On primers

[white eagle]

well we have all heard it from ol Jim "44 Man" on using fed primers
I though yeah yeah sure thing primer is a primer rite?
I did a test today for myself I have a load of 23.0 gr.imr 4227 with winchester primers and fed 150 match primers and the 50 yard groups out of my S&W model 29 4" barrel gave me all the proof I needed
the winchester load had a pattern at 50 but the feds grouped about 5" for a cylinder full
I shot 2 cylinders of each and they were similar in size
i was using a 250 gr Keith boolit cast from ww
so Jim if you are reading this my hats off to ya you were rite on the money :holysheep

[Plate plinker]

Right on. Funny thing I talked to a old school wheel gunner yesterday who said the same thing.

[Tenbender]

Hard to beat a Federal Primer.

[CraigOK]

Is there a difference in cci and fed? I assume so, but thought Id ask since they're both under the same umbrella company

[44MAG#1]

There is nothing new about using standard primers when using slow handgun powers. Including ball powders. I started out using standard primers when I started reloading when I was Round 18 years old and I am nearly 65 now. I used them with ball powder over the years as much or more as Magnum primers and they did well.
Reinventing the wheel doesn't mean the wheel is new.

[tazman]

Is there a difference in cci and fed? I assume so, but thought Id ask since they're both under the same umbrella company

One of the things Jim always mentioned was to make sure the hammer hit the primer with enough force to ensure a good, consistent ignition. He was a fan of never reducing the power of the mainspring in his handguns.
The Federal brand of pistol primer is known to be a bit softer and therefore easier to set off than other brands. This ease of ignition may have something to do with the consistency it gives to the reloads.
If your hammer isn't hitting with enough force to consistently set off other primers, it may well work better with Federals.

[Tenbender]

The only primers I have ever had to misfire were CCI and Remington. That's why I don't buy them.

[ghh3rd]

Sorry to say that I recently read that 44man was banned from the forum.

[white eagle]

not trying to reinvent anything
just heeding sage advice is all

[308Jeff]

The only primers I have ever had to misfire were CCI and Remington. That's why I don't buy them.

Funny how that works. Only misfires I've ever had were with Winchester.

Luck of the draw, I suppose.

[Plate plinker]

Suppose if you shoot enough of any brand a dead primer will be found eventually.

[Scharfschuetze]

Suppose if you shoot enough of any brand a dead primer will be found eventually.

No truer words ever spoken.

Your gun and load will tell you which primer works best with any given load. There are just too many permutations that can affect the result. While the manufacturers strive to maintain uniformity from lot to lot, sometimes even a change in lot will make a difference.

I've certainly had my favorites over the years, but I have found that when I run out of my favorite brand of primers, another brand often works as well or better and... sometimes not.

[Lloyd Smale]

I don't buy into the one primer is best for all. I don't buy into the standard primer works as good as a mag either. Primers are just another variable when working up a load to find consistency and accuracy. You could load X cartridge with XX powder at 10 grains and get great accuracy and find that changing that powder charge to 11 might make a different brand primer give the best accuracy. You might get away with ball powders like 110 and aa9 with full power loads using standard primers but download by two or three grains and std primers might give you a 300 fps velocity swing. What fed primers do better then the rest is go off and go off completely with a lighter primer strike then any other primer. So if your consistently getting better accuracy with a fed primer or your getting misfires with cci or ww or rem you are proabably weak in the primer strike category and might want to look at a new primer spring. Where you really find it is in smith and wessons with action jobs or the grip spring screw back off. When I shot ppc I shot only feds because that's all my ppc gun would light off a 100 percent. Because it had misfires with ccis doesn't make ccis defective it makes my gun defective. I never heard Jim was banned. Ill him and his knowledge.

[lefty o]

Is there a difference in cci and fed? I assume so, but thought Id ask since they're both under the same umbrella company

federal and cci primers are an entirely different animal from each other. federal primers are of a different chemical composition than every other primer on the market, which is part of the reason they are easier to set off, and why they are hotter than other primers.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Hard to beat a Federal Primer.

Hard to find is more like it at least with standard small pistol primers, even the standard Gold Medal Match primers. Federals are excellent primers but they have been hard to get.

Federals are different in that they use a softer primer cups in addition to Federal uses a different primer compound that is more sensitive than the commonly used mixture. This is why I love them along with other competitive shooters since they are reliable with lightened ignition components on competition guns.

[tazman]

For my pistol shooting, almost any brand of primer works. I get more differences in accuracy by changing powders or charges.
I will admit that once in a while I get a better grouping load by using a particular primer but it doesn't happen often enough to worry about since the next lot of the same primer may not work the same.

[18Bravo]

It is interesting that powder manufactures specify a particular primer when one looks up receipts. I can only assume that this is done for a good reason: safety, accuracy, more consistent burn control, etc.

I have my favorite primer manufacturer, as I’m sure many if not most of the rest of you do. However, when it comes to developing a load for a new cartridge that I’ve never loaded before, I defer to the powder manufactures for guidance.

With 44's in mind I must agree with the Fed 150 primer comments. When Loading hot 44 Mags (180gr JHP – 29gr Win 296) I use Fed 150 primer with excellent results. For plinker loads WLP do just fine.