What is your favorite primer and why?

had any problems with any of them?

Question:
What primer do yo like and use the most?

Choices:
CCI
CCI BENCHREST
FEDERAL
FEDERAL GOLD METAL
MAGTECH
WOLF
REMINGTON
REMINGTON BENCHREST
WINCHESTER
RWS
TULA

 

CCI only because I stocked up after the last primer shortage in the 1980 s and that's what was available.

I have no complaint with them whatever!

I use CCI-200 in large rifle applications, Win WSR in 223, and Fed 215M in my Magnums.

They are always what I used and I have had no reason to switch.

I've used Federal and Winchester primers without any problems, but have had a few failures with CCI large rifle primers.

I have had a number of misfires with Remington primers and none with Federal.

I have had failures with Remington, Federal, and CCI but that doesn’t stop me from using them. It happens so rarely, why worry about it.

In 16 years of reloading I have probably use 90% Federal. Main reasons are reliability or results and easy availability.

I have used every brand of primer on the market over the past 45 years and have not had a problem with any of them.When some people claim to have had misfires with one brand or another I suspect they have either contaminated the primer with oil off their fingers ,improper storage or the primers have not been fully seated in the primer pocket of the case. Several years ago I read an article about different primers and some of the characteristics of those primers. The two main characteristics they refered to were "brisance" or the explosive effect of the primer and " Burn time". A primer with a long burn time is likely to ignite a greater amount of the powder while it is still in the case. That is likely to lead to consistancy from shot to shot. A hotter primer is likely to have more brisance which is likely to push the bullet out of the case before all the powder gets burning. Some primer cups are also softer than others while others are harder. This may be usefull if you have an older firearm with a weak firing pin spring. What I have learned from my own experience is the following : For large magnum cases like the 300 Wby and larger I use the Fed 215 primer. It is the best at igniting large charges of slow burning powder. For smaller magnum cases like the 7mm rem and 30-06 sized cases used in cold weather I use the CCI250 primer. I find them not as powerful or brisant as the Fed 215 but very consistant. The cups on both these primers is are quite hard and will not show presure signs as quickly as softer primers. Rem 912M and Win mag primers are also very good .For standard cases I use the Winchester LR primer. Long burn time and very consistant. If you have a firearm with a weak firing pin spring that leads to some misfires the Fed 210 primer is very sensitive. For the small rifle calibres 222,223 etc the Win primer has worked for me. I hope this helps.

I think I've used most of the various kinds of primers (no Feds) and I can't recall a misfire that could be contributed to the primer. None. I've never really gone into the relative hardness nor brisance of the different primers although it does make interesting reading. (The outdoor writers have got to write about something)
I started out using CCi primers for the very scientific reason of that is what the little gun shop where I traded carried. They worked and so the only reason I've found to change is when I can't get what I want in CCi. But then, when I buy something else, they work too.
So basically, I use magnum primers for cartridges with belt; I use standard primers for everything else except I use BR primers for my match ammo. And, to tell the truth, I can't see any difference in the performance between standard and BR primers except for the warm, fuzzy feeling I get with BR primers.

This poll has the same non value as the powder poll as ocasionaly habitual use or availability will trump preference.
I have cci and win sr
win and muron lr
win and fed lrm
Do not see a diference in performance and availability and cost usually decides. For high performance or heavy mag loads I always keep ahead of needs with a what a particular load was worked up with. In low intensity not so much.

Von Gruff.

quote:

Originally posted by Von Gruff:
This poll has the same non value as the powder poll as ocasionaly habitual use or availability will trump preference.
I have cci and win sr
win and muron lr
win and fed lrm
Do not see a diference in performance and availability and cost usually decides. For high performance or heavy mag loads I always keep ahead of needs with a what a particular load was worked up with. In low intensity not so much.

Von Gruff.

so why did you reply?

I use mostly Federal small rifle by numbers, but for my hunting loads it's usually the 215 gold medal match primer in either magnum or standard variety.

That being said, I probably have enough of any variety on hand to do whatever I need for a while.

I can't say I notice any accuracy changes with switching out primers, but then I probably haven't been doing it long enough (15-20 years now).

quote:

Originally posted by snowman:
When some people claim to have had misfires with one brand or another I suspect they have either contaminated the primer with oil off their fingers ,improper storage or the primers have not been fully seated in the primer pocket of the case.

You can be suspect all you want. I bought a bad batch of Remington primers and their own tests confirmed they were bad. They sent me replacements and I parted with them quickly. I had nothing but misfires from the get go and I use gloves with almost 100% of my loading. I've had about 3 misfires with WLR primers and NONE with Federal.

I only use Federal and Winchester. I suppose I'd use Remington if they were the LAST primers on earth but not until that occurs.

I picked CCI, but I have had equally good success with Winchester; however, I would probably buy whatever else was available if those weren't.

Lou

I use federal match primers now because I walked into Sportsmans warehouse on 3 Nov 2008 and saw the reloading shelves being cleaned out so I grabbed 2000 each of the federal match 210 and 215 primers. I used to use cci primers exclusively and never had a problem with any primers.

Winchester for me has been the most consistent over the years in most all of my loading. I have a few loads which get a tad better accuracy using CCI BR-2's, and Fed 215M's but these are dedicated loads for specific uses.

For general shooting and hunting the Win WLR and WLP's get used way more often than anything else.

I have loaded thousands of fed,win,rem,cci each maybe tens of thousands of each. I know I have loaded tens of thousands cci's.

I buy what I can get at the best price. The last primers I brought were Remingtons at a Grander Mt moving sale. I avg 12.50 a thousand two years ago loaded up so far 5 to 7 thousand of them so far no trouble. Another 30000 to go we'll see.

The only bad primers I have had was a box of 1000 herters small pistol primers pick up in a reloading sale. Who knows how old or how they were stored. None of them I tried worked.

I try to buy my loading stuff in bulk and cheap as I can.

I'm currently using CCI, Rem, and Wolf primers. Because it was all I could get my hands on about 2 years ago.

Although if I had my choice of any primers on the shelf, I'd probably reach for the CCI brand.

Why pay for Fed. Match when the regulars are the same. The Match have an extra visual inspection only. I also use Winchester in BR competition along with the regular Federals. I use all brands in my hunting rifles and have had no problems.
Butch

You didn't ask what we thought the best primer was, but what our favorite primer was. My favorite is Winchester. It seems to be very consistent and throws a relatively hot flame, and it is inexpensive.

I believe the best primers in your list would be the Federal Gold. I shoot them in my .257 Wby with excellent results.

I can't use Wolf primers in one of my rifles because a weak hammer strike causes misfires 10% of the time. I never have this problem with Winchester, Federal, and CCI primers that I used in this gun.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Why pay for Fed. Match when the regulars are the same. The Match have an extra visual inspection only. I also use Winchester in BR competition along with the regular Federals. I use all brands in my hunting rifles and have had no problems.
Butch

Hey Butch. The reason I use the match federals is because the price I pay is apparently cheaper than what a lot of stores charge for regular. Another forum member on a different site made the journey to the store I buy from and is another who thanked me with mentioning price again being cheaper than in his neck of the woods. Plus, when you buy a case, he gives an additional 5% off.

I've shot a lot of Wolf LR and SM R Mag. Over 20k and they have been very consistent. I tried the LR Mag from Wolf and they were horrible. Wolf replaced them with a check for my full purchase price and let me keep em...they are decent for fireforming and have been using them with S&W 500 rounds.

Until recently I couldn't find Fed 215 so I was using Wincehster's/ no problems to report.

Fed-215, never use gloves, never had probems, However its the first primer to be sold out or hard to find in the greater seattle area.

I don't blame you Doc. Every once in a while you will find one without the anvil on the regulars. Probably one in 10,000.
In your shoes I would do the same.
Butch