington because where I live they cost more, sometimes a lot more. ($28/1000 compared to $34/1000)
I refuse to use Federal primers because they always cost more than CCI, they were often out of stock even before the shortage as far back as 2004 and also, their packaging is huge and takes up way too much space on my shelves.
capreppy
Member
I currently only run CCI. I had issues with Win LPP on my LnL AP when I first started reloading and going to CCI solved the issue (the Win LPP is a smidge taller than CCI and it was getting "stuck" on the primer feed ramp.
In the one year of reloading, I've used 10k CCI LPP & SPP as well as 6k SRP and a few hundred LRP. I'm about to embark on .308 Win so I'll be using a lot more LRP.
I've been VERY pleased with the results thus far and have never had issues with light strikes and I certainly don't have any issues with feeding via my LnL AP.
I do tend to hand prime my rifle brass so my LnL AP doesn't play into priming.
I typically buy CCI when they are on sale, so I don't have an issue with cost differentials.
In the one year of reloading, I've used 10k CCI LPP & SPP as well as 6k SRP and a few hundred LRP. I'm about to embark on .308 Win so I'll be using a lot more LRP.
I've been VERY pleased with the results thus far and have never had issues with light strikes and I certainly don't have any issues with feeding via my LnL AP.
I do tend to hand prime my rifle brass so my LnL AP doesn't play into priming.
I typically buy CCI when they are on sale, so I don't have an issue with cost differentials.
Arkansas Paul
Member
Whatever's cheapest. I have not been able to tell a noticeable difference in any of them. I do however have a preference as to how they are packed. I like Remington and Federal primers just fine but I hate the way they're packed sideways. I love the way Winchester primers are packed, where you can just turn them upside down in a hand priming tool. I'm about to try some Wolf primers because they're so cheap and I've never heard anything bad about them.
evan price
Member
If price were the same I'd go Winchesters. Since price is an issue I use a lot of Wolf/Tula.
Certaindeaf
member
Me too.. over at blinders.net.
I didn't vote because I really have no preference. In my 38 years of reloading, I have shot them all. I'm not a good enough shot to tell much difference. During the great primer shortage a couple years ago, I shot a lot of MagTek and PMC primers and they worked fine. YMMV.
Snobal
Member
I started "seriously" reloading in the early 1970's (prior to that, I was using a plastic hammer and a "Lee Loader), and never used any other primer than CCI. .
Never had a "Dud," but a couple of years ago I got a brick (1K) of small pistol primers that seemed to have been made with small rifle cups. WOW! Those primers were hard! Had many FTF's with that brick and my revolvers with light springs. Other than that one brick, I've had nothing but great luck with CCI primers for about 40 years.
During the "primer shortage" of a couple of years ago, I tried several other brands and my favorite became Federal simply because they seat so easily (but the huge boxes they come in and the way they are packaged is a real PITA).
I did not vote because I have found no significant difference (in reliability or accuracy) between brands of primers --- other than packaging.
JMHO - YRMV
Never had a "Dud," but a couple of years ago I got a brick (1K) of small pistol primers that seemed to have been made with small rifle cups. WOW! Those primers were hard! Had many FTF's with that brick and my revolvers with light springs. Other than that one brick, I've had nothing but great luck with CCI primers for about 40 years.
During the "primer shortage" of a couple of years ago, I tried several other brands and my favorite became Federal simply because they seat so easily (but the huge boxes they come in and the way they are packaged is a real PITA).
I did not vote because I have found no significant difference (in reliability or accuracy) between brands of primers --- other than packaging.
JMHO - YRMV
USSR
Member
The Wolf/Tula primers are good, but be forewarned, they are packed upside down.
Don
Jaxondog
Member
Alcan is first choice if i can find them or else it's CCI or Winchester. I still have Alcan primer's from the 1960's and yep, they still work.
gamestalker
member
I started out using Winchester but a friend of mine said he liked CCI better because of how the seat. I tried them and have not had one single mis-fire in 30+ yrs. of using them.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
I used mostly WInchester when I started reloading in 1962.
Then switched to CCI when they became more widely available and have used them since.
Never had a misfire with either in 50 years that wasn't old worn-out gun related, or some other factor like defective primer pockets cut too deep
rc
Then switched to CCI when they became more widely available and have used them since.
Never had a misfire with either in 50 years that wasn't old worn-out gun related, or some other factor like defective primer pockets cut too deep
rc
Flintknapper
Member
CCI in rifles, Federal in pistols.
markshere2
Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2008
- Messages
- 36
I like cci for everything, but Wolf is a lot more cost effective by about 40%.
Wolf packaging sux.
If i try to dump 10-30 at a time into the priming tray I always get a couple of primers flipped and jammed in the sleeve.
But that's a minor irritant in the big scheme of things.
Wolf primers seem to be a lot harder.
I have a rossi 223 single shot that hits light.
I get a lotta FTF on the wolf primers, but the CCI SR primers all fire.
Loading the wolf primed rounds with the rossi firing pin marks into the ruger mini 14, they all go bang.
so they work with robust springs.
and not so much with wimpy ones.
YMMV
Wolf packaging sux.
If i try to dump 10-30 at a time into the priming tray I always get a couple of primers flipped and jammed in the sleeve.
But that's a minor irritant in the big scheme of things.
Wolf primers seem to be a lot harder.
I have a rossi 223 single shot that hits light.
I get a lotta FTF on the wolf primers, but the CCI SR primers all fire.
Loading the wolf primed rounds with the rossi firing pin marks into the ruger mini 14, they all go bang.
so they work with robust springs.
and not so much with wimpy ones.
YMMV
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