Brand Of Primers

[Guest qstick]

Hello everyone,

I am just getting set up to load .40 for the first time. Is there a difference between either Winchester or Federal small pistol primers? Is one more reliable than the other? I can;t decide if this is a legitimate concern, or if i am being waaaay to anal.

Thanks,

Zach

[GlocknSchpiel]

Zach, They are both reliable! The main difference between Fed and Win is that the Federals have a thinner (read; SOFTER) cup. If you are shooting a trigger group with a lightened mainspring, use federal. If not, use ANY of the brands out there (Fed., Win., CCI., Rem).

Hope this helps,

Glockn...

[jessej]

Zach,

I hear some revolver shooters use Federal primers after a trigger job.

And Federal primers are less prone to light hits, therefore more sensitive.

If you are going shoot an auto I'd go with which ever one you can get a better price on.

Jesse

[AikiDale]

FWIW

I load large pistol primers and have found Federal a royal pain because they jam up in the pick up tubes. Have not had the problem with Winchester

[j1b]

I recently with with CCI Small Rifle (more consistent burn) and had good luck. Very happy with the load consistency and no ignition issues.

Sounds like you're safe with whatever you decide. I will note that Federals are the hardest to slide on to the little primer flipper tray thing - I hate to say it but I look for CCI or Winchester because of that very thing. Their boxes are smaller.

JB

[EricW]

qstick,

I think in the regular small pistol and large pistol primers, Fed's and Win's are pretty close as far as ignition performance. Where the divergence seems to occur is that Winchester considers their regular primers suitable for Magnum loads as well, whereas Federal has a hotter primer they sell. The Fed. magnums are indeed substantially hotter, and I've had to use them in lieu of Winchesters to get proper ignition on some loads. I've never needed that feature, however, with normal, autopistol loads like you're running.

I shoot Winchesters, just because I get them for $12/1000 at the gunshows.

[ErikW]

Do a search on Federal primers here for important concerns if you are loading with a Dillon progressive press. I think there's something in the Dillon press manual about them too.

(I am right about the Feds, it's not Rem or CCI that are the Dillon nemesis primers, right?)

[gm iprod]

Dillon have always issued a small warning about using federal primers in their presses.

Many other press manufacturers also give similar warnings, but their opinion doesn't count I have used Federal primers for over 14years in progressive presses and in the last 3 years I think I have had about 100,000 go through one or the other of my Dillon Presses, plus god knows how many other brands. Find what works best for the load / pistol you are using and go with that. Load with care and have fun.

I find CCI primers and R-P or Speer cases drive me nuts. The CCI have a bad habit of hanging on the decapping pin and getting caught in the machine. I have many complaints from customers about this and it is usually 9mm brass and CCI SP primers. Just be careful.

[Liota]

Sounds like you're safe with whatever you decide. I will note that Federals are the hardest to slide on to the little primer flipper tray thing - I hate to say it but I look for CCI or Winchester because of that very thing. Their boxes are smaller.

JB

JB,

Thanks for bringing that up. I had thought for a moment it was somewhat trivial. I load most of the primer tubes for us. After playing 100-primer-pickup a couple of times, I tend to think CCI and Winchester have better packaging.

CCI and Federal have given me no problems for ignition. I have seen and had a couple of failures to ignite from Winchester.

Liota

[Flexmoney]

Federals are all I use in the Glocks.

[vluc]

Likewise Federals but a shooting partner of mine has experienced a problem with Federals that maybe some folks here can shed some light on.

We had been using the Federal (Red box) primers, when , by accident, we ordered the Federal Gold medal Match primers (white box). He uses small rifle, I use small pistol.

At any rate, I saw no issues with the change, my G34 ate them all up. But...his 1911 style open gun had more than several light primer strikes during the recent Tri-State. Seems the cups may have been a tad tougher.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[spook]

Ditto on what most guys said. Federals are softer and ignite easier. I shoot a tuned revolver and it doesn't work with Winchester primers. I am forced to use Federals, or live with a heavier trigger pull.

[cpty1]

I only use Federals in the Glocks as well. The Federals are definitely softer. I've noticed if I ever get a small piece of tumbling media between the primer seating anvil on the press and the primer I'm about to seat into the case, that the piece of media will flatten out but still actually indent Federal primers. Never had one ignite in that manner but as a result I check frequently to make sure the primer anvil area is clean.

[jgobbels]

I've always used federal in my limited .45, but I just purchased a thousand Winchester primers as the federals were out of stock. Went to practice on Tuesday and found that about 1 in 3 would not light off.

The gun has a 15lb mainspring + the harder Winchester primers = a busted practice night.

Proof positive for me that the federals are a must when using in a lighter springed gun.

John~

[Jack Suber]

I have found the new Winchester SP's (gold colored) to be VERY soft. I actually managed to touch one off in my 550 not to long ago. I guess it was a piece of polishing media on the primer seater. It was an eye-opening experience. Thank God I was wearing glasses.

I have tried CCI primers and find them too hard. I encounterd many light strikes with their standard primers and their magnum primers (44 Mag hunting loads).

With my 44, I tested loads with the same charge using CCI MAgnum and Win LP. I encountered only about a 50 fps variance between the two (the CCI's were faster) on my Oehler chrono. So, no I am using only Win and I haven't experienced any light strikes. Makes it easier not having to track different brands. Later.

[L9X25]

A few years ago, during the great primer shortage, I would get whatever brand was available (usually only one brand available, if any) and ended up using just about brand. My gun has a light mainspring (15-17lb) but shoots the Win or Federal just fine. The CCI gave me occasional ignition problems because of the harder cup. I would rank the hardness (from softest to hardest) Federal, Win, CCI. If you have problems either fix the gun or go to the next softer primer. This was with large pistol primers although I think that the data is similar for small primers too.

Leo

[Carlos]

We did a poll on primer hardness some time back and I seem to recall most of us (BE included) agreed 1)CCI hands down hardest 2) Winchester & Remington in the middle and 3) Federal the softest/easiest to set off - hopefully while seated in a loaded round in the chamber of a gun & not in the press.

If you call Dillon, they may (depending on who you talk to) bad-mouth Federal and/or CCI primers; and Lee Reloading also faults Federal, claiming that Federal primers leave primer residue behind (go look it up). Lee claims many things & some of it is true. Personally, I have loaded thousands of both brands through the 650 w/o problem but I choose to avoind the whole controversy & just use Winchester. No problems w/ Winchester.

[SAB]

I've had trouble with Federals jamming in the P/U tube as well. I think they are a bit more rounded, allowing them to rotate sideways...

[shred]

Hmm.. in my RF-100, Federal primers are by far the least troublesome. Winchester's will flip or get stuck a couple times per hundred.

[Guest qstick]

I decided and used the first batch of Federal #100 small pistol primers. I didn;t have a problem at all.

I called Dillon and asked them what they thought about Federal Primers ---he phone rep said that they were purchased by CCU recently, but that there was still a very noticeable difference. He also said that there was no problem using Federal's through a Dillon machine.

Thanks again for all the great advice,

Zach

[ErikW]

shred, you need to do some tuning. I load thousands of WSR without trouble. I used to get one stuck once in a while but I adjusted the last tab that touches them before they drop in the tube. I've had a few upside down in loaded rounds (less than 1 in 1000) but I'm not sure whether it's the RF100 or the XL650 that's flipping them.

[gm iprod]

qstick,

As I understand it Federal has not been purchased by CCI. The very large corporation, Blount, that owns (amongst many other very big companies) CCI, Weaver, RCBS, Redfield, Simmons and Speer last year purchased Federal to add to its trophy cabinet. They are still seperate companies within the Blount Corp umbrella.

I'm with Eric on the RF100 / XL650 primer flip. I get less than what Eric does as far as flipped primers is concerned, but I keep a careful eye on the RF unit at all times. If not watched I tend to get about 1 or sometimes 2 per 1000. If I rush things I get a few more. Then, I suspect the XL650 not the RF100?

[Steve Anderson]

I have found federal to run smoother and seat with less effort in the 550. I think they are more rounded.

Federal is the only way to go.

SA

[kimel]

I don't think CCI et al is owned by Blount any longer. The mega-corp is now ATK...whatever that stands for. Or maybe ATK bought Blount. All I know is the Speer/CCI plant in Lewiston now has a sign outside that says ATK...or did when I drove by a couple weeks ago. (I live about 60 miles from the plant).

The same mega-corp does now own Federal although they appear to retain separate manufacturing facilities. There are members of this forum that work there and I suspect they will set this straight if need be.

I have run over 6K CCI small pistol primers through my Dillon SDB with nary a jam. I have had one primer ignite on seating but this was due to a piece of tumbler media being caught between the primer and the primer seating die (whatever it really is called). No damage to the press. This one was my fault for not cleaning things properly. FTF primers are very rare for me...maybe 1 in 3 or 4K.

[shred]

shred, you need to do some tuning. I load thousands of WSR without trouble. I used to get one stuck once in a while but I adjusted the last tab that touches them before they drop in the tube.

I did a considerable amount of tuning and testing when I first got my RF100-- Pretty much any reasonable setting would fill tube after tube of Federals perfectly, and no amount of fiddling would get WSR's to feed consistently. Dillon sent me some new parts to try, and that sorta fixed the jamming problem, but there's still a few flips with the WSRs, and none with Federals.