Primers

[Whip]

I want to know the difference in primers. CCI, Federal, Winchester, Remington Ect. Which are hotter , softer Ect.
For pistols and rifles thanks 

[Jim n Iowa]

This could set off a storm, but I will get in. I prefer Win,Fed in that order. I find CCI difficult to load, The primer is ok it just takes some effort to seat them. Rem is out of my shopping cart.
Jim

[LaOtto222]

I just tried to link up to James Calhoon's page. I was not getting a response. He had quite an informative article on small rifle primers. If I remember correctly the CCI BR4 and Rem 7 1/2 were the hardest, or thickest (able to handle more pressure) but also would take a stronger hammer strike. The Federals and Wincester were some of the thinnest. If you are looking to start a long discussion on what is the best primers; and I see it headed that way, this will be a hot topic. I personally prefer the Remington 7 1/2 small rifle primer, but you will get every answer out there. I know the bench rest boys go for the CCI BR4's and Fed 205M's. I have not tried the Federal 205Ms (I don't like their packaging), but I have not had as good of luck with the CCI's as the Remington. The Small rifle CCI BR4, CCI 450s, Remington 7 1/2, and 205Ms are supposed to be the hottest too. They supposed to handle the ball powders that are harder to ignite. The bottom line is you will have to try different ones yourself to find what works the best for you with the powder you are using. If you look over reloading manuals the Remington 7 1/2 is a very popular small rifle primer with them, not the only one, but popular. Again, only you can decide what is the best for your own reasons, that is why they all still sell their different brands...some one has to be buying them. The same thing could be said about all primers of any size, be it large rifle, sm - lg pistol, etc.

[LaOtto222]

One thing I forgot to mention....get your self as many reloading manuals as possible and follow their recipes to the letter. You can try to experiment with different primers after you have developed a good load. Then you will have a base line to work with to find out which works best for you.

[Whip]

One thing I forgot to mention....get your self as many reloading manuals as possible and follow their recipes to the letter. You can try to experiment with different primers after you have developed a good load. Then you will have a base line to work with to find out which works best for you.

I have been reloading for 25 years for 2506,22 hornet, 220 swift, 223, 222 mag,and 444.  . I usually use Winchester or Remington primers for those. If the load calls for a mag primer that is what I  use. I just bought a 44 mag pistol  on the box of Winchester large pistol primers it says for standard or magnum pistol ? Are they magnum or not? I ended up buying Federal 155 mag primers. I just would like to know a little more, what each primer is like. Thanks 

[MnMike]

There are so many variables in reloading that when I started 4 years ago, I decided to stick with just Winchester primers. This may be dumb but I can't even try all the other bullet, seating length, and powder combinations for each round I reload.

mike

[goodwrench6710]

I really can't tell you the difference. I use all CCI primers. All I have is a single stage press & I use the RCBS hand priming tool with the flipper tray to seat my primers. Seems to work ok for me.

[ihuntbucks]

I use CCI for all my rifle and pistol loading.I use Winchester for my shotguns;never had any problem out of either.........Rick

[dave375hh]

1st choice is Win. 2nd is Rem. or Fed. I've had the best results with Win. primers across the board. I used to use CCI BR primers untill they misfired in cold weather rather badly.

The hottest LR primers are the Win WLRM. In a recent test(within the last 2 yrs) they were found to be 40% hotter than the Fed.215M's. This info came from an article about loading magnum rounds written by John Barsness in Handloader mag. In shotguns I stopped using Win. and went with Fiocchi 616's based on price.

I started reloading in 1967 and I've had 9 misfires(yes I kept track) Two were Factory rounds, one Win. 30-06, and one Remington .222. The other 7 were all CCI's in handloads. Four of those were from the same box of 25-06 with BR2 primers. I went back home and made up the same load with Win. WLR's and they shot fine and 150 fps faster over the crono. This was on the same day as the misfires with the temp at 3deg.

[beemanbeme]

I use CCI for the very scientific reason of that is what the little gun shop carried when I started reloading and so that is what I've gotten used to.  Since then I have use other primers and couldn't tell a whole lot of difference.  In a hunting cartridge application.  Since I started shooting some factory rifle matches and hunter matches, I wanted to tighten up things a bit so I've tried some of the BR primers, some of them are supposed to be more uniform and some of them are supposed to be hotter. I guess I'm not a good enough shot 'cause I can't tell any difference except in price.
Some folks claim awesome accuracy gains by using magnum primers when they work up loads in standard cartridges.  I was never that lucky.  Now I use standard primers in standard cartridges, regardless of whether it's ball powder or stick, and magnum primers in belted cases, regardless of whether it's ball powder or stick. 
Your mileage may vary so you may want to try all that different stuff too.   

[davem270win]

When I started reloading, pretty much all I could find was CCI, so that's what I used. Until I had some misfires in a brand new Ruger 77 - switching to Federal primers solved the problem, and now I'm using Federal. I can't say for sure it was the primers, but the Federals have worked well for me.

[Dand]

Whip,  since you are talking about loading for the 44 mag, you might want to consider the Win Large Pistol primer. It is for standard AND magnum loads and that is very handy for the 44.  I load the 41 mag and use a lot of the Win LP primers. I believe they are designed to light the Win (Olin) Ball powders popular in the 44 - such as 296 and its near twin H110.  Those same primers light easy to ignite powders well too - like Unique and 2400.

For a while Winchester also made a Magnum Pistol Primer, I just shot up the last of those I had bought from the 1980's or early 90's.

I also have good luck with CCI standard or Mag. primers.  Have a few Fed primers but mostly I use Win and CCI.

I have used Rem, CCI, Win, and Fed primers for rifle reloading but mostly use CCI since they have been more available.  I use the Fed 215 for quite a few of my 300 win mag loads.

For hand guns I load 9mm, 38/357, 41 mag (5 different guns) and .40SW - been loading since about 1977.

In the last few years there have been some good articles really getting down to the science of primers and carefully comparing load recipes where the only variable was the primer.  I have been impressed with the wide differences in pressures and performance that can be found and I now tend to be more careful in following the recommened primer in a recommended load.  If I don't have the right primer, I might start with a slightly lighter powder charge and work up just to be careful - except with 296 where loading down is not recommended.  Wish I could quote you the articles but I can't.  I read Handloader and Rifle a lot so you might do a search on the Wolfe Publishing Website.

[roper]

hope this helps

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/primers_and_pressure.php

[PA-Joe]

Whip - What does your load manual call for and that is what you should use. I know of several reloaders in the very cold northern areas that will use a standard primer load in the summer and then change to mag primers in the winter.

[Whip]

Whip - What does your load manual call for and that is what you should use. I know of several reloaders in the very cold northern areas that will use a standard primer load in the summer and then change to mag primers in the winter.

Most of the time I use what they say in the manuals. I just want to know a little more about primers. I found this for rifle primers. http://www.reloadingroom.com/page35.html
Now I need to find somthing on Pistol primers.