Which primers would be best?

[0321jarhead]

Okay, so I'm over the 50 mark and just starting to reload. I'm a greenhorn at this time so I may be asking some folks real simple questions. "Yet its best to ask a dumb question than to make a dumb mistake." I have the Lee Precision Breechlock Challenger Kit to start out with. I'm almost ready to rock and roll with it. I have my dies and have already decapped some rifle casings like 30-.06, 7.5X55. I know that I need some "large primers" now. The thing is I have two resources to buy from. One brand of primers is Remington 9 1/2 and some CCI large rifle primers. I'm leaning more so for the CCI. What would you guys recommend based on your experiences?

[JagerDog]

Peformance wise it doesn't really matter. Rifle loads should be worked up using what you have. CCI tends to be cheaper. Published data availability can be your guide in component selection. I haven't seen a substantial difference in standard primers, but always exercise caution when substituting from published or historic loads. Much data doesn't even specify primer mfg. Instead they recommend to work up from a starting load. Federals do tend to be a bit hotter and can do better (along with magnum primers) on some powders. I shoot a lot of Winchester, but also alot of Wolf on bulk ammo.

[dynamomark80]

I am fairly new to reloading but I have tried CCI, Federal, and Winchester primers. I will tell you I will never use Winchester ever again since I have had far to many fail to fire situations in the box of 1000 I tried out. i thought I didnt put a powder charge in so I sat there pointing down range just in case. waited a bit then tried to shoot it again again and it worked. next thing i thought was I didnt seat the primer all the way so I started to keep an eye on that but still had a few problems. I guess I should mention this was loadings for my 1911 with a extra power firing pin spring and lighten hammer spring, Im pretty sure if I had all the hard hitting original parts in the 1911 I probably wouldnt have this problem with Winchester primers.

If anything else I recommend picking up 100 primers of various brands/types so you have enough primers to load up rounds with different powder charges.

[Pacilander]

The best are ones that fire and ones that you can find in stock.

Honestly it depends on what gun you are loading for and what kind of load you are developing. An example would be to say that using the harder military primers for rifles with a floating firing pins to prevent slam fires is a good idea.

Winchester primers seem to be the cost the least averaging around $25 per 1k then CCI which average around $35 per 1k and if you get into the federal match those average around $45. These are all pre panic costs, so it's not fair to judge cost alone because you can go to the market place and find someone selling 1k of CCI small rifle for $75 or pulled mil surplus primers for $35, the worst part is someone is usually willing to pay it. Now I fire pulled bullets and even pulled powder in target loads but I have yet to shoot with pulled primers. But who knows I soon may be trying them out too.

[0321jarhead]

So far as reading the recipe book that LEE provided, the 2nd edition, is recommending either CCI or Winchester. Just out of curiosity, has anybody used the Remington primers? Also, the rounds that I will be loading up would be for military rifles i.e., SA 1903, M1 Garand, K31. I plan on using either Sierra 168 gr. HPBT or some Hornady A-Max. The powder will be H4895. These rifle will be and have been in various matches already. I saved the brass. It has come to the point that I feel I need to reload for perfection.

[Pacilander]

Lee recommends Winchester and CCI primers because of their auto prime method on presses and hand primer. So if you plan to use a lee priming system the the manufacture does suggest win or CCI. I have a lee primer and have used different brands of primer with no incidents. That's not to say it will be the same for others. I would use at your own risk. But Lee recommendation for win or CCI is not to say they are better or that the others are less, it's just that they warranty their equipment with these.

[0321jarhead]

5X5 on that. I'll be using the hand primer. Thanks.

[CSACANNONEER]

To begin with, use whatever you can find.

I am fairly new to reloading but I have tried CCI, Federal, and Winchester primers. I will tell you I will never use Winchester ever again since I have had far to many fail to fire situations in the box of 1000 I tried out. i thought I didnt put a powder charge in so I sat there pointing down range just in case. waited a bit then tried to shoot it again again and it worked. next thing i thought was I didnt seat the primer all the way so I started to keep an eye on that but still had a few problems. I guess I should mention this was loadings for my 1911 with a extra power firing pin spring and lighten hammer spring, Im pretty sure if I had all the hard hitting original parts in the 1911 I probably wouldnt have this problem with Winchester primers.

If anything else I recommend picking up 100 primers of various brands/types so you have enough primers to load up rounds with different powder charges.

I tend to use mainly Winchester primers. I can only guess that you were doing something wrong but, I don't know what. Normally CCI primers tend to do that since, they are a little harder.

[Divernhunter]

I have used Rem primers. I am using some for my trip to Africa so they are good primers. So are win/cci and federal. I have not tried woff.

If you plan to use a ball powder best to get a mag primer. For that fact I use mag primers for all loads. AND YES you can use them in the place of reg primers. I found that I did not need to reduce charges as some people get all worried about.
If you want some help PM me. Been loading along time.

Did you get Redding dies for the 7.5X55?

[Bill Steele]

For rifle, I just tried some Tula and they worked very well, just as well as my past experience with Wolf (same factory). I shot some sub .2 MOA groups this morning with my Remy 700 in 308 Win. No more Federal Match for me.

For handgun, in my past experience if you are shooting a light springed revelover, Federal are great (soft, easy to ignite). For semi's, I have had good luck with Winchester. They are just soft enough to seat easily, even in tough pockets, seem a little bit hotter than CCI. I think if you have a Lee progressive, CCI my feed a little better, being smoothest on the firing pin side.

Right now, I would recommend giving the Ruskies a try, as they seem to be the most plentiful. I sure had good luck today with them.

[Jeymz]

I've used CCI and Winchester primers without issue. Just make sure the primers are fully seated and slightly below the head. If I could get my hands on Remington primers I would use those too and try em out.

[0321jarhead]

Thanks guys for all the good advice. To update for this morning, I just walked in the door. Here is what I got for $100 per private party...

Sierra "The Bulletsmiths" Rifle and Handgun Reloading Data (5th edition)
1000 LRP (new box) Winchester
200 Sierra 165gr. HPBT #2140 (game king)

I thought I did pretty good. The next item will be powder, H4895. For what I will use it for is primarily for match shooting. So, from what I have been reading and from a buddy and this forum, I believe I'm on the right track. But, I will always appreciate the advice that is thrown my way. Thanks!

[damndave]

I have had 0 issues with all of the kinds of primers I have used.

223 - Tula, Wolf, CCI & Remington all worked fine. (Used in AR15)
308 - CCI & Federal both worked fine. (Bolt action)
9mm - Winchester, Tula & CCI all worked fine.
45ACP - Winchester, Tula, CCI & Remington all worked fine.

[Wrangler John]

Remington 9-1/2 was my favorite primers for decades. They aren't all the same, Remington was at one time the most brisant producing a brighter more copious flame. These days I use a lot of Russian primers recommended by David Tubb, as the priming compound is a Sinoxid variant that is extremely consistent.

I vary the primer by the load and size of case. I found that the only way to refine a load is to try an accurate load with various primers selecting the one that is most consistent on the target and over the chronograph. Wolf (all Russian primers come from the same source), Remington, Winchester, Federal, CCI are all slightly different and vary from lot to lot.

Look halfway down this page for pictures of the difference in flame and shock wave of various primers.

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/primers-large-rifle-primer-study.html

The pdf file is a scholarly study of primer force and how they differ (may be too much reading).

Bottom line is either will do the job for most uses.