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Joined: Oct 2009
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Is there a brand(s) of primers on the market that you just refuse to use.?

I'm trying to get my cousin started in reloading and I have a feeling his selections will be somewhat limited.

I've been reloading less than 10 years and have used basically Winchester primers for all my loads, so I don't have a large database to pull from.

Are there any brands that you don't like or refuse to buy due to quality or difficulty in working up a good load when using?

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I stay away from Winchester primers due to 1) softer cup 2) hotter flash and 3) flame cutting issues with recent Win. primers due to weak cups.

I do prefer CCI and Federal. If loading a case that's been loaded a few times and primer pockets are opened up, I'll switch to Wolf/Tula primers due to their slightly larger size.

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I use mostly Winchester large primers. I also use some Federal large rifle benchrst primers. When the Federals are gone I'll stick with Winchester.


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I haven't had any Large Rifle primers that didn't work well. All of them gave acceptable accuracy and velocity.

As far as Small Rifle primers go, Fed205M, WinSR, and Rem 7 1/2 all worked well for me. CCI400 and Fed205's worked, but weren't all that accurate, and I actually had some BR4's fail to fire, which was especially aggravating since one of my really accurate loads used that primer with Benchmark powder.


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As a general rule with stick or flake powders I try to use the mildest primer that works well. According to the ratings I've seen that means Federal 210 and CCI-200 for rifles.

For .223 with TAC (ball powder) I use the hotter Winchester Small Rifle and have a few Remington 7 1/2 left over.

In pistols I always had a soft sport for CCI so go with CCI-300 and CCI-500. I also use Fed 150 and some Fed 100.

Only primers I ever had a problem with were a batch of Rem 9 1/2 large rifle. Two out of a box perforated right at the outer edge of the pocket, this with a very sane .270 load. They impressed me with how destructive a jet of gas can be. Two tiny pin pricks but they each burned away a divot from the bolt face of the Model 70.

I have some magnum primers in each style but don't use them hardly at all, maybe to experiment with now and then to see if they give better groups or lower SD's with ball powder.


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Keep your gun-hand ready and your eyes peeled.
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Ranked in order of power

Large Rifle = LR, Large Rifle Magnum = LRM, Large pistol =LP,

Brand/type Power Average Range Std. Dev

1 Fed Match GM215M 6.12 5.23-6.8 .351

2 Federal 215 LRM 5.69 5.2-6.5 .4437

3 CCI 250 LRM 5.66 4.5-7.4 .4832

4 Winchester WLRM 5.45 5.1-6.0 .2046

5 Remington 9 1/2 LRM 5.09 3.5-6.75 .6641

6 Winchester WLR 4.8 4.1-6.0 .4300

7 Remington 9 1/2 LR 4.75 3.7-6.25 .5679

8 Fed Match GM210M 4.64 4.0-5.6 .3296

9 Federal 210 LR 4.62 3.7-5.5 .3997

10 CCI BR2 4.37 4.0-5.0 .2460

11 CCI 200 LR 4.28 3.8-4.8 .3218

12 KVB 7 LR Russian 4.27 3.8-4.8 .2213

13 Rem 91/2 (30 yrs old) 4.16 3.8-4.8 .3427


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Living in the middle of nowhere with no place to buy components close by, I usually buy what I can get when I make it to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay. What I can usually get is Federal 210's and 215's as well as CCI 200's and 250's. I like them both, and cannot tell a lick of difference in the bunch. (Separated of course by regular and magnum varieties.)

My preference is the Federal 210, though, for no particular reason other than I have found accurate loads maybe a little quicker.


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I use mostly CCI primers now and have had no real reason to switch other than getting some brass colored Remington 9 1/2 to be able to tell apart loads that have the same style bullets in different weights like the 200 and 225 gr Accubonds in 35 Whelen and the 260 and 300 gr Accubonds in the 375 Ruger. I don't think there are any bad ones from the big manufacturers like CCI, Federal, Winchester and Remington.


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Generally what I can find smile

CCI and Federal for the most part.

CCI is the most available around town. I'm glad I packed away 1k-2k of everything the last year.


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I like in this order Federal 210M, 210, and 215M and 215, also CCI BR-2, 200, and 250 for Large Rifle and Large Rifle Magnum loads. I have used Winchester WLR and WLRM, Remington 9 1/2 and 9 1/2M as well. They work fine too, I just seem to find a good shooting load quicker with Federal and CCI primers in my experience, maybe I'm wrong or mistaken, but that's sure how it seems to go for me. I've been reloading for 22 years now, but I still learn new things all the time. If I didn't have the luxury of choice, I'd use any of the brands I mentioned, tinker until I find a good load, and not give it a second thought.

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Fan of BR2s. Seems all my most accurate loads are with them.

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Ive gone to all federal primers, stocked up a couple years ago, and still have quite a bit left.

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To the WLR/WLRM fans, I have two partial bricks if you want them. That is if you can keep them from blowing holes in your bolt faces .

CCI for me from now on.


Originally Posted by Take_a_knee

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I use Federals mostly, but in cases that take small rifle primers I've been using CCI 450's and 400's.

The only one I absolutely refuse to use is Remington primers. I've had too many misfires and hangfires with remington factory ammo to ever trust their primers.

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The local shop always has the federal 210M and 215M so thats what I use. I tried cci but ended up going back to federal since i develped my loads using the fed match primers.

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I started reloading about 1965. Don't do magnums or heavy loads. Load for 243, 6mm Rem, 260 Rem, 7mm-08, 270 and 30-06.
I started with CCI 200 and still satisfied with their performance.

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CCI's for my rifles. Winchester for .45 acp and shotgun. Dunno why, just how it is.....

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Ive had several problems over the years with Remington primers failing to fire or hang fires in extremely cold weather,in my 375 H&H and 378 wby, never an issue with federal or Winchester so I just don,t use Remington any longer, I think part of the problem might be related to thicker and stiffer primer cup metal in the Remington because the indents don,t look as deep in the fired cases as they do with the fed,Winchester or CCI primers.
it was easy to tell because the GOLD color Remington vs the silver federal primers, I usually load up 120 cartridges for a hunting trip, just in case, but seldom use more than a couple to verify zero and one or two to kill game. one year I loaded about 200 because both my sons carry 340 wbys, and I loaded 40 with remingtons. both my older son and I had hang fires, both with the gold primers

Last edited by 340mag; 12/28/12.
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I too have had issues with Rem and Winchester failing to fire in mutiple calibers in all weather conditions. maybe I have just been unlucky? I switched to CCI many years ago and have had nothing but success with them in every gun I load for. Never tried Federals except in shotgun shells. So my vote goes to CCI.


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