does primer brand matter?

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Axis II

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Do you gentlemen stick with one primer brand or buy whatever is on sale cause it doesn't matter?

I keep finding Winchester, Federal and Remington SP/SR on sale for decent prices and today SP is $24-1k. I usually use CCI SR mag and S&B SP but Cabelas is getting harder to find primers and I just cant pass up some of the deals on the other brands.

Does a primer change accuracy? How's reliability on Winchester and Federal?
 
Different primers will affect velocity and in some cases accuracy. There are videos on YouTube u can watch, Johnny’s Reloading Bench has a few videos on primers.
 
I have always used, in 30 years of reloading, CCI or Winchester primers... and I don't believe I've ever had a primer fail.

If you are a benchrester or long-distance shooter, then, yes, primer selection does matter. If you are just building general ammo, I wouldn't give them a second thought. That isn't to say you might find some magical combo for your particular rifle by changing primers, I just don't have that kind of time, personally.
 
As said above, yes primers can effect velocity and accuracy. Since you always,use CCI it's possible you may find an accurate combination with another brand of primers.

I also prefer CCI and I also use Winchester. I don't shoot well enough to see a variation between CCI and Winchester primers although benchrest shooters might. Remington primers are fine but usually cost more so I pass on them. Federal primers are usually out of stock and the packaging is excessively large taking up precious shelf space, pass again.
 
For basic range ammo I dont really care. I just stick to the big name domestic brands.

But I did recently get my first bolt gun. I am starting to go for a bit more consistency with it. I dont have any favorites yet, but I do take note of what brand of primer I am using.
 
It's no secret primer choice is once aspect of load development. Primers vary somewhat in composition and performance, and that can affect chamber pressure, velocity and accuracy. I've been using CCI for my (pistol) stuff as they are always available, a quality product and well known and supported in the industry. If I had invested time into developing loads with any other quality primer I'd in similar fashion want to stick with those as to not potentially go backwards in my load development. Most of my loads work best at max or near to max charges so I also don't want to create a need to re-check velocity and re-evaluate likely chamber pressure.

I've never heard anyone say Winchester, Federal, and Remington aren't quality primers. And the competition revolver guys would kill for those Federals. And of course there's always those that say they use magnum SR primers in their 32acp and it makes no difference..
 
Definitely can with rifle. Doesn't mean it will.

Handgun calibers? If it does, I can't shoot the difference, although sometime it seems like one is a bit better. Brand can make a slight difference in the charge weight needed sometimes.
 
With some powders and cartridges it makes very little difference. In others it can be the difference between a safe load and a pierced primer. Be careful switching primers willy nilly.
 
For me I have used almost exclusively CCI. My only exception is I have used Remington Large Rifle Magnum in a pinch. If I were to switch brands I would probably retest my load.

-Jeff
 
My competition revolvers all have had trigger work and will not reliably fire with anything other than Federal primers. Trust me when I say that I wish this wasn't the situation because Federal primers are not easy to locate and when you do find them they are more expensive than anything else. Because of the way and the composition of the primer they are the easiest to fire.

I know there are revolver shooters that will say that they have light triggers and can shoot CCIs or what ever no problem. But this is not the case with most revolver shooters that have light triggers. Pose this question on brian enos forum in the revolver section or on the revo-nation face book and everyone will tell you Federal.
 
I prefer CCI. When the shortage hit a while back I got some Winchester Large Pistol; they were dirty, but they worked. I was given some CBC Magtech primers, I think I'll keep them in reserve, as my earlier experience with Magtech Large Pistol did not sit well with me. Too many failures to fire in my G21, yet they went off every time in my Hi-Point JHP.
 
someguy2800 said:
With some powders and cartridges it makes very little difference. In others it can be the difference between a safe load and a pierced primer. Be careful switching primers willy nilly.
Click to expand...
I would definitely back off the charge when using another primer. I was just curious as to their dependability and accuracy loss. I cant get S&B to fire in my 38spl but cci will go off every time. I didn't want to buy 2-3k of Winchester and have them either not work or use them in the rifle and go from nickel groups to half dollar groups. When i keep seeing Winchester on sale it kind of threw up a red flag to me but at that price i was curious.
 
I use a lot of Winchester large rifle, there is nothing wrong with there primers. All the brands of primers available in the US are reliable and capable of being accurate. With any given combo a certain brand of primer may be more accurate than others. I shoot tons of S&B small pistol primers with no misfires but every gun is different.
 
Winchester changed their primers to make them more sensitive in 1999. They thinned the cup for one thing. The old nickel plated WSR were great primers, the new brass colored WSR pierced at loads that never bothered the old nickel plated WSR. Those brass primers dished a small hand full of AR15 firing pins. So I changed over to CCI #41's and have been happy ever since. I have shot some excellent groups with CCI standard primers, large rifle or small.

I will say, Tula rifle primers were very good.

I will not use Federal primers in Garands/M1a's as they are the most sensitive primer on the market and the most slamfiring primer in these mechanisms. I won't use Federal primers in my AR15's either. I use a lot of Federal rifle primers in my bolt guns, they are a fine primer when you don't have a free floating firing pin. Federal primers are fine primers for pistols, coil cutters love the things because they get misfires with other brands.
 
Do you gentlemen stick with one primer brand or buy whatever is on sale cause it doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

When I started reloading, all I could get was CCI primers, so that's all I used. And since I was familiar with them, that's what I would reach for first if I had a choice. When CCI primers dried up in the last panic, I switched to Winchester. So far, every time I have gone shopping for primers, I have found CCI or Winchester, so I have never had to try a third brand. I have not noticed any meaningful difference in terms of velocity or accuracy between CCI and Winchester in respect to small rifle or small pistol primers.

My 25 ACP pistol will only ignite Remington 1&1/2 primers so that's what I use exclusively with it, but that's the only place I use Remington.
 
Pretty much like what is the BEST Powder. They all go bang.

In run of the mill reloading, for range shooting if you can measure a significant difference in them, more power to you.

Folks love those Federal Primers for light sprung revolvers but Heavens no, don't use that Federal Brass.:)
 
For rifle especially, I stick with 1000 lots. I find more consistency makes load development and keeping a load's zero easier.
 
thomas15 said:
My competition revolvers all have had trigger work and will not reliably fire with anything other than Federal primers.
Click to expand...

I have several competition handguns in this category too. Federal primers are the only ones that shoot reliably in them.

Then I have other standard handguns I use CCI and Winchester in. So it all depends on the task at hand.
 
Gamers have dug a hole for themselves, because Federal Small Pistol is out of stock everywhere I looked. My guns are not altered, so I use Winchester or CCI. I was able to get the primer size mix I wanted with Winchester, so that was my recent order from Graf's.
 
I prefer CCI but if I see a good enough deal, I’m open to picking up other brands. For instance the Cabelas deals on S&B are too hard to pass up at $20 or so. At that price I’m willing to grab some and try them.

I figure best case they work fine and I use them for practice. Worse case they don’t work well in any of my guns and I trade them to someone elsewhere uses them for something I can use.

The key of course is buying at the right price. If the difference is too small I’ll stick with CCI, Federal and the brand’s I’ve tried and know work for me.
 
rfwobbly said:
A cursory check of Midway USA, Gamaliel Shooting, and Grafs all showed stock. They are coming back slowly.
Click to expand...
Was that small pistol? I needed the mix of sizes I wanted all from one source (a single HAZMAT). My stock check was a month ago.
 
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