Foreign Import Primers...

[Byron Cromwell]

I see where Graf and Sons is advertising Tula brand primers at 116.00 per five thousand in a single case lot and I am in the market for a large purchase of small pistol primers. Before I go, has anyone any experience with Tula and Wolf brand of primers? They have Remington small pistol Magnums as well, and I am not worried about cup thickness as I am shooting magnum revolvers and Colt SAA with the firing pin attached to the hammer. Ignition has never been a problem with the old Colts. They are not match guns, either. Are the primers any good?

The comments I have heard on Remington small pistol primers are they contain hard metal and hammerless pistols do not like them. I don't have a hammerless. Also, the priming compound is the same and the only difference between the small pistol and small pistol magnum is the cup thickness. Is this accurate?

I have seen pictures on this website of Wolf small pistol pistol primers flattened under magnum loads. Do they also flatten under standard loads, say, 5.4 grains Unique with a 158 grain roundnose bullet in .38 Special? or even 2.7 grains Bullseye under a 148 grain wadcutter?

Any information?

Byron

[Houndog]

Byron,
I use Wolf primers in both small and large pistol and have used some in small rifle. Except for the small rifle primers blanking in some of my 6PPC loads, I've not had any problems and NEVER had a dud primer. They are slightly bigger in diameter than say a Federal or Winchester, but that hasn't been a problem. Others have reported some misfires with them, but that's not the case with me.

FWIW: Wolf small rifle magnum primers have the same explosive mix as their standard primers, just a thicker cup

[Crash_Corrigan]

I do not know about the Tula brand but about the Wolf brand I can speak from experience.

I have fired over 15K of these over the last two years and I have another 25K on my shelves. Yes some of them do give you are harder time to seat than the other more expensive domestic primers.

However that having been said they all seem to work and go bang when hit. The price differential is substantial when i bought mine and I would not hesitate to buy more of the Wolf brand primers in the future.

I shoot a lot of 9 MM's and .45 ACP and I load in progressive presses. Keeping my cost per round down to less than 4 cents apiece is important to me. This is why I cast my own boolits and reload in the first place.

More shooting for less bucks.

[MtGun44]

Wolf makes nothing, they are a marketing company. Tula is a huge Russian arsenal,
good guess that Wolf's Russian primers are made at Tula. Even if not, they are
a highly experienced maker of guns and ammo. The only question is that they
historically have made Berdan primers, so may have far less experience with Boxer
design primers.

Bill

[AzShooter]

I've used about 5000 Wolf primers in my tuned Smith & Wessons with trigger pulls under 5 lbs and have not had one primer not go off. I've also used them in my Model 29, again no failures to fire.

They are not my first choice, that is Federal but I do have 5000 backup for when I need more.

I have 50,000 SP Federals and 10,000 LP so I don't think I'll be needing the Wolfs for a bit but they do work well.

[Byron Cromwell]

Houndog:
What is "blanking" with regard to your 6mm PPC if "blanking" is not a misfire? Also, could you break out the acronum FWIW?
If it helps, I have an old Star progressive loader set up for .38 special wadcutters and I usually seat the primers by hand before inserting in the press. That way I can clean primer pockets and polish the cases before loading. I have a hand-held primer seater to use. The machine flares the case, charges powder, seats the bullet and so forth. Of course, I could load primers in the machine and use it that way; I have in the past and that's how it was designed to operate, but I think this makes a better load and I have time.
Thanks.

[LAH]

Never tried that brand but I've used lots of Wolfs & Heavy Metal Free Primers. Both are from the Red State, Russia........Creeker

Wolf


HMF

[Houndog]

Byron,
Blanking is when the firing pin indention in a fired primer blows out from too much pressure for the metal making up the primer cup. (A pierced primer) Keep in mind most benchrest shooters load the 6PPC to pressures FAR in excess of SAAMI specifications!

FWIW= For What It's Worth

There's certainly nothing wrong with your equipment! I hand prime ALL my remanufactured ammo, and yes MOST folks on this board passed just "reloading" LONG ago! Some of our other members can do a MUCH better job telling you how to fine tune your loader! I sold my Dillon and the only other progressive loader I owned ( A Lee 1000) didn't pass the float test! It now resides at the bottom of Fort Patrick Henry lake.

I think you will be just fine with Tula or Wolf primers. The Russians may not build as "slick" of products as we do, but what they put in the hands of their Armys flat work, and the Tula arsenal is their version of our Lake City Arsenal.

[deerslayer]

Or you could spend a couple extra dollars and keep an american working. Don't worry if you choose not to spend it they will take it, to give it to him while on unemployment.

[stephen perry]

Considering the Russian's killed the majority of Nazi tanks and soldiers in WWII I would say they know how to make primers. If there is a problem seating Russian primers I suggest you do a one time primer pocket ream with a Wilson, Lyman, Lee, RCBS or whatever primer pocket chamfer tool you have.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[dromia]

I've shot a lot of these Murom primers over the years in LR, LP, SR & SP and found them to be very satisfactory.

Primer of choice when available now for nearly all aplications and not just for the price either.

Here's a link to a primer test Gussy ran:

http://www.castingstuff.com/primer_t..._reference.htm

[zuke]

Or you could spend a couple extra dollars and keep an american working. Don't worry if you choose not to spend it they will take it, to give it to him while on unemployment.

my thought's exactly.
Enough stuff has gone off shore,we have to draw the line somewhere.

[dodgyrog]

Like Dromia I have used these primers (mainly LRP) with good results for some years. I also sell them and have had no complaints.

[azcruiser]

If there a little over sized do you think if loaded with them a number of times and you were to go back to FED or Rem and WIN would the primer pocket make the primer loose ?As Patton said I don't anything to do with them Russian S of bitches / But then again a buck is a buck

[mroliver77]

I have loaded/shot a lot of Wolf brand primers. Almost all were done on a progressive press. I keep reading the statement "Every one of them went bang." I have not only never had a missfire but according to Mr. Chronograph I have gotten some very low SD and great accuracy. I was disapointed in the LPM though as they were little to no warmer than the LP standard.
J

[Byron Cromwell]

Deerslayer and Zuke:

I would buy American made primers but I have a hard time finding CCI, Winchester, Federal or Remington in stock in bulk quantities. Remember the 25.00 HAZMAT fee. I am employing the folks at Graf and Sons, UPS, etc. more than if I ran fewer orders for loading equipment and components, and I cannot beat the price.

I guess it'sike the retort I used with the environmentalists at college years ago. I am not discarding the earth's natural resources to use paper towels and throw them away: The paper is not leaving the planet for one thing, and I am employing the garbage man for another...

Byron

[Byron Cromwell]

Houndog;

Thanks for the clarification. I have had pierced primers but that was with rough firing pins in old SAAs, and improperly seated primers. The occurrance was that infrequent and I was new to handloading. For What It's Worth (FWIW) came to me later on in the evening.

Byron

[fgd135]

I've been using Wolf LR primers for over two years without problems of any kind. In fact, as others have previously noted, I've also noticed very low SD and very uniform velocities and accuracy from the cases loaded with them, in .30-06, .30-40, 7.62x53r, and a couple of other calibers.
A good value.

[cajun shooter]

I just hope that all persons who are now buying Wolf primers go back to the USA primers when they become available. I 'm sure that Russia hopes that we don't do as they did and leave the Afgans. so that they still keep the business. I have refused to buy them and have made it so far. I have not been able to use my primer of choice until the last month. A dry spell of almost 2 years has keep me from having any LP Federal. I have used Remington, CCI and Winchester but I now have about 9000 LP's so I will never buy Wolf.

[LAH]

I just hope that all persons who are now buying Wolf primers go back to the USA primers when they become available. I 'm sure that Russia hopes that we don't do as they did and leave the Afgans. so that they still keep the business. I have refused to buy them and have made it so far. I have not been able to use my primer of choice until the last month. A dry spell of almost 2 years has keep me from having any LP Federal. I have used Remington, CCI and Winchester but I now have about 9000 LP's so I will never buy Wolf.

All this panic did was cause shooters to see Wolf makes some good primers. Right now I'm out of LR primers except for 20,000 or so CCI 34s so I'm looking for primers. I need to purchase from someone who not only has primers but certain powders so I can make at least a 40 pound order, 50 being even better if my buds need anything.

Persoanlly I'd like 10,000 Federal LR Match but don't see it happening unless I'm missing something. I'm red, white & blue but also like to shoot. It's simple for me, no primers, no loading & from my shooting test the Wolf doesn't take a back seat to the Federals, at least not the lot I had. There's only a 1000 left in my shop so something has to give.

If you get up my way drop me off some Feds & I'll share some beans & cornbread with ya.........Creeker