Tula Primers...What's your experience?

[LiveLife]

Thanks for the update Russell. It was just the nickel/chrome colored Tula SP primers I had issues with. No problems with 50,000+ Tula LP/LR/SR/.223 and Wolf LP brass/copper colored primers. They all have been 100%.

Perhaps, when my current supply of Tula SP primers run out, I may give the brass colored SP primers a try.

BTW, anyone tried S&B primers?

 

[ljnowell]

Thanks for the update Russell. It was just the nickel/chrome colored Tula SP primers I had issues with. No problems with 50,000+ Tula LP/LR/SR/.223 and Wolf LP brass/copper colored primers. They all have been 100%.

Perhaps, when my current supply of Tula SP primers run out, I may give the brass colored SP primers a try.

BTW, anyone tried S&B primers?

Yep, I actually have come to prefer the S&B primers. I bought some during the crunch and found that they seated smoothly and were pretty sensitive. I have one gun that is tuned to the max for competition and it will get 1 to 2 light strikes per hundred with Winchester or cci but is 100% with federal. I used a couple thousand S&B spp in it without a single failure.

I have also had a 1% or little higher failure rate out of some Tula spp. One brick would be perfect, the next would have multiple failures(not with the gun mentioned above, different ones). The LPP , no problems. No more Tula primers for me.

 

[345 DeSoto]

The only FTF with my M1 Carbine was with a silver colored Tula primer. NO FTF with any other Brand...

 

[1911Teacher]

I find S&B primers harder to insert into a case. They seem to have more squared shoulders than many other brands. They also stink when fired.

 

[RussellC]

The next batch I load will be from one of the other bricks, and so on. I will mix them up and report if any failures.

Russellc

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

In several thousand rounds of handgun and 30 carbine, no problems with Tula primers so far (SPP and SRP). Only FTF in the 30 carbine was due to primer placement (had a few with CCI SRP also - this was in my first 100 rounds of reloaded ammo ..... learning curve).

Have a few thousand Tula LRPs (the "military" or harder version) I will use in my 30-06 reloads for the Garand.

Price/availability so far have been my only criteria for primer choice. Only "special" primer need I have is for a Colt snub that needs Federals (more sensitive) to avoid FsTF. ljnowell, interesting to hear that S&B SPPs perform for you in a light-striking gun. Will keep them in mind when my stock of Federals runs out.

 

[jsab9191]

Bought 10K in December 2012 (brass colored) . Failure rate has averaged 5% in the first 8K.
Never had a failed primer with CCI, Federal, or Winchester in the 35 years I've reloaded.

 

[ljnowell]

I find S&B primers harder to insert into a case. They seem to have more squared shoulders than many other brands. They also stink when fired.

They do have squared edges. I have never noticed any smell from them. Over the smell of powder and bullet lube I would think it would be nearly impossible to detect.

 

[Jaymo]

My only experience with Tula primers has been in Tula .45 ACP and 7.62x39 ammo.
No problems with either, except that both were dirty, dirty ammo.
They were fired from a Star M45 Firestar, an ATI 1911 Commander, and a CAI Romanian AK pistol. All have stock springs and are hammer fired.
Don't know what powder they used but it was D-I-R-T-Y.
Much like Atlanta Arms and Magtech used to be.

I've been fortunate enough to buy all my primers locally and use Federal, CCI, and Winchester.

 

[RussellC]

I usually use winchester or CCI...no problem acquiring them locally at all. But they were not 23.99 a thousand (with no hazmat fee either!). I have 10s of thousands of winchester and cci primers, just couldnt resist trying the Tulas (I only bought 3 thousand) at that price, along with waived hazmat fee that was the promotion at Midsouth at the time.

Russellc

 

[LiveLife]

For me, CCI/Winchester/Magtech primers work better with Pro 1000 primer attachments. The slightly larger diameters of Tula/Wolf/Fiocchi primer cups are a pain in the butt at times to work reliably with Pro 1000, especially with once-fired brass and tighter primer pockets (Tula/Wolf/Fiocchi and once-fired S&B/RWS are "no-go" for me).

But if your brass has enlarged primer pockets, they work well.

Now that I am reloading on Dillon 650, my primer selection criteria may change.

So I guess depending on the reloading platform and the size of your primer pockets, your primer selection may vary.

 

[GLOOB]

I haven't reached the 1k mark, yet. But S&B primers have worked 100% for me. They seat nicely. And they get the award for being the prettiest primers I have ever used. My reloads have never looked so much like factory ammo.

I didn't know Fiocchi also made primers. I have some Fiochhi 45ACP ammo, and the primers look exactly the same as S&B primers. I wonder if they're made at the same factory.

I've yet to have a failure with S&B or Fiocchi factory ammo, either. Well, there was one squib with the S&B, but the primer definitely went off.

 

[LeftyTSGC]

I have used TulAmmo LP and TulAmmo LP Magnum at least 2K each without any problems. I recently found 2K of TulAmmo SP that i have not tried yet.

I use a Dillon SDB and do not have any problems loading them. I primarily load them in .45LC and 9MM.

What i have found, when i encountered some primer seating issues, is that it was the Brass not the primers. Some primer pockets are slightly different which can cause a problem.

Waiting to see how the SPP's work.

 

[kostner]

Have used many in my AR without any problems. It was the great price I got online that persuaded me to buy.

 

[Dudedog]

No problems with thier 9mm Nato ones in my Springfield XD subcompact or Taraus PT99. (2000 used, but went back to CCI, bought these when they were all I could get)

Using the 5.56 (small rifle maganum) for my .223 in anAR and a Mini14 no problems yet. (2000 used)

 

[RussellC]

Well, I finally hit a dud with the Tula small pistol primers. No light primer strike, big old dent from the Glock 30S.

At first I thought I had loaded a squib, but the bullet was still all together. Opening it up revealed powder in there all right...usually without bullet, it would be lodged 1/2 way down the barrel. Double check of the barrel showed it free of course. First dud after several hundred. I did not try to fire it a second time, maybe I should have?

Russellc

 

[1KPerDay]

Last batch of loads I had quite a few duds (relatively) with Tula SPP. I have gone through 8K small and about 3K large... I won't be buying them again unless nothing else is available (which is why I bought them to begin with).

CCI and Win have given me no problems I can recall.

 

[1KPerDay]

I did not try to fire it a second time, maybe I should have?

I would have just out of curiosity. Out of 4 in one range session for me, only one went off upon re-strike.

 

[LiveLife]

Well, I finally hit a dud with the Tula small pistol primers. No light primer strike, big old dent from the Glock 30S

Thanks for posting an update. I thought the new bronze/brass colored Tula SP primers were reliable but will keep an eye on your progress to see how they continue to perform.

For those not familiar, there were some lot # of Tula SP primers sold few years back with nickel/silver colored primers that were determined to have harder cups that resulted in some light primer strikes/shallow indents and no primer ignition, even after multiple hits from hammer/strikers.

I thought this issue was resolved when Russell bought new lot # of Tula SP primers with bronze/brass colored primer cups.


Old lot # samples showing nickel/silver colored Tula SP primers with light striker indentations and typical "Glock" indentation with rectangle imprint from breech wall face from ignited primer on the right.

 

[RussellC]

Last batch of loads I had quite a few duds (relatively) with Tula SPP. I have gone through 8K small and about 3K large... I won't be buying them again unless nothing else is available (which is why I bought them to begin with).

CCI and Win have given me no problems I can recall.

Agreed on all accounts. If I can find where I put that thing, I will post a pic. Large glock strike however...
russellc