Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hardness of LR Primers

Is there any chart giving the hardness or how easy certain primers ignite!!!!! Thanks ahead ,Huntz

Not that I know of--but in my experience Federal primers will often go off when others won't. From what I understand this is due to thinner cups, and I've seen it in both rifles and handguns.

Huntz, Mule Deer is right about Federals lighting off more easily. I have a rifle that I've had light primer strikes with
RP's and upon MD's suggestion of switching to Federals, cured the problem. Every load I've put together since goes bang and saved me a trip back to the factory and saved my nice light trigger.

Thanks again for splitting the LE propellant with me. Take Care My Friend........Chainsaw

I suspect CCI #34 and #41 are harder. Certainly that's why I use them in gas guns with floating firing pins.

Some say it's the basic variant of the lead styphenate that makes Federal work when others don't - as above this may sometimes not be a feature but other times most desired.

OK thanks,I will try some Federals.

Try this:

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2012/03/primers-and-pressure-analysis-by-james-calhoon/

Well, I tried the federal primers and they helped on two Rifles(These are all Marlin 336.I had installed lower power hammer springs.The 30/30 and 35 Rem went 5 for5.The 32 Special went 3 for 5 and the two that did not light off first time went off the second time.I am going to try and minimally size the 32 special and see what happens.

What good are lower powered hammer springs?

In the cowboy action game, some slicked up guns have lighter hammer springs for easier manipulation. CAS shooters have used Federal Primers for years just because they have less trouble with misfires.

DF

One of my experiences with Federal primers igniting when other primers wouldn't was with a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum a few years ago. The trigger really sucked, so I installed spring kit to improve it. The kit did improve the trigger, but the Redhawk misfired with CCI primers. I switched to Federals and they all went bang.

I've also seen guns with transfer bars and integral frame mounted firing pins taking a bit more power to pop a primer as compared to guns with hammer mounted firing pins.

Case in point, Colts vs. Rugers in CAS.

DF

Easier to operate and a lower trigger let off.

I always run federal's for winter trap. I'd heard that they light off better because their compound runs a higher ph which makes it more sensitive. That would explain their goofy packaging I guess.

Wolf and CCI BR2 are the hardest I have found. This is beneficial in that you can have higher pressure before anything bad happens to the primer. Not a big deal with hunting rifles, but target guys are always pushing stuff to the limit and have figured all this stuff out.

Ironically, those are the two primers that I use in my 6.5-284! I have lowest ES with them.