Primers

fwm

fwm

CGN Regular
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Location
S.W ONT.
I know when there is a drought you takes what you can get. I'm curious if most reloaders have a brand they consider their go to primer in normal times. For the first 15 years of reloading I bought Winchester primers pretty much exclusively for no other reason than when I bought primers the first time my local gun store seemed to have a ready supply. I got good results with loads and never really considered anything else. Fast forward to about 5 years ago I had a couple WLR primers blow out the side and each time it pitted my bolt face. I discovered this is an ongoing issue for Winchester and there was a recall. I went through the recall procedure and got a coupon for more Winchester product. Since that time I switched to using CCI primers almost exclusively. Right now I find myself with a good supply of CCI and most recently bought some Federal Large rifle primers as my LGS was out of CCI. For pistol I have a mix of Federal, Winchester and Remington although I haven't reloaded any except Federal so far. Just last week I was trying some loads for my Garand and noticed that accuracy was much better with WLR than with CCI LR with the same load. This wasn't an intentional trial I had just used up the last remaining WLR primers I had and substituted CCI for the remaining. Before anyone jumps on about working up loads, I never load hot. These are basically plinking loads. . I'm not a serious target shooter by any means at heart I'm a milsurp "collector/shooter" but I try to develop good loads for everything I shoot relative to what it is. I expect 2-2 1/2 MOA or better from most of my milsurps and MOA and better from sporters. So that has me wondering if most reloaders have a go to primer brand or do they regularly try different primers with each load they develop. Let me know your philosophy if you will.
 
I have used pretty much every brand, but have gone with Federal 210M for most large rifle reloading needs. For small rifle I like the CCI450 magnum
 
I have only ever reloaded with CCI Magnum rifle primers. I'm primarily a winter shooter, and I also like experimenting with lighter loads in a few levers with cast. When I really got into reloading they seem to be the best option for the kind of reloading I was interested in doing and the shooting environments I would be in, so I found some inventory and bought every one they had. The order was confirmed twice lol. Needless to say it was a very large quantity of a single type of primer and looking back I probably could have diversified or held back. Who knows what the gun scare was back then, but obviously we get a new one every couple of years and we were probably right in the thick of it and worried about losing access to components so I just made the kneejerk decision to buy a big ass supply.
Now I've added a pistol caliber to my bench, and I'm taking a hard look at a small rifle primer cartridge as well, so I've been sniffing around and available components and am a) glad to see I can get what i need and b) didn't realize just how many different primer brands are out there. I can't ever remember a CCI primer failing on me so my natural inclination is to stay, but I'm also curious about some of these obscure brands.
 
I won't touch the new production Winchester, but I have some old stock "white box" that seems fine. I generally used Fed 210 or 215, depending on the application, but I picked up a large quantity of Rem 9 1/2 and I'll be quite some time going through those.
 
CCI or Federal for me in Rifle. For pistol I am almost exclusively S&B. They work great. Never had an issues at all. Cheaper too.
 
In 1982 when I first started reloading I started with CCI 200 and 250. Sometimes I would receive a batch of "DUDS", plus, I wanted something with more influence. Therefore, I switched to Federal 210M and 215M. I never had an issue with Federal and I feel more confident while hunting in -25 degree temperatures, which is quite common when chasing whitetail bucks in northern Alberta.
 
I'm similar to you, but started out using CCI, for pretty much the same reasons. I've always been happy with them and haven't found a reason to switch. I've used 200s, 400s, 450s, and 500s. I currently have about 15k in the cupboard and buy a few thousand more about once a month. I'm more of a quality over quantity type shooter, but I don't intend on being caught short if I can avoid it.
 
For hunting loads in rifle I prefer Federal. Whether true or not, I believe they are "softer" than CCI and hence will go BANG when CCIs will not.

Target? Cheapest stuff. Pistol? Cheapest stuff.
 
Fed 210 seems to be the most consistent, giving the most accurate loads in my 6.5x55, win 270, 30-06 and 9.3x62. At least 70% of my loads are with Fed 210, 20% CCILR and less than 10 % for both WLR and Rem 91/2.
Fed210 works very well with H4831 and H4895
CCILR works very well with H4350 and Rl15.
WLR is great with VihN560 and Staball6.5
 
They are marketed as having a harder cup for use in semi auto to reduce the chance of slam fires. I have never used them. I'm not sure I'm going to use Federal 210 in my Garand though. Does anyone here?
 
Bubba Yugga said:
They're essentially a magnum primer, but with a heavier cup wall thickness and a smidgen more gap between anvil and cup to avoid slamfires with free floating firing pins.
Click to expand...

They are the same thickness as their counterparts but are harder and with a bigger gap between the anvil and cup. I typically prefer CCI but aside from certain loads I just use whatever is cheapest most often.
 
cbh560 said:
I'm similar to you, but started out using CCI, for pretty much the same reasons. I've always been happy with them and haven't found a reason to switch. I've used 200s, 400s, 450s, and 500s. I currently have about 15k in the cupboard and hoard a few thousand more about once a month. I'm more of a quality over quantity type shooter, but I don't intend on being caught short if I can avoid it.
Click to expand...

Fixed it for you.
 
For me its Federal straight across the line; and if it wasn't for shortages it would be the match variation. Now I sort of keep the "M"s for my long-range rifles. Winchesters get their fair share of use, and S&Bs of all things are creeping into my F-Class loads.

What's on my no-fly list is CCIs. I've had more miss-fires with those than all the rest put together. Life is too short.
 
fwm said:
They are marketed as having a harder cup for use in semi auto to reduce the chance of slam fires. I have never used them. I'm not sure I'm going to use Federal 210 in my Garand though. Does anyone here?
Click to expand...

I would NOT USE Federal Primers in a M1 Garand

I have read of too many Slam fires with federal primers

Bolt action ... sure not problem
 
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