I started out loading shotgun shells with a Lee Loader about 1956 and 57. My primary primer was Remington they never failed me even when ice was building up on my jeans in freezing weather. A friend gave me a box of Alcan primers and I had a lot of cold weather misfires with them in sub freezing temperatures.
I started using rifle reloads in 1958 and got my first full size press in 67-68. For years my primary primer has been the CCI 200. The CCI 200 has been dependable for igniting charges of WW785 Ball Powder of 60-grains and H4831 over 60-grains. The CCI200 has done fine with other Ball Powders such as H414(WW760) and BL-C(2).
I can recall two misfire with my reloads; I contribute the failure on my handling of the primer and contaminating it. I remember at the time that I should punch the primer out and start over because I was not sure or just cheap. I was loading range loads at the time.
I bought some VIHT magnum primers on sale. I bought a cartoon of a 1000. I have used them in the 7MM Remington Magnum with heavy charges of H4831, H870, and AA8700. They have never failed. I also tested them in heavier loads for the 270 Winchester and had no problems.
At this time I am having a hard time putting a date on the VIHT primers, meaning I cannot recall if I bought them before or after the purchase of the 7Mag. I had never heard of the brand at that time and have not seen the primers since. At just short of $5 a carton of 1000 my mistake was not buying more.
Remington 9 1/2M primers have been reliable in the 7Magnum from an accuracy, and velocity standpoint.
I guess it was a year or so ago a member, and friend gave me some Winchester Large Magnum Rifle Primers. A lot of my test with the 7 Magnum last year was done with these primers. I was getting 3007 fps using AA8700 pushing 160-grain Speer Splitzer with the primers. Velocity across the Chrony was consistent.
I switched to Remington 175 grain CL and the 175 grain Hornady and drop the charge. Average velocity across the Chrony was 2841 fps and the accuracy was very good. I have had very good luck with the 175-grain bullets in the 7Mag using all three Magnum Primers mentioned. But I believe at the same price the WW Magnum Primer has become my Go To Magnum primer.
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the need to use Magnum Primers to ignite ball powders in standard cases. This runs counter to the fact WW sells Large Rifle and Magnum primers. Some years back I started purchasing cartoons of WW primers label for Large Rifle or Magnum cases. Being WW is the king of Ball Powders and the Spherical powders sold by Hodgon most likely come from the same factory I started using the Winchester Large Rifle primers when loading WW785 and WMR ball powders in the .270 Winchester. They have produced very good accuracy.
Every once and while I am given some old factory ammunition from Remington, Winchester, and Federal that a now deceased relative kept in a drawer for many years. They have discolored over years from being carried during hunting season and storage. I use them as range ammo and save the cases for reloading. I was given a 30-30 Remington CL and it appeared the bullet had been set back slightly. Most like from pushing it in to a rifle magazine a few times. There were no marks on the case that made me believe it was a reload. It miss fired, and I cocked the rifle and second and third time and it failed to fire.
This reminds me of another 30-30 miss-fire. It was a 30-30 round and I am sure the primer was CCI. I fired around fifty rounds that day, and I do not know the reason for the miss-fire. After a couple of attempts I put the cartridge in a plastic bottle of water soak. A few days later I pulled the bullet and the powder was wet as expected. The soaking destroyed any evidence of a contaminated primer.
Was this a primer failure or a reloader failure? I do not know but the load was very satisfactory in the accuracy department. The included target shows 160-grain Hornady factory ammunition at the top and my 150-grain Hornady RN using CCI 200 primers. The CCI 200 proved to be very accurate at 100 yards. The 160-grain factory load was accurate also and the high flyer was my high hold and not an ammunition problem. A little adjustment and the bullets were landing where I wanted them to.
I started reloading handgun ammunition at the kitchen table in 1967. For years CCI Small Pistol primers were my Go To primers. I have used thousands of them without fail, even using the crude Lee Loader back in the sixties. I now have a couple large turret presses on the bench and I use a lot of CCI primers, along with WW and Federal. The only reason I have not used Remington is that I have not found a good deal.
The majority of my shooting is combat shooting, not bulls eye shooting, but I believe accuracy is on the par with other primers I use. Prior to becoming a LEO I loaded a lot of pistol ammunition 12 months a year. But afterwards I was so busy and provided enough for training a qualification that I did not need to reload pistol ammo as often. We were provided a lot of bulk reloads from a local commercial reloader and they proved to be very reliable. The commercial loader used a lot of Winchester primers. Back when the transition from wheel guns to autoloaders happen a lot of ammunition was burned. A lot of time was in join training with different departments and in two day session the goal was to fire a thousand rounds out of each new autoloader. Most of the groups had bulk 2000 round cases of ammunition to fire. One group had ammunition from an out of state bulk reloader. Failures to fire and stove pipes were common for that lot of ammunition.
During the recent shortage I had to dig deep into my primer supply for pistol and rifle primers. I dug out CCI pistol and large rifle over thirty years old and the only miss fire was the one CCI 200 in the 30-30. I do not know the cause of the miss fire.
I use CCI Small Pistol, Magnum Small Pistol, Winchester Small Pistol, and Federal Small Pistol. I have not used Remington because I have never found a deal on them.
My experience comes from being a deer hunter, not a competitive shooter. After watching the competitive shooters at the club practice with their rifles, and their finite recording of each round I am sure they have their favorite “Lot” of primers, cases, bullets, and powder.
I should note that I have never had a reload fail to fire when deer hunting. As mention before I had Alcan shotgun primers fail in sub freezing weather many years ago. Was that a primer failure or was it sluggish firing pins.? Back in the days before Break Free we used 3-in-1 oil to lube firearms. I can recall deer hunting in Colorado in slightly warmer conditions at -10˚ having a number of rifles freezing shut that had been lubed with 3-in-1 oil. The point being that another event may cause a miss fire.
