Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Primers

Back when I started reloading, I had only one good local spot for buying stuff, and that was Relo up in Fairfield. Relo had a good selection of stuff. I relied on them exclusively until they went out of business a few years later. The fellow that ran Relo's counter helped get me going on reloading. He and Relo set me going, and they influence me to this day.

One habit I got into was using CCI primers. Relo carried CCI primers. I bought CCI primers. All my recipes included CCI primers. When I would run out, I'd go buy CCI primers. It's been nearly 20 years, and all I've got on hand is CCI primers. I've been contemplating a new load for my 30-06. With a lot of prodding from folks like Ken Waters, etc. I decided to break the tradition. I was at Cabela's over the weekend. I picked up Remington 9 1/2.

I just thought I'd mention this here in hopes of starting a discussion of primers and their differences and their effect on your loads.

I started out reloading in 1973 and used CCI primers at that time, never liked how hard they seated in rifle brass. This caused me to switch to Winchester primers which I used until a couple of years ago when I started getting duds with Winchester large rifle primers. Winchester refunded my money for 3K primers I had on hand at the time. I went back to CCI primers which now seat without the amount of force I remember from back in the day. I have never tried switching brands of primers when developing a load and was always able to develop accurate loads without doing so. Not saying that this is without merit just that I've never done it and I use several Ken Waters loads and Pet Loads is a valuable reference when I'm developing loads.

There will never be consensus on which is best as we all have differing experiences apart from the Winchester fiasco a few years back.
Our other bias comes from distrust when a product lets us down or performs poorly.

You see examples on here all the time of people who used Nosler Ballistic Tips in the 80's and had such poor performance, they will never go back. Same with other items and components. Trust lost, is very hard to gain. They don't make salesmen that good.

I was hunting once with a bunch of rifles as usual back then, where I had 3 Remington primers fail to fire in rifles that never before nor since exhibited the problem. One was a .375 H&H Factory load and the 2 others were handloads with a .243 and a .257 Weatherby. Never used a Remington primer in the 42 years since and never will again. Firearm reliability is absolutely non negotiable.

And even with trucks!


Anyhow, in the experience this non-gun-writer [this forum notwithstanding], the old saw has held true: primer choice doesn't seem to matter much... except when it does. Occasionally, I've found that a rifle would show a marked difference in accuracy with one kind of primer vs. others, or decreased standard deviation in velocity. For that matter, the notions that ball powders, or loads with > 60 grains of powder, necessitate magnum primers, hasn't always held true in my endeavors.

When might one start experimenting with primers? I've found it best to pursue MD's advice to pursue the other end of the cartridge (the, "steering wheel") before working on primers. Case neck thickness/uniformity, concentricity, & seating depth seem to yield more results than primers. In the event that a consensus "good load" isn't working in a rifle, then I'll load a few groups of 4 rounds with different primers, & see what happens.

FC

I use CCI’s too

At one time CCI's were hard to seat. Heard various theories that they were slightly larger or that CCI used thicker material for their cups. Maybe JB knows and will let us know. Anyway that is ancient history although I still have a couple hundred small rifle BR's that have the problem but if a bench mounted primer seater is used, they work fine.

I must admit I switch between WLR, CCI and Rem primers without adjusting loads or even noticing any difference in group size. A few years ago my PMC 7x57 cases were getting a little too easy to seat WLR primers. I tried CCI 200s and they were nice and snug again so got a couple more loads out of the cases before junking them. I'm using the last of the WLR primers then will switch to CCI as I have 3000 of them. I've mostly always used WLR but am a bit hesitant after the issues of a few years ago. The ones I have were all bought before the bad batches.

I've used RWS, Herters, CCI, Winchester, Remington, Federal, (maybe more) and never had a problem with any of them. I have used them interchangeably and no problems.....

In bygone years I had a few duds with Federal but no duds with any of them for forty years. Today I use CCI only because I bought a lot of them after the last shortage.

Where's the Federal love? 215's are my go to for magnums. For "standard" rifle loads I'll use CCI-200's or Fed 210's. As others have observed, CCI-200's can be a bitch to seat with a hand priming tool.

Had the hard seating problem years ago also. I went to federal for years. No problems now with any of them.i will add that randomly switching primers in a 22-250 made my savage go to about 3 inch groups instead of three quarter inch groups. Ed k

No particular priority, some work better here and there. CCI/ FED/old WW.

Federal primers tend to boost velocity for a given charge IME , sometimes good, sometimes not.

I dont like the packaging the Federal uses.

Years ago, I did some load work and consistently got poor results with Remington 9 1/2s, both in terms of accuracy and speed. Dedicated experimenter that I am, I took this small sample in one rifle and decided that I didn't really care for the 9 1/2s and have not used them since.

The two most common primers in my area are CCI and Remington. I've exclusively used both for many years.

I've swapped CCI 200 and Remington 9 1/2 primers on many loads and have not seen any change. I would note however that I have seen a noticable change in some loads when swapping from a non magnum to a magnum primer and now days thats the only change I try with primers

Since CCI primers seat harder I often use a 9 1/2 Remington and switch to a CCI when the 9 1/2 primer starts seating easier than I like. Gets some extra mileage out of the brass

Primers probably make a difference for a thousand yard benchrest shooter but for the average hunter my opinion is its mostly about finding the right powder and loading straight ammo

I use cci 250 they are silver.

I use Remington 9.5s they are gold.

Now I know when I am at magnum versus standard primer.

I have used a variety of primers over the last 50 years, sometimes just buying what was available. My opinion is CCI's are as good as it gets, not that I've ever seen a great deal of difference. In some loads, my biggest decision wasn't what brand to use but whether or not I should use a standard or magnum primer.

My primer of choice has always been Remington. They were readily available and I got good accuracy. Use them and enjoy!

For the most part I avoid CCI primers. In my early years reloading I was getting 1-2 misfires per 1000 rounds with CCI. My only current load for CCI primers is for a gun I sold. It used the 350 to light 22.5 grains of Win 296 under a 300 grain LBT WLN GC bullet. I developed that load during one of the primer shortages when Fed 155s were not available. Most of my current .44 ammo uses the WLP, 24 grains of Win 296, and home cast 250 grain SWCs. For everything else today I use Federal 155s. I use the Fed 150 where a standard primer is called for like with 2400.

I haven't had real good luck with Remington primers .. with one exception. I picked up a carton each of large rifle and large rifle magnums. I'm getting misfires with them. My one exception is the Remington 7-1/2 which I am using in my .204. For a long time I used Federal 205s, std and match, and Winchester small rifle, but my current 700s bolt face has a sloppy firing pin hole and those primers will pierce even with light loads. The 7-1/2 cup is thick enough to span the gap .. zero problems and half MOA accuracy. I blew up 2-3 Jewell HVR triggers and a couple tuned Remington/Walker triggers figuring it out. Not planning any further experimentation.

For large rifle and magnum I shoot Federal, preferably match. Cost .. an extra $5/1000 primers does not matter to me. Range time is more precious than $$ saved anymore.

I also shoot Federal in my AR .. the 205 AR match works very very well.

Tom

Primers can make a big difference. With the newer more progressive powders like the Reloader line I usually start with magnum primers and it can reduce extreme spread and standard deviation with some combos. I also do this as I feel like I do not need to reduce charges much if any when going from a magnum to a standard primer. This is not a hard and fast rule that magnum primers will produce more pressure but if you are not red lining the loads too much it is fairly safe. I like Wolfe primers when I can get them they seem to be more consistent and maybe a hotter formula, not sure though.

The only time I use Remington primers is in the 17 Rem. they seem like the cup is harder and the 17 Rem. at max loads you want to stick to the formula exactly as any component change can red line an otherwise safe load in the little 17.

Other times I am fairly indiscriminate and will buy whatever is available locally to avoid hazmat charges fro just a brick or two. Some loads seem not to be affected others there can be major improvements on accuracy, but it is the last component that I juggle around when looking for smaller groups.

I use CCI for everything I load. Rifles, handguns and shotguns. I used Win. for many years and had 3 misfires, one on a very large 4x4 mulie. Switched to CCI and many thousands of rounds later I have not had a single issue.