Winchester primers

[cwmax2000]

I wanted opinions on Winchester primers. I am a FNG on reloading, loaded about 700 rounds so far, 9mm, 38 spl, 357 mag. (mostly 38's) I bought CCI small pistol primers and Winchester small pistol magnum primers. I am using a RCBS universal hand priming tool and I clean the primer pockets. The CCI primers have seated and worked perfectly, but the Winchester primers seem to be much more temperamental. I had one yesterday that would not seat, and looked deformed. Even some of the Winchester primers were upside down in the shipping tray, just a few of them. They don't seem to feed as well in the priming tool. They just seem not as good as the CCI's. What has been ya'lls experiences?

Thanks Cmax

[alma]

They are softer than the CCI but not as soft as the Federals. Shooting Production division with a striker fired gun and a good trigger pretty much requires Federal Primers but they always felt soft even in the 650 and I have managed to ignite a primer tube of Federal.

I am now running Winchester exclusively. They run better in my press than Federal but it's still easier to set them off than the CCI. I have experienced no issues with them.

[blairmckenzie1]

stick with the cci's

[ttolliver]

CCI are also my go to primers except where I need the softer Federal for one of my revolvers. But I've loaded a little bit of everything -- all with the RCBS hand priming tool.

The only actual primer issue I've ever run into is that Tulas and one other brand I forget at the moment seem to rotate more easily as they feed through the hand priming tool. I'm sure they meet whatever specs exist for primers, but my gut wants to say they are either ever so slightly smaller in diameter or have a slightly more rounded edge to the cup that permits them to rotate. So I learned pretty quickly to glance at the primer as it's rising up the tool body to make sure it's sitting flat before I put the brass into position. Having a primer not quite square will definitely lead to a smashed primer, but there'll be no mistaking the additional effort it takes to mash that bad boy into the pocket.

As a newer loader I wonder if what you're running into is actually the crimp on the edge of primer pockets. A couple commercial brands (S&B is the worst) use what we normally call a military style crimp on the edge of the primer pocket. Even when you present the primer square and dead center to the primer pocket those will feel like a small catch that you have to push past. Sometimes pushing past that catch takes a bit more force. And once it lets loose that extra force can end up smashing a softer primer. So there's a chance you're experiencing crimped primer pockets.

[cwmax2000]

CCI are also my go to primers except where I need the softer Federal for one of my revolvers. But I've loaded a little bit of everything -- all with the RCBS hand priming tool.

The only actual primer issue I've ever run into is that Tulas and one other brand I forget at the moment seem to rotate more easily as they feed through the hand priming tool. I'm sure they meet whatever specs exist for primers, but my gut wants to say they are either ever so slightly smaller in diameter or have a slightly more rounded edge to the cup that permits them to rotate. So I learned pretty quickly to glance at the primer as it's rising up the tool body to make sure it's sitting flat before I put the brass into position. Having a primer not quite square will definitely lead to a smashed primer, but there'll be no mistaking the additional effort it takes to mash that bad boy into the pocket.

As a newer loader I wonder if what you're running into is actually the crimp on the edge of primer pockets. A couple commercial brands (S&B is the worst) use what we normally call a military style crimp on the edge of the primer pocket. Even when you present the primer square and dead center to the primer pocket those will feel like a small catch that you have to push past. Sometimes pushing past that catch takes a bit more force. And once it lets loose that extra force can end up smashing a softer primer. So there's a chance you're experiencing crimped primer pockets.

I experienced this on 357 mag cases, I don't believe they are crimped. I removed the primer and was able to seat another with no problem....thanks for the response...Cmax

[ZackJones]

Winchester is all I use mainly because the places where I buy them seem to only have them. I've loaded them in .38 Special, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP using my Lee single stage press and I haven't had any problems with them in any load/gun combo I've tried. I'm picking up 5000 more of them this weekend.

[Fullauto_Shooter]

I've loaded a few hundred thousand rounds with WIN primers (both pistol and rifle & large and small) and have never, to my knowledge, had a primer-related failure. I'm pretty pleased with them.

[LoganbillJ]

I run Win primers in everything I load(9mm, 40sw,223) and have not had a single issue with them. Reloading with a 650 as well.

[Sarge]

While I generally think they are good primers they are also the only brand I have ever found a defect in. I probably find a small handful every year that are out of round, Mis seated or missing anvils, etc.

That includes Tula/Wolf

[StraightUp_OG]

My order preference:

Federal

Winchester

CCI or Remmington

I run Winchesters for everything but Big matches and then it is the Fed's.

[Steve RA]

I run Tula KVB-223 in SP 45ACP and 9mm and now am using the KVB-556 in .223. Have never had any problem with the Tula primers.

[pitvpr]

There was a shooter survey writeup on Front Sight recently that covered everything, Win primers were the most used primers (percentage of shooters interviewed) overall according to the survey.

I have always used CCI (28 years now), recently I tried Win primers and found them to seat much easier in my 650, but I've only shot a couple hundred of them so I can report on the performance.

All I can say is that seeting is so smooth that I had to check my casings periodically because it felt like there was no primer going into the pocket (loading 40sw to major).

[chuckols]

I have run CCI, Federal, Winchester and Wolf over 10K or so of 9MM, 40S&W and 45ACP and have no real problems with any of them.

I have to admit that the only real issue I have had with primers is weeding out the 9mm mil crimps that require the primer pockets to be ( hand )reamed to enable a neat press fit of the new primer. Once I defined the problem I got help in solving that beaut. I avoid military range brass when I see it.

Chuck

[GrumpyOne]

I've loaded a few hundred thousand rounds with WIN primers (both pistol and rifle & large and small) and have never, to my knowledge, had a primer-related failure. I'm pretty pleased with them.

+100

[jaredr]

have used winchester for everything (small and large rifle, small and large pistol) for several years. have half a sleeve of federal small pistol primers that I am working my way through loading .38 special specifically for a few bullseye revolvers but everything else gets ww. tried remington 7 1/2 for 5.56 and had lots of issues with primers not seating properly on my 1050, went back to ww and issues went away...

[sniper3]

I have always used the Federal Match small pistol primers, at least 10-15 thousands and never had any problems at all. I'm loading 9, 38 super and 40 cal

[safeactionjackson]

Been using Winchest small/large pistol primers in my 550b/s1050 without issue, close to 20K rnds made in the the last 12 months.

I've got a good stash of Remmington's also, but have not given them a try.

~g

[Laughingdog]

My order preference:

Federal

Winchester

CCI or Remmington

I run Winchesters for everything but Big matches and then it is the Fed's.

I have the same order of preference. The only exception is with Winchester Large Pistol in my S&W 625 revolver. For some reason, even with an extended firing pin, I'll get misfires 30-35% of the time. Something about the orientation of everything made Winchester Large Pistol run like crap in that particular model of gun, whether it's factory configuration or not.

One advantage of the revolver was that it was easy to compare the primers in that gun. I loaded all 3 brands of primers into small and large pistol .45 brass. As mentioned, the Winchester Large Pistol (which runs perfectly in all but a couple of my match guns) was horrible in the 625 revolver. But dialing back the strain screw a bit at a time, I was able to rank the rest in order of Hardest to Softest:

CCI Large, CCI small, Winchester small, Federal Large, Federal small.

Yes, there was actually a point where I could get the small Federals to light off every time, but the large Federals would fail every 10-20 shots.

[rtp]

I see you've posted the identical Q over on arfcom, as well.

Short version - don't worry about Winchesters. I've loaded Winchester, MagTechs, Fiocchi (all have gone bang, but go through the press more like Tula or CCIs, 'with some effort'), Rem, and have a stash of CCI, Tula, and more to eventually get to.

Lately I'm liking MagTechs...why? Because they load like WSPs in my press, nice smooth and easy, and are relatively soft, again like WSPs.

I might not choose Winchester small rifle primers for AR or other autoloader with free floating firing pin, but short of building a gun that absolutely needs the softest pistol primer (Federals), I've neither seen nor read of any reason to avoid them, and I'd gladly swap my whole primer stash for nothing but WSPs.

Edited June 7, 2014 by rtp