Best Primer Brands For Consistency and Reliability

[Xmark1]

I have had excellent results with CCI.

When primers are unobtainium, I bought what was available - S&B. These suck! I bought a brick of SPP's and they are way too soft or something. They go Bang - but Almost all of them deform while being seated.

These are plinking rounds, using mixed brass head stamps. that I reloaded yesterday.
I have never had this problem with my reloading standard - CCI's.

I added a picture of some 10mm I recently reloaded with CCI primers for comparison.

 

[mhayd93]

I’ve never had any issues with CCI, Federal, or Winchester primers. A few years ago I encountered some issues with Remington small pistol primers failing to ignite even after multiple strikes. This occurred across a variety of different pistols. Out of a thousand rounds of the same batch, there were about 7 or 8 failures.

My guess is that it was just a bad batch, especially since this was during the peak of Remington’s mismanagement issues.

 

[P7M13]

When I had a Steyr M40, the striker did not have enough oomph to ignite CCI primers. Winchester had thinner metal in their cups and worked just fine.
I used a pack of Federal LR primers that had a 25% misfire rate. Irritating to say the least.
All in all, none affected the accuracy that I am capable of.

Now, back to more interesting things, @3MTA3 , tell us about these women in your fantasies....

 

[ageingstudent]

I have had excellent results with CCI.

When primers are unobtainium, I bought what was available - S&B. These suck! I bought a brick of SPP's and they are way too soft or something. They go Bang - but Almost all of them deform while being seated.

These are plinking rounds, using mixed brass head stamps. that I reloaded yesterday.
I have never had this problem with my reloading standard - CCI's.

I added a picture of some 10mm I recently reloaded with CCI primers for comparison.

View attachment 1094149

S&B definitely have a relatively soft cup. That's been my experience also when priming fresh-er brass especially. If you shoot a few hot loads in that brass with a different primer pretty soon the S&Bs will fit. They really aren't terrible primers they are just fat and soft like most Americans . Lord I apologize right now.

When the pockets are tight like that your only choice is to ream some primer pockets or shoot some hot loads to stretch the pocket a bit. Which in pistol is irritating to say the least. Pistol is supposed to be easy right?

 

[ageingstudent]

When I had a Steyr M40, the striker did not have enough oomph to ignite CCI primers. Winchester had thinner metal in their cups and worked just fine.
I used a pack of Federal LR primers that had a 25% misfire rate. Irritating to say the least.
All in all, none affected the accuracy that I am capable of.

Now, back to more interesting things, @3MTA3 , tell us about these women in your fantasies....

I second that

 

[41mag]

If you have to use Winchester avoid any old stock.

about 20 years ago I encountered a lot of WLP that had serious % of loose anvils falling out of the cup before or during the reloading process. Never before or since, yet that was a serious loss of time & effort for me. The company requested certain items which I supplied. They generously provided a $15 discount slip. It was over a decade before I bought another of their product. No trouble since then.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I can’t give you an unbiased comparison because all I’ve ever used have been CCI. I had some Remington 6 1/2 primers that I took in on trade years ago but I traded them off because I had no experience with them.
Good luck on your quest.

 

[orygun]

Brisance.

Unless you’re talking about horse jumping or great power.




P

Power. It's all about power. And then I learned another word, brisance. cuz I looked it up. Brisance would apply, but I like my word better.

@Certaindeaf , I'd be even more skeptical of a light seat on the primer than an overzealous one, but who da fock knows? Out of all of the ammo I've loaded and shot, why couldn't it have failed on a test round? Must be karma. I know I've not been an angel my whole life.

 

[ageingstudent]

Power. It's all about power. And then I learned another word, brisance. cuz I looked it up. Brisance would apply, but I like my word better.

@Certaindeaf , I'd be even more skeptical of a light seat on the primer than an overzealous one, but who da fock knows? Out of all of the ammo I've loaded and shot, why couldn't it have failed on a test round? Must be karma. I know I've not been an angel my whole life.

I don't think it's just you. I'm a complete and total angel and I walked like 42 miles one time to shoot at a chukar and the primer failed. God it was such a long walk back to the truck. My mama says I'm an angel. My mama doesn't lie.

 

[pharmseller]

I love Tikkas, but I hate the fact that Beretta acquired them. Beretta customer service is non-existent, at least from my experience. I contacted them a couple of times to ask them technical questions about my Tikka Tac A1. They never replied. Then they had a promotion to get a third magazine for the Tac A1. I applied for that promotion a while ago and I still haven't heard from them. I contacted them about it, but of course they never replied. Although I love Tikka rifles, I am not sure I will ever buy another new Tikka. I do not see a point of buying a new product and get ZERO customer service from Beretta. Funny, every day they keep sending me promotional emails.

Cheers and Happy Holidays to Everyone,

Dan from Seattle

Power. It's all about power. And then I learned another word, brisance. cuz I looked it up. Brisance would apply, but I like my word better.

@Certaindeaf , I'd be even more skeptical of a light seat on the primer than an overzealous one, but who da fock knows? Out of all of the ammo I've loaded and shot, why couldn't it have failed on a test round? Must be karma. I know I've not been an angel my whole life.

It’s a cool word.

Try to use it tomorrow.

 

[orygun]

It’s a cool word.

Try to use it tomorrow.

Hoping today is a smooth day with no more brisance than a champagne bottle's carbonation.

How's that?

 

[pharmseller]

Hoping today is a smooth day with no more brisance than a champagne bottle's carbonation.

How's that?

I meant puissance, and on somebody in a conversation.



P

 

[orygun]

I meant puissance, and on somebody in a conversation.



P

Ok, I'll give it a try.

 

[pharmseller]

Puissant, as a form of puissance, qualifies also.



P

 

[Capn Jack]

I've always used Remington Primers without any problems. Some have been several years old.

 

[orygun]

I've always used Remington Primers without any problems. Some have been several years old.

I used a bunch of them in my 45-70 without a single hiccup. Some of those were gunshow finds, too.

 

[HighlandLofts]

At $100 a thousand I will stop shooting when my supply dries up.
You all can have what's out there for that inflated price what ever kind they happen to be.

 

[3MTA3]

At $100 a thousand I will stop shooting when my supply dries up.
You all can have what's out there for that inflated price what ever kind they happen to be.

I see them eventually coming down to $40-$50 once the panic is over. IMO that's on the horizon as the Defund Police movement has come to an end so that will reign in the current crime and violence spree. We are also seeing the imminent loss of power to the far left and may be looking at a return or at least more movement to political normalcy.

Regardless, the market will adjust and increase production if demand stays high, but there is little we can to to curb inflation unless .gov can gather and burn all that fiat currency they printed over the last few years.

 

[DizzyJ]

I did a primer test a few years back of about 9-10 different primers looking at ES, SD and the results on paper. Problem is, your results will likely change depending on the other components and loads used. One primer may give excellent results with a certain powder at a certain charge weight and give completely different results if any of those variables are changed.

Yes, some fit tighter, some fit looser. Some have harder (thicker) cups and some are softer (thinner).

I’ve gravitated more towards the match and magnum or military style primers as they allow me to drive the projectile faster without piercing the primer and eroding the boltface.

Some of the softest primers have given me the best results accuracy and ES wise.

I think the S&B small rifle primers gave me the lowest ES in one case and more than acceptable groups.

CCI 400s have also been a component in one of my most accurate AR loads.

In the end, you really just have to play around with loads and components to see what works best in YOUR particular situation.

 

[osprey]

Puissant, as a form of puissance, qualifies also.



P

I’ve met a bunch of puissants over the years! None of them had any great power or wielded any influence. They was just your garden variety puissants I guess.