If for some reason you could only load one brand of primers, which would you choose?

CCI for everything I reload for.

Another CCI fan

It wasn't that many years ago that primers became extremely scarce. I used Federal because that is all I could get.

Do I have a favorite primer? Not really, I like the one that works best when I am working-up a load.

What primer do I generally start with? Remington.

Federal, they burn much cleaner than CCI's!

Yeah I remember that primer crunch also. I was forced to use some Winchester large and small rifle primers.

Accuracy went out the door for my .308 and .222. I hope I am never again reduced to using them.

Why is it that some people care more about primer residue than accuracy? Or powder residue over accuracy?

I have only tried Winchester. Would I notice a big difference with another brand?

Only CCI for me.

CCI is the brand for me, but I also like Federal, it's just that when I developed some of my loads Federal was a little on the hot side and I use Lee handprime and it is not recommended to use Federal primers.

THis subject occasionally also comes up over on www.benchrest.com, and it appears a lot of (but not all) BR shooters use Federal. I have a feeling it is a bit like barrels, if one brand was definitely better than the others, all BR shooters would use that brand...

That said, there are differences in primers. Case in point, the Federal 215 Magnum primer is commonly considered the hottest of the magnum rifle primers, and is often the primer of choice to light large powder quantities or to be used in the coldest of temperatures.

You occasionally run into a case/primer combination, where the primers are a tad small for the pockets. A change of primers might help.

Also, occasonally one sees references to a particular brand of primers either having too hard or too soft a cup. Again, sometimes a change of primer brand is an easy thing to try.

One interesting question with respect to primers: are socalled "match" primers any better than regular primers of the same brand?? I have heard the match primers are exactly the same as the regulars, except they are inspected for missing anvils/compound. True or not?? But I'd sure like to know. Over here, match primers are considerably more expensive than regular primers (almost 100% extra ).

- mike

I've used CCI continuously since 1975. They have worked fine for me and I've never even thought about changing to anything else.Same old adage if it ain't broke don't fix it!

Fed 215's for my big mags , CCI for pistols and WW std for my service rifles. I stick with the primer used in the development data I'm working with.

CCI 200 LR for all CF.

Personally, if I was forced to pick only 1 brand of primers, it would be Federals. There has been some talk of them being the easiest to ignote more so than any other brand. Whether it is true or not, I have no ignition problems with the lighter trigger pulls of S&W revolvers over many problems with Winchester and Remington. I'll occasionally use CCI's in my single stage press, but my 650 HATES CCI primers and will not feed them at all. For me it would be any of the Federals.

Vince

I have found that Federal match primers, rifle and magnum rifle, to be very good. I have found that WW primers to be right behind them. I seldom use CCI primers or Rem primers. Kudude

quote:

Originally posted by mho:
I have heard the match primers are exactly the same as the regulars,
- mike

The story I read, I think directly from a primer maker? was that Match and regular are indeed the same, Except that the priming mixtures are added en mass in batches by workers.
As this requires a fair bit of skill to get perfect, they use the best most experenced person/s for the match primers, and charge accordingly.
JL.

For close to 50 years, Remington primers have dominated all NRA National Match rifle competition. Why? Because they are good and consistent.

Barstooler