are all bullets created equal? (primers)

[jaywill]

I have a question, I havent done much research , save for my personal experience. are all primers the same? is there a best brand or is it all one brand. I ask because I have had problems with one brand in particular Federal , in which I had at least 1-2 duds per box in my 45-70 , no problems so far with remington or winchester bullets.
I cant really make accurate assumptions from my experience alone so Im asking is there a best , most reliable brand of bullet?
most of my shooting has come at sub-zero temps too , that made me wonder if some bullets withstand the cold better than others.

 

[Longwalker]

Bullets are the projectile. You re asking about cartridges. It does help to get the terminology correct.
In my experience, there is no significant difference between the Federal, Winchester and Remington ammunition with respect to reliability of primers in factory loaded cartridges. You may want to check a few things like
- the protrusion of your firing pin,
- the strength of the mainspring in your rifle, or perhaps
- the depth that the different makes seat primers to
A combination of a short firing pin and a deep seating depth of primers may be the culprit. I have not personally experienced a single misfire in any factory loaded rifle ammunition from any of those three manufacturers, in cold or normal temperatures. I did experience one misfire of an old CIL cartridge in .308 once, but it was -40 and the reason was old oil in the firing pin and mainspring gumming up the works in my Remington 700. A common problem in very cold weather. You may want to strip and clean your rifle using something like Rem action cleaner, then re-lubricate very lightly with a good synthetic lubricant.

 

[.Ben]

never noticed a difference in factory loaded cartridges i use all Winchester primers in my reloads just because i like to keep it the same....

its more likely a problem with your gun than the cartridges....

 

[jaywill]

never noticed a difference in factory loaded cartridges i use all Winchester primers in my reloads just because i like to keep it the same....

its more likely a problem with your gun than the cartridges....

tough call, its never happened since i ditched federals though.