Low Cost Primers

[skeet1]

I don't know if you guys have noticed or not that Widener's has some Wolf primes at $16.00 per 1000. those that are listed are Small Pistol Mag, Large Pistol Mag and regular Small Rifle. I just ran out of Small Rifle primer and ordered 5000. At today's prices this is a great deal.

Ken

P.S. I wasn't sure if this is the right place to post this or not.

[bubbacrabb]

I had good luck with wideners. I ordered 5k small rifle, 25k small pistol, 25k large pistol last time I ordered from them. I've had good luck with tula and wolf.

[azrednek]

I purchased 1,000 each of Wolf LP and SR. I shot up all the LP and the majority of the SR. Did not have a single dud and they flowed as good as any through my Lock N Load. Wish I had the same good luck with S&B and Tulammo. I bought the foreign primers up at the peak of the shortages being unable to get my hands on my favorite Winchester. At the time I was happy to get primers period without paying a gunshow gouger. Far as I'm concerned Wolf are as good as any other.

[John Boy]

Not much in stock ... https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|284|737

(https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|284|737)

[Lloyd Smale]

if your needing small pistol primers don't be afraid to buy the wolf small pistol mag primers. There about the same power as cci standards. Same goes for there large pistol mags.
Not much in stock ... https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|284|737

(https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|284|737)

[jonp]

I bought s&b for the same price. I have some wolf of all flavors. No problems at all with them

[runfiverun]

16 per is an outstanding price now day's.
that's close to what I paid a few years back.
I have had good luck with their small rifle primers, except they don't flow through my Dillon primer tube filler machine worth beans.
they work on the reloaders themselves just fine.

[jrayborn]

I have run through MANY wolf (also Tula) and think they are great. No problems as far as I have seen and the price at Wideners cannot be beat.

[khmer6]

i bought a case of 50k a few years back. they have worked great. long before that they were getting some hang fires and duds. lots of people ended up scamming the importer because they couldn't ship the product back and they were shipping out replacement (the internet effect) I can't quite remember but I ***THINK*** it was the large pistol primer that had most of the issue. Anyways, I use the KVB-223M? primer in all small primer loads including pistols and rifle. No need to stock so many dang DIFFERENT primers

[alamogunr]

I ran across this thread when looking for info on powders and primers. I'm working my way thru a case of 5K Wolf SP primers that have given me fits. I posted some time back that I had problems with duds. This was mostly in a S&W Model 65 that had the hammer bobbed but also included a Highway Patrolman. The Highway Patrolman was better but not 100%. I have replaced the mainspring in the 65 which helped but did not eliminate the misfires. It only increased the trigger pull. I will try some loads using the Wolf primers in a Model 64 the next time I go to the range. I will not be buying any more Russian primers. I congratulate those who have had no problems with them.

[fecmech]

I have recently gone through 10K of Wolf/Tula sp primers with zero problems. They were shot in a K-38, Gp 100 and some Rossi 92's. I just bought 10K of Sellior& Bellot sp's and so far so good. Ballistic uniformity of Wolf/S&B as good or better than than CCI,Fed,RP and Magtech I've used in the past.

[John Boy]

Alamo - regardless of the brand of primers, the cup has to be hit ... Hard and Fast to ignite.
Modify a firearm to achieve less force for the hammer drop is nearly always the reason a given brand will not always ignite

[alamogunr]

JB, Are you saying this gun is a scrap *** unless I have a new hammer installed. I thought that the new mainspring would cure the problem. It has not. The Highway Patrolman has NOT been modified and it does not fire every round. I suspect that this batch of primers has some hard cups. In the same cylinder full, some primers show a deep impression and some show a shallow impression.

Either way, both work fine with Winchester primers.

[avogunner]

........getting some hang fires and duds. ...... I ***THINK*** it was the large pistol primer that had most of the issue.

I just finished off a 1000 of Wolf LP and I had a few. Actually, I two complete duds (IIRC) and 5 or so that required a second hit with the hammer. These were shot out of my Ruger Vaquero and a Uberti 1860 Henry. I've shot hundreds (maybe a few thou) with CCI, Winchester, or Remington in these guns without a single incident so I'm confident they aren't the issue. This was an older box though, probably bought a couple of years ago. But........since these guns are just for punching holes in paper or other gun range games, I would buy again. A couple of duds is a small price to pay for $16 a thousand primers.

[cosmoline one]

I've had Zero problems with Murom primers(wolf/tula), but a friend had issues with wolf sm rifle primers.Come to think of it, the only primer I recall ever having a probllem with was a CCI LR which had its anvil upside down!

[oso]

JB, Are you saying this gun is a scrap *** unless I have a new hammer installed. I thought that the new mainspring would cure the problem. It has not. The Highway Patrolman has NOT been modified and it does not fire every round. I suspect that this batch of primers has some hard cups. In the same cylinder full, some primers show a deep impression and some show a shallow impression.

Either way, both work fine with Winchester primers.

Obviously you did not lighten the hammer spring! I doubt your firearms are the problem. But consider other problems I have experienced that are a reflection on me and not intended to offend anyone.
I would double check that the primers are seated below flush since I do recall a sleeve of Russian made primers (PMC sp) that were difficult to seat fully (a bit extra in diameter or harder cup I could not determine with my rudimentary tools) and performed as you describe. The shallow firing pin impression may be due to the primer moving deeper when struck. These may fire with a second strike. Seating the primers with a different tool I luckily had on the bench salvaged that sleeve.
However, I also recall a revolver that had a very worn hammer bearing so the hammer was dragging on the frame leaving marks in the hammer, I suspect this slowed the hammer and additionally the firing pin would sometimes hit so far off center that it would miss the anvil. Didn't make a difference which brand of primers. Doesn't apply to your situation but points out that Murphy has other tricks up his sleeve that haven't come out in the wash yet.

[oso]

P.S. to my post above.
The WPA spm primers currently available from Widener's are a real pleasure to seat.

[rodsvet]

I won't buy any russian **** because I'd rather not shoot or reload if the money goes over there.

[avogunner]

I have never paid this little for primers in my 35 years of reloading...I got 6k for $45!! I was at an estate auction a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe they didn't go higher but they didn't (best money I've spent in a long time). They were all CCI and 2k were LR, 2k of LPM, 1k each of LRM and SRM. Shoulda gone out and got a lottery ticket too.

[Lloyd Smale]

a few years ago in the first reloading shortage period I bought a case of large pistol std and mag wolfs. I had misfires and when chonographing loads even with easy to ignite powders like unique I had large velocity swings. this was with a number of guns and my buddy bought a case at the same time and had the same problem. We then tried the mags and velocitys were about the same as using a fed standard primer and did light off powder more consistently. Switching to aa9 and 110 with the mags brought back the big swings in velocity and im talking over 200 fps. If I wanted to shoot standard loads id look at there mag primers. there pretty lame mag primers but work good for std loads. Both the std and mag primers (I bought 5k of each) had a couple that were actually missing the anvil so give them a good look before you use them. Yes they were cheap. They were also the only primers you could get them. Would I buy them again? Obviously I would if they were all I could find but that would be the only circumstances id pay good money for them again and if I did id do it knowing there not hot primers and buy mags for my standard loads.

[ReloaderFred]

I won't buy anything Russian, since I grew up during the midst of the Cold War, when they threatened to burn the U.S. off the face of the earth. Those weekly "duck and cover" drills are still stuck in my mind, and now Putin is trying to bring them back to the same BS. They won't get my support, no matter what.

In fact, I'm still mad at the Japanese for trying to kill my Dad at Pearl Harbor, if that tells you anything........

Fred

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree with you fred. Ill buy American even if it costs more. Only time id even consider buying foreign is if theres nothing American to buy.

[lightload]

S&W revolvers develop cylinder end shake with use. You can see this condition by pulling back and forth on the cylinder and observing slack or back and forth movement. As wear increases so does the distance between the back of the cylinder and the firewall where the firing pin passes through a hole in the frame to strike primers in cases. Thus, with hard primers light strikes may occur.

I need to make a few points: All revolvers will develop cylinder end shake with use. It's easily corrected in Smiths. It is not a defect. Worry about it when the cylinder starts to drag on the back of the barrel. If your Smith only mis-fires on Wolf primers, avoid this brand and resist fixing something on your nice revolver that ain't broke.

[gloob]

Anyways, I use the KVB-223M? primer in all small primer loads including pistols and rifle. No need to stock so many dang DIFFERENT primers
I tried using Wolf 223 primers in two pistols. Glock and FN. Only 10% of them fired. I even had a failure in my rifle. Are they really this inconsistent?

I shot an entire 1k of CCI 400's out of pistols, before I even reloaded for rifles. Not a single failure.

I have had multiple failures with Tula SPP, in multiple handguns with multiple primer seating pressures and depths and meticulous care. The price was so good on them, at that time, that I tried everything to make them work. I gave them every excuse and benefit of the doubt. And they still simply failed. I don't trust them in my own stock firearms. I will pay more for SB, Magtech, or domestic.

To date, I have never had a single failure with primers made anywhere else but Russia. Even when using the wrong primer for the job. Even when I was still learning how to prime cases.