CCI 500 Primers - are they hard or soft?

[38SuperDub]

Basically - are the CCI 500 primers a HARD primer or are the comparable to the WSP?

[yoshidaex]

Not sure if harder is the word I would use.

Less sensitive would better describe it.

[Sarge]

Common theory is Federals soft- CCI Hard. All others fall in between somewhere.

[Glockcomma]

CCI used to be hard a long time ago they changed their formula and became more along the lines of Winchester. Guy Neill mentioned this in a Front Sight article a few years ago, Guy used to work for Speer/CCI.

[sqrlnts]

I have been told and would say most sensitive to least sensitive

Federal

Remington

Winchester

CCI

[OUshooter]

I would tend to agree with the "ranking" of the primers. The only addition would be the Tula primers. In my experience their spp are "harder" than CCI.

Out of a 100 I will get 2 cci primers that won't light, and ~6 tula that won't light. That is out of a G35, with a decreased power striker spring.

Using Federal spp in the last 2k rounds I have never had a failure to light.

If I run the factory striker spring I have zero issues with any primer.

[GuyC]

This is the ranking of the primers that I have used.

Federal- All around the best primer I have used.

Winchester- Currently use and work great

CCI-I had 1-2 light strikes per 100

Tula/Wolf- Sold the 10K I got because they would not work in my Limited gun

PMC-Unusable

Edited July 24, 2011 by GuyC

[The Antichrome]

Basically - are the CCI 500 primers a HARD primer or are the comparable to the WSP?

While I wont argue whether they're hard or not...I've had very few that didnt light...out of many many thousands that I've used in various guns. These were well seated, not 'high' primers as far as I could tell.

[Waterfowl-widowmaker]

Harder than most. I like Federals cause I can shoot them in my 1911 or my wheel gun. Winchesters work almost as well and I use them if I can't find federals.

[polizei1]

Granted I've only used a few hundred, but I've had no issues with CCI #500 SPP's. The reason I bought these were because they were on sale. I bought 10k of them but I might try Federal next, if the CCI are not on sale.

[98sr20ve]

I use CCI SP in my Glock with a reduced power striker spring with no issues.

[38superman]

I used CCI almost exclusively for years and never had an issue or failure in any kind of gun (including numerous revolvers).

Can't say the same for Feds.

An out of gun detonation of a loaded 40 cal round pretty much ended their usage for my handguns.

At this time, my primer of choice is WW but I have no hesitation to use CCI.

Tls

[JeremyM]

I find WSP are more reliable than CCI with MY GUN. I have had few WSP(1-2 out of 4,000 rounds or so)not go bang. With CCI, it was more like 5 out of 100. I do have a light firing pin spring, which can contribute to some of that. I prefer WSP.

[Miker]

I used Federal primers when shooting my glock with light striker spring never had problem with them firing they were a bit soft and had many that smashed in primer pocket while reloading, I didnt like that but dealt with it for reliabilty using the light stiker spring. In my 2011 guns I use Winchester and CCI primers, Winchester rarely smash the primer (usually when using Winchester brass for some reason) CCI seems to be the hardest of the two as I really dont recall them getting smashed in primer pocket while reloading.

[setsuo]

Allen Jones wrote in article that CCI used to put a very small piece of foil over primer charge to seal it they no longer do that all specs match other brand of primer Allen Jones was editor of the last 4 Speer reloading manuals & Dallas CSI

[z40acp]

With WSP impossible to find 3 yrs. ago, I purchased some CCI 500 and have not had a failure in over 2000 rounds in my stock S&W M&P Pro9.

[kalaur]

With some hot 40 loads I had, same powder/bullet/OAL, only changing the primer I was seeing more flattening with winchester small pistol magnum primers than i was with CCI small pistol primers. They were very similar in velocity, but due to the deformation, I'd say CCIs are a little harder than WSP.