Another Screwy Lot of CCI Large Pistol Primers

[BD]

Well it's happened to me again. I just spent a frustrating hour loading 100 .45 acps on the old projector. Almost all of the primers were seating proud of the case head uness I really crunched them home. When I finished that tube I took a close look at what was going on and I've got a case of 5,000 CCI LP primers that have cups measuring .1115 deep. I checked a different lot and the cups are .1090. Anyone know what the Saami spec for LP cups is? I checked a few of my remaining WLPs and they are .108, and they seat just fine. I am not looking forward to reaming 5,000 primer pockets so I can use these.

This is the third screwy lot of CCI LP primers I've had. About five years ago I had a lot which had all of the anvils set up so high that they wouldn't feed through the progressive press. I loaded them all on the rock chucker. Back in the 90's I had a lot in which many of the cups were taller on one side than the other, they'd seat but it sure felt odd seating them and they all had one edge crunched a bit. About one in 50 would wind up sideways coming off the primer arm which was a major PITA.

I guess it's back to mail order. CCIs are all I can find locally.

BD

[Silicon Wolverine]

CCI's quailty control has suffered badly in the last couple years. I dont use any CCI products past blazer .22 anymore.

SW

[NVcurmudgeon]

For at least twenty years that I know of, Dillon has been reccomending W-W or Federal primers for their progressives. Comparing measurements back then, I
found CCI LP to be slightly larger and out of round compared to W-W. I use W-W
in my Square Deal. OTOH, CCI has never let me down in temperatures between 20 below and 105 in nearly fifty years, so I use CCI for rifles.

[Catshooter]

Did they put large rifle primers in a LP box?


Cat

[Depreacher]

About 3 years ago I bought 1000 CCI LR primers that were oversize (in diameter at least). Guess I'll have to load them in loose primer pockets whenever I have them. What a waste. Learned my lesson the first time. No more CCI for me. Using REM 9 1/2 now with nice results. Preacher

[TDB9901]

A few years ago, I got box (1000) CCI small rifle that were harder than usual, and misfires were common in nearly every one of my rifles. Usually a second or third strike would set them off. Just seemed like the cups were unusually hard. Still have a bunch of them left....

I have no problems with any other brands, or prior to that with CCI.

My son and I just ordered 5000 CCI SR because of good price ($16.00 per) May have been a mistake.........Luck of the draw??????

Tom

[BD]

Cat Shooter,

They're not rifle primers, or at least they're not as tall as my Federal 210s. Just too tall to be pistol primers. When I get a chance I'm gonna call CCI and see what they say.

BD

[Pepe Ray]

BD ;
Just in case CCI won't give justice, maybe they would be usefull as low pressure CB Rifle loads. Just tryin to be optimestic. :-D
Are ya comin home soon? Pepe Ray

[Tom W.]

You ain't trying to load those winchester NT cases, are you? I got some of them to find out that they use small pistol primers.
My CCI 350 Magnum pistol primers as well as my Federal 150 primers are both 0.118

[dmbassking]

I have the same problem with my large pistol magnums... still have about 800 from the 1k box sitting in my drawer.

[TAWILDCATT]

I used cci and allways found them to be hard to seat I believe I read they are larger than the other brands.I like feds except for the box size.

[klw]

I've shot just over 63,000 CCI large pistol primers and have never had a problem. I've got just over 130,000 more. Couldn't be happier.

One thing though. All of mine are/were in APS strips, if that matters.

[trooperdan]

KLW, you wouldn't have any spare APS strips to sell would you? :) I use the APS system and love it; I'm afraid that it hasn't "caught on" enough for CCI to keep it up though.

[klw]

KLW, you wouldn't have any spare APS strips to sell would you? :) I use the APS system and love it; I'm afraid that it hasn't "caught on" enough for CCI to keep it up though.

Like most RCBS products they are guaranteed forever so if you have any you can use them over and over again.

Personally I've not filled a strip yet but I saved all mine. I realized early on that buying the empty strips was expensive.

[trooperdan]

OK, if you want to sell a few, let me know!

I have the strip loader and it has a learning curve but isn't too bad once you learn it.

There is a guy on eBay selling 8 strips for $6 plus, GET THIS, $8 for shipping! I don't see that he gets much action though! :)

[lovedogs]

A couple years ago while loading some .45-70's using Win. brass and CCI 200's I was having trouble with getting them seated and thought I had a primer problem. Upon investigation I found it to be a tight primer pocket problem. I started reaming all pockets with a uniformer and haven't had any problems since. Just thought I'd mention this because sometimes we look for the problems in the wrong place. CCI's do seem to run a bit large though. In some calibers I use some old match-grade RWS's a friend gave me years ago. Then when the pockets get a bit enlarged I switch over to the CCI's. Works for me!

[trooperdan]

BD, have to talked with anyone at CCI yet? I'd love to hear their response!

[BD]

I sent them an email this week asking to exchange that lot of primers. We'll see what they say.
BD

[BD]

I got an email back from Linda Olin, CCI/Speer Technical Services, this week. She told me that the maximum overall height for the primer"assembly" was .125 She also said she would pass my email along to the "tech", who would be back in the office on Monday.

I responded that the overall height was not the issue, rather it was the height of the cup, measured between the legs of the anvil, which was causing the problem. I also mentioned that I'd been at this for awhile and was pretty sure that there was something unusual about this particular lot of primers. We'll see.

BD

[BD]

I got an email reply this week from Coy Getman at CCI telling me that the "spec" for these primers is .112 +/- .004 In his opinion if my measurements are correct, my funky lot of primers are within "spec". Anyone know what a large pistol primer height is supposed to be? This lot is definately too tall to seat flush. I've been measuring them with a digital caliper as it's blades will fit between the legs of the anvils. Now I suppose I should pull a few apart and measure the cups with the blade mic.
BD

[fecmech]

BD--I am using CCI LP primers now that the cups measure .111 and total height is .119. I am loading Federal .45 acp cases on my CH auto champ and primers seat level with the top of the case. My Federal LP primer cups are the same at .111 and overall height is .121. I have loaded and shot 3-4k of this lot of CCI with no problems.

[BD]

I'll pull a few of these apart tomorrow and have a close look at whats going on. If I seat 100 rounds using these in my old Pro-Jector with "normal" pressure, 75 of them will wobble on the table when stood on end. I can 100 seat of the other lot of CCI's, 100 Federals and 100 WLPS on the same day using the same press and none of them will wobble. We'll see. I'm glad I only have 7,000 of them and not 70,000.
BD

[joeb33050]

I got an email reply this week from Coy Getman at CCI telling me that the "spec" for these primers is .112 +/- .004 In his opinion if my measurements are correct, my funky lot of primers are within "spec". Anyone know what a large pistol primer height is supposed to be? This lot is definately too tall to seat flush. I've been measuring them with a digital caliper as it's blades will fit between the legs of the anvils. Now I suppose I should pull a few apart and measure the cups with the blade mic.
BD

My Midway Primer Pocket Uniformer literature says the primer pockets should be:
Small Rifle .118"-.122"
Large Rifle .128"-.132"
Small Pistol .118"-.122"
Large Pistol .118"-.122"
If the primer spec is .112" +.004", then a max .116" cup is .002" below the minimum pocket depth.
If your CCI cups are .1115" high and the primed case wobbles = primer is above the head, then maybe it's the case. How deep is the primer pocket on a case that wobbles with a .1115" primer cup?
My understanding is that the anvil is supposed to be "proud" a bit, and compress as the primer is seated.
joe brennan

[BruceB]

It's a constant source of bemusement to me, how different folks' experiences vary so radically in almost every field of endeavor.

I have NEVER had a problem using CCI primers of any description, and I've used everything they make except for the benchrest series. This includes many thousands of rounds loaded on my Dillon 550B, in both rifle and handgun calibers.

The only notable difficulty I've had with primers since moving to the USA was with a batch of about 8000 undersize Winchester Large Rifle primers bought at the Big Reno Show. They could be finger-seated in many cases, even in some new-unfired brass.

I said "since moving to the USA", because the Canadian-made primers from IVI (formerly CIL) were a true PITA in several respects. I believed then that the outfit was purposely making handloading as difficult as possible in hopes we would quit and just buy factory loads.

[armoredman]

I have to day, I've been loading about 4 years, (I think),and I have always used CCI primers with excellent results. Just bought another 1000 small pistol CCI-500, dadgum small pistol primers are becoming VERY hard to come by down here!

[klw]

I've fired just over 100,000 CCI primers. Virtually all were in APS strips. I don't remember having a single problem. I've got another 260,000+ in the garage. I clearly like them.

[armoredman]

260,000? Wow. I just got 1000, thought I had a lot!:mrgreen:

[BD]

OK, Yesterday I set up the blade micrometer in a stand and spent two hours peering through a magnifying lamp measuring primers. I measured 10 each from four lots. I took three readings of each measurement for Assembly height, cup height and diameter. I recorded the largest of measurement of each dimension for each primer. Did I mention that this was very tedious? I then loaded 400 rounds, 100 of each lot. I also measured 100 primer pockets. Measuring primer pockets is also a bit tedious as it's the measurement from across the face of the head to the depth at the circumfirence of the pocket which matters as the circumferance is where the primer seats. Synopsis follows:

WLP lot # UF L523G
Average assembly hieght .1193
Average cup hieght .1096
Tallest cup in the sample .1114
Average diameter .2101

Federal 150 lot # 2AY509
Average assembly hieght .1184
Average cup hieght .1091
Tallest cup in the sample .1101
Average diameter .2109

CCI 300 lot # J0511
Average assembly hieght .1201
Average cup hieght .1118
Tallest cup in sample .1127
Average diameter .2116

CCI 300 lot # D08M
Average assembly hieght .1207
Average cup hieght .1138
Tallest cup in sample .1151
Average diameter .2110

I loaded four lots of 100 rounds each using the four different lots of primers. I made a real effort to firmly seat all of the primers using a consistent amount of force. I'm loading on a Pro-Jector which bottoms on the primer seating peg, meaning that the only limit to how deep you seat them is the amount of pressure you're willing to put on the handle. With the Federals, Winchesters and CCI lot #J0511 there were no high primers. In the lot loaded with CCI lot # D08M there were 26 high primers.
I surveyed the brass in the lot loaded with #D08M:

32 Winchester Brass
16 Federal brass
13 *I*
2 Amerc
6 Spear
4 CCI
3 National
11 RP
4 GFL
1 Zero
1 S&B
1 Star
4 WW
1 WCC 66
1 WCC 67

The Brass with high primers:

14 Winchester
3 WW
4 Federal
1 Speer
1 RP
1 GFL
1 WCC 66
1 WCC 67

The deepest primer poket I measured was .119, (*I* brass which has a slightly concave head), most were .117 to .1175 I have not reached a conclusion about why a .1151 primer cup will not seat flush in a .117 primer pocket without crushing it. It may be a combination of depth and diameter? Maybe the radius at the edge of the pocket circumferance comes into play? In any event lot # D08M causes trouble loading .45 acp in my progressive @ .1138, CCI's spec would allow primers to a cup hieght of .1160

BD

[joeb33050]

OK, Yesterday I set up the blade micrometer in a stand and spent two hours peering through a magnifying lamp measuring primers. I measured 10 each from four lots. I took three readings of each measurement for Assembly height, cup height and diameter. I recorded the largest of measurement of each dimension for each primer. Did I mention that this was very tedious? I then loaded 400 rounds, 100 of each lot. I also measured 100 primer pockets. Measuring primer pockets is also a bit tedious as it's the measurement from across the face of the head to the depth at the circumfirence of the pocket which matters as the circumferance is where the primer seats. Synopsis follows:

WLP lot # UF L523G
Average assembly hieght .1193
Average cup hieght .1096
Tallest cup in the sample .1114
Average diameter .2101

Federal 150 lot # 2AY509
Average assembly hieght .1184
Average cup hieght .1091
Tallest cup in the sample .1101
Average diameter .2109

CCI 300 lot # J0511
Average assembly hieght .1201
Average cup hieght .1118
Tallest cup in sample .1127
Average diameter .2116

CCI 300 lot # D08M
Average assembly hieght .1207
Average cup hieght .1138
Tallest cup in sample .1151
Average diameter .2110

I loaded four lots of 100 rounds each using the four different lots of primers. I made a real effort to firmly seat all of the primers using a consistent amount of force. I'm loading on a Pro-Jector which bottoms on the primer seating peg, meaning that the only limit to how deep you seat them is the amount of pressure you're willing to put on the handle. With the Federals, Winchesters and CCI lot #J0511 there were no high primers. In the lot loaded with CCI lot # D08M there were 26 high primers.
I surveyed the brass in the lot loaded with #D08M:

32 Winchester Brass
16 Federal brass
13 *I*
2 Amerc
6 Spear
4 CCI
3 National
11 RP
4 GFL
1 Zero
1 S&B
1 Star
4 WW
1 WCC 66
1 WCC 67

The Brass with high primers:

14 Winchester
3 WW
4 Federal
1 Speer
1 RP
1 GFL
1 WCC 66
1 WCC 67

The deepest primer poket I measured was .119, (*I* brass which has a slightly concave head), most were .117 to .1175 I have not reached a conclusion about why a .1151 primer cup will not seat flush in a .117 primer pocket without crushing it. It may be a combination of depth and diameter? Maybe the radius at the edge of the pocket circumferance comes into play? In any event lot # D08M causes trouble loading .45 acp in my progressive @ .1138, CCI's spec would allow primers to a cup hieght of .1160

BD

If the primer pocket minimum is .118" per my Midway literature, then all your primers appear to be within spec-at least shorter than min pp depth. The problem looks to be in your brass. If the brass pp dimension = .118"-.122", then I'd aim at .120", figuring that the ctg. would fire with the primer under the head. Am I missing something? Ain't it a brass problem?
joe brennan

[BluesBear]

It's a constant source of bemusement to me, how different folks' experiences vary so radically in almost every field of endeavor.

I have NEVER had a problem using CCI primers of any description, and I've used everything they make except for the benchrest series. This includes many thousands of rounds loaded on my Dillon 550B, in both rifle and handgun calibers.

AMEN!

From 1978 until 1989 I ran a commercial ammo company. We consumed over 3,000,000 (yes 3 million) CCI pistol primers. Never had a problem with them.
Never had a misfire.
To this day CCI is still my favorite primer.

Nowadays I do all of my priming with an RCBS hand primer tool.
I never have any problems seating CCI primers below flush.



BD, your *I* cases are Independence brand. Another fine product from your friends in Lewiston.
They do indeed have a concave "face" because they are stamped not drawn. Made on the same machinery as the Blazer (formerly CCI) brass cases which also have a concave face. Some of the Speer Lawman cases are now stamped as well.

[BD]

I believe that this issue is due to this lot of primers being taller than any of the others. I've loaded them in a variaty of brass and the issue seems to be independant of headstamp. Given the various tolerances quoted, I'm not sure why this lot of CCI primers is so troublesome, but it is. I don't know why CCI has specs allowing their primers to vary so far from what can be loaded safely, but they do. Given a choice my plan is to avoid buying them in the future.
BD

[BluesBear]

I've noticed everyone has avoiding mentioning that the CCI primers that BD measured also show them as having a larger diameter.

Personally I feel that parimers on the larger side of being in spec help insure more reliable performance. The tighter the primer is in the pocket the better it will seal gasses in and moisure out. And just in case you don't have a primer completely seated the tension should hold the primer in place when the firing pin strikes.
A loose primer will absorb the blow in seating itself.

Except for experimentation I use CCI primers exclusively. I'm very comfortable using them. I have learned how they feel during seating and I prefer the positive feel of them versus other brands.

But then I also have no problem with the slightly tighter pockets of S&B and Magtech (CBC) brass. I"ve learned to deal with it as just another variable in the game.

I used to have a Lot of PMC Green heavy metal free primers. I also liked the positive feel they exhibited during seating.
Back when they were still available I actually considered changing over to them.
I really wish CCI would release a heavy metal free primer to the public.
(are you listening Lewiston?)

[BD]

It's possible that it's the combination of the slightly larger diameter and the taller hieght which is making them tough to seat. As CCI is not interested in replacing them, I'll probably use them up in the revolvers. A little cylinder drag is easier on the mind than a 1911 doubling or tripling. It's interesting that I've had 3 "funny" lots of CCI 300s out of only 50 or 60 thousand, while other folks have used millions with no issues. Generally speaking I feel that I've been very lucky, yet every time we eat fish at home I get all the bones. My wife never seems to get any. Many these little tribulations are the price I must pay on some cosmic level for the general good fortune I've had in life
BD

[floodgate]

BD:

"Every time we eat fish at home I get all the bones. My wife never seems to get any."

Me too! Good to have company. I can also find the one piece of core in an apple pie, or the one bit of walnut shell in a handful of nuts.

floodgate

[BluesBear]

Me too.

I always seem to find a little piece of bone in every hamburger I eat.
Maybe it's because my parents taught me to properly chew my food?

But what I really hate is finding a piece of ultra bitter shell in my pecan pie.
Man, nothing will take that taste out of your mouth.

[DoubleBit]

Adding to this old thread. I was having a proud primer problem with large pistol primers in mixed 45 colt brass (R-P, Winchester, Starline, FC) using a vintage round tray Lee hand priming tool. Usually works good, tried resizing the pockets and stuff. Switching to my on press RCBS tube fed primer installation set fixed the problem. IIRC, I had a similar problem loading 44s. My $.02. Carry on.

[bob208]

I do not use cci primers at all. 40 years ago when I was loading for business I had a string of hard primers. needed 2-3 strikes for them to go off and we are talking rifles and service pistols not target guns. I gun showed them and have been using Winchester and Federal with out a problem ever since.

[Wheelguns 1961]

I had a batch of hard winchester lpp and spp. So I think you run the risk with any brand. I use cci small pistol primers and winchester large pistol primers. Winchester small magnum primers were the worst problem.

[dale2242]

In 50+ years of reloading , I have never had a FTF that was the primers fault.
It was always the gun.
Maybe I am just lucky.
High primers and bad headspace can cause misfires/FTF...dale

[Rich/WIS]

In 40+ years of reloading have used several hundred K CCI primers, large and small, pistol and rifle, mag and standard. Only time there were any issues was when using the primer arm, prime on upstroke system on my old Lyman Spartan press. Would check as I primed and sometimes had to seat a second time, but problem was me not applying enough pressure to seat fully. Once I went to priming on the upstroke, first with a Lee ram prime die and now with a Lee auto prime II, this hasn't been an issue.

[lotech]

I've used all the brands since 1965, but far more CCI primers (in all sizes) than anything else. Last week I was priming some .223 brass with a hand priming tool and it took almost no effort to seat a CCI 450 primer. I initially thought the pocket was enlarged, but the primer was too small. It wasn't loose to the point it fell out, but it was definitely undersize. This is the second time this has happened in the last year. I use a lot of primers so I'm not really too concerned, but I don't recall this happening with any brand of primer before last year. Overall, I've had very good results with all primers during the last fifty+ years.

I don't prime on a progressive machine so I should easily catch any undersize primer if it happens again.

[mdi]

Someone is resurrecting some pretty old threads. This one is 12 years old and some others I see are 3, 5, 7, and 9 years old. years old. Most might be pertinent today, but I wonder how many of the OPs are still alive...

[Big Wes]

Years & years ago when I first started re-loading I ran into issues with CCI primers I called Dillon and they told me the the CCI primers were elliptical in shape and for me to use WW primers. I did what Dillon recommended and have steered away from CCI's The only time I use CCI's that I do have, is when I mess up a round or two while loading and need to finish up the rounds to make a full box. Over all I do like CCI primers but I've had them jam up the primer tubes in the past. Since I hate any aggrivation I stay with WW primers.

[6bg6ga]

I thought I had a problem with my CCI's and 45ACP's years ago. It turned out to be a primer pocket problem caused by military brass. As soon as I processed the primer pockets it was amazing how easy the CCI primers were installed. No crunching or wrecking primers. I've used CCI primers and will consider using them in the years to come. I will however not use any Russian primers and thats another thread.

Some here need to come to the realization that there are quality control programs in place at these factory's that manufacture components. There are no out of round primers, or undersized primers. All primers do have to fit the specifications. Those that think they can feel an undersized primer might be well off to dig out the micrometer and check the diameter of said primer and you will find out like I have that the primer is fine and the primer pocket is the problem.

With respect to Dillon and their choices of primers.... Many major brands / manufacturers favor certain brands over others sometimes for favorable mention in magazines, ads and such. Been using one form or another of Dillon since the Square Deal hit the market. Have gone thru SQ Deal,650's, 550's RCBS, and Lyman over the years and no problem associated with an primer ever not even a primer explosion anytime in my life.

One needs to keep in mind when reloading you use a gentle touch. If the primer don't seat you don't force it that is anyone with suitable mental capacity. When things start to crunch that is when you stop. In my case it was military surplus 45ACP brass. Now, some of you will naturally blame the primer but in reality its time to take a bit of a closer look. Any military brass from past years has the primer inserted and then the crimp. Sure you can remove the primer and installing one will be a britch unless you swage or otherwise process the primer pocket.

Now, I am starting to process a run of .308 brass some military and some civilian in nature. I could adopt some of the thinking here and blame the military brass for my CCI primers not going into the pocket with normal pressure or I can do the right thing and sit down on my butt and get out the swage kit and simply process all the brass instead of looking thru all of it and trying to sort it all out. Reloading is a work of love. You either love it and be willing to do all the steps needed or your better off selling all of your reloading gear for .10 on the dollar because your either too incompetent or too lazy to grasp some very basic fundamentals.

[toallmy]

I don't know how other people have made out , but in my reloading life I have ran across 2 bricks of bad primers one brick of small pistol primers in the 80s & one brick of large rifle mag primers in the 2000s although both times the primers were CCI - it's because that is the brand I used the most .
Since the last batch I quit ordering CCI primers more than 1000 at a time , I can live with tossing a brick but a sleeve would make me blow a gasket . I have trust issues !

[Taterhead]

Wow, old thread. I prefer CCIs and about 80% of my ammo has been with CCI. I've loaded them from the old green striped boxes, red on beige, and the current stock. Never an issue.

All primers I've used have loaded and gone bang -- except coincidentally -- I had my first sort of dud. It was an S&B 5,3 LP primer. [Side bar - S&B small primers are absolutely the tightest to seat]. Those reading would be correct to first question, "was it properly seated." Yes. It was weird. Very good primer strike. The strangest thing was that the cup collapsed fully. It looked like the top of a circus tent had collapsed in on itself. My guess is that something was wrong with the anvil. WISH I had taken a photo before curiosity had me reloading it and lighting it again. It fired the second time, and pressure rounded the cup back out.

Back to CCI primers. Most of my ammo is loaded via APS priming on my Pro 2000. Pre-loaded strips are so convenient.

[lightman]

CCI has always been my favorite brand of primer. I've had fewer issues with them than any other brand, although there have been very few issues with any brand. Sorry to hear about you guys having problems with them.

And yes, I have used a few other brands. I often buy Remington small rifle benchrest primers at gun shows and I use Federal 210 Match primers in my long range match rifle.

[Froogal]

Out of many thousands of Winchester primers, both small pistol and large pistol, I have experienced only ONE dud. CCI primers on the other hand, well, let's just say that I will never ever buy any more.

[Baltimoreed]

Also use cci without issue. However, it’s a pita though to be rolling along reloading .45acp for next Saturday’s WB match and try to seat your large pistol primer into an aggravating small pistol primer hole!! Talk about grinding to a halt. They will not swage down no matter what you do. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea to put sp primers in our beloved .45 acps but I hope he’s working at the W-W plant in Siberia.

[Walks]

I gave up on cci primers about 35yrs ago. dillon blamed them for their bad priming system. But even seating them by hand in an RCBS Bench Primer tool I had problems. And a few duds, only other DUD I had up to then was a Winchester factory 12ga AA shell that had no anvil.

Friend bought 1,000 cci SR primers about 10yrs ago for Military loads, .223/5.56. Seated them by hand as I've done for the last 30yrs. Had 3 failures to fire on 3 rounds, they went off the second time.

Just don't trust them, spend my money on FED, WIN & REM primers. they all go BANG the First time.

[GONRA]

GONRA "don't got no dog in this fight" but notes that CCI primers have always verked Just Fine for me over 50+ years.
BUT - if ya'll have "out of round primer problems" Boxer Primers with 3 legged anvils (not 2 legged) are definitely the "waay to go".

[Horn Ridge]

Hate to bump an old twice bumped old old thread, but...........I found myself at the bench tonight priming new Starline 45 ACP with {old} brown box CCI 300's. The ones where the primers lay sideways in the trays instead of flat. Anyway, using my Lee Auto bench prime I thought I was going to break the handle out of it trying to seat them. First one out the gate didn't feel right. Didn't seat deep enough to get out of the shell holder. Hmm.......take the tray off, rotate the brass half dozen times and finally get it to seat. Ok, next one I'll get right. Nope! I got 25 of them in and sort of got a feel for it, but holy crap. Only 775 left to work through until I can get into my newer blue box 300's!!

[jdgabbard]

Hate to bump an old twice bumped old old thread, but...........I found myself at the bench tonight priming new Starline 45 ACP with {old} brown box CCI 300's. The ones where the primers lay sideways in the trays instead of flat. Anyway, using my Lee Auto bench prime I thought I was going to break the handle out of it trying to seat them. First one out the gate didn't feel right. Didn't seat deep enough to get out of the shell holder. Hmm.......take the tray off, rotate the brass half dozen times and finally get it to seat. Ok, next one I'll get right. Nope! I got 25 of them in and sort of got a feel for it, but holy crap. Only 775 left to work through until I can get into my newer blue box 300's!!

Sure the brass was to spec? I run all my brass through a Franklin Armory primer pocket swage. Since I started doing that what used to feel like out of spec primers all seat like butter....

[gloob]

Seems like some of these posts are from commercial reloaders. Throwing away bricks of primers because they don't seat perfectly?

I've had similar issues with Russian primers, and I worked through them until I got them to be reliable. And those only cost 10-15 per brick. Heck, I'd be buying more of these problematic primers even if they cost $60!

[imashooter2]

I've fired just over 100,000 CCI primers. Virtually all were in APS strips. I don't remember having a single problem. I've got another 260,000+ in the garage. I clearly like them.

$16,000 worth of primers! I consider myself fairly well stocked, but you could add my entire stash of reloading components together and not get to $16,000! Congratulations ! :drinks:

[Rapier]

One thing about buying thousands of primers, is you can buy into a bad run. Primers more or less, last for ever, if kept dry and cool, but a bad run of primers does not get any better on a shelf. You can try running a full prep on the brass to get full function of and by the priming tool.

[Cast10]

47 years of reloading and CCI primers is where I started. Still got some from the 90’s. NEVER a misfire, but I wrecked a few along the way, thanks to LC /06 brass! LOL. Other than that, they are tight and I like getting to feel the seat all the way to the bottom. Loaded some Rem9 1/2’s last week in new WIN 25/06 brass and they literally ‘fell in’ the pocket and displayed a bit proud on only a FEW. I’m thinking the brass may be the larger issue here. My .02.

[Ford SD]

Primer issues

I have a rcbs Hand Prime
a rcbs RC

and A Hornady Progressive

I Had set up issues with the Hornady when brand new and did a bit of tweaking so now it is about 98% FIXED with CCI Primer

yes the last couple would fail to drop into the primer shuttle (the slider that moves the primer from the primer tube to where you seat the primer
I can live with that as you feel when there is no primer

I Picked up some imported Primers real cheep before covid ( I saw the signs) and bought primers

They do not like the progressive press have to hand prime every one, or run just primers and then check every case for a primer

I watch tv and prime empty cases with the hand prime

I wish I had bought powder to match the number of primers i have but have limited space. A brick or 2 or 3 of primers can go anywhere

where do you put powder to match ...... 3 years latter I still have a few primers but out of all those essential powders that I thought I had enough of.

[JimB..]

I just recently had it out with Dillon about needing new primer pickup tubes and primer magazine tubes because CCI LPP’s were getting stuck. The guy was a horses behind about it, as if I should have stopped when the first pickup tube jammed…and then what. Ultimately he blamed the primers. Anyway, bought new tubes and used up the last 3k from that batch priming 45acp on an RCBS universal bench primer without incident. Will try priming on the press again once I’ve shot those up.

[Eddie Southgate]

I got old Remington , Winchester, CCI , some are 60 years old . I got CCI , Winchester and Federal primers that are not over 6 years old. Only ever had 1 issue and that was with 1 flat of 100 out of a 30 year old box of CCI . Loaded 50 Rounds of 6.5x55 , took it out to the range to figure out how deep I wanted to seat the bullets for my then new Ruger carbine . The first 4 fired with no issue but of the next 20 only one in 3 would fire . Took them back in the shop and broke them down and deprimed the lot . Reprimed with the next flat in the same box , loaded them and went back out to the range. Fired 40 of 50 getting everything dialed in and had 0 failures and never had any more out of that box. Trashed the bad flat. I don't buy new Remington primers due to the number of dead primers I have seen the last few years in Remington factory ammo. The old Remington's were great as was their ammo.

[Tall]

I am still using CCI Small Pistol primers from the 1980's. Never a problem with thousands of them, SPP and LPP.

[COUSIN DANIEL]

From may 2020 I have not bought cci primers, I had no idea about the quality just am now glad I only bought federal.

Dodged a bullet

[Horn Ridge]

Hate to bump an old twice bumped old old thread, but...........I found myself at the bench tonight priming new Starline 45 ACP with {old} brown box CCI 300's. The ones where the primers lay sideways in the trays instead of flat. Anyway, using my Lee Auto bench prime I thought I was going to break the handle out of it trying to seat them. First one out the gate didn't feel right. Didn't seat deep enough to get out of the shell holder. Hmm.......take the tray off, rotate the brass half dozen times and finally get it to seat.
Update again.....I put some case lube on my fingers and rolled the edge of the primer around and they seat like you'd expect a primer to seat. I think there is a micro burr around the bottom edge and they're galling. It's frustrating but I'm determined to use them up. A "newer" batch of blue box CCI's seat just fine in the same brass.

[Bills Shed]

You blame the primers. Have you checked THE NEW brass?
Did you uniform the primer pockets to confirm your statements?
Blame is easy, details are better.

Bill

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Horn Ridge]

You blame the primers. Have you checked THE NEW brass?
Did you uniform the primer pockets to confirm your statements?
Yes, I can confirm it is not the primer pocket.

[JSnover]

This thread will be old enough to buy itself a drink in a few years. Maybe whoever inspects primers at CCI won't be there much longer.

[Electrod47]

For a guy (me) that considers himself fairly unlucky and never won anything in his life, I must have been the luckiest guy in the world for the last 45 years buying CCI primers.......

[flintlock62]

It's been a while since I posted on this forum. I have never had a problem with CCI. Every brand I've used, I've also found no problems, including Winchester, Remington, and Federal. I've loaded quite a few thousand with about a total of 5 mis-fires. I have had a couple of mis-fire with quality factory ammo as well.