best primer maker

[rishowl54]

Who has a favorite. I'm new to the reloading game, loaded 50 30-06 and about 30 308 with cci primers behind them. This afternoon I went to the range to try em out 15 of the 30-06 primers were duds. Is that a normal ratio. I thought CCI was a good company. Can't have that happening when I have a bead on a buck.:huh:

[Setterman]

The primer may not be the problem. Did the failed primers show good evidence of a strong firing pin strike? Are they seated in the primer pocket correctly? No oil or fluid introduced to the primers before reloading? I assume you resized the case properly so as to not alter the headspace?

I use all types of primers depending depending on the recide called for in the manual. All makes are reputable.

[BarnesX.308]

I like the Federal 210 and 215 primers. Funny you should mention dud primers. I had my first one in 11 years the other day. A good 1000 or so rounds and I finally got my first one. And they were CCI, too.

If you had that many in one session, it was definitely not the primer. Either they weren't seated deep enough (which allows the firing pin to push the primer forward instead of denting it), or you fouled them with lube on your hands.

I may have done that with my dud. But after 1000 rounds, who knows? Maybe I finally did find my first dud. :huh:

I must also say that some of my primers are very old. I forget which pack I took them from.

[BarnesX.308]

I assume you resized the case properly so as to not alter the headspace?

With a resizing die, could he really do that with a 308 or 30-06 case? Depending how he adjusted the die, wouldn't he only go between neck sizing and full length sizing? In order to screw up the head spacing with those cases, he'd have to alter the shoulder, wouldn't he?

[rishowl54]

Like I said I'm new to this. I'm using Lee Loaders if I understand them correctly they only resize the neck? :huh:

[rishowl54]

Primers were taken directly from packaging to being set in place. Hands were clean and dry. There is a good dimple where firing pin is striking primer.

[WoodsHunter]

You should never touch the primer at all. They have a little round tray that's rippled. Just take out the primers that you need, swirl tray around and all the primers flip up the same way, load up your primer tube never touching the primer. If the primer was not set far enough in the shell it would be noticeble if you look at the shell head, it would not be flat with the head. I'm thinking it may be grease from the resizing process that wasn't fully removed when they were cleaned. Loaded over 5,000 shells in various calibers, use CCI, Federal, and some others never had a problem with the primers. A friend of mine when we were hunting in Wyoming he had a mis-fire on his .270 at a antelope. First thing he say's you and your damn reloads, :huh: check out the primer hit on the shell, just about touched, strip down the rifle and bolt, oil in the firing pin. Cleaned it up and he used the same cartridge that he blamed me for reloading, then, one dead antelope. I guessed he felt bad about it, when he got back to Philly he had a case of Sam Adams delivered to my house. :thup:
If your getting good hits on the primer, may be grease/oil in the primer pocket. The chances of that many primers being bad is very, very low.
"Good Luck Hunting"

[Pagrizz]

BARNESX.308 brought up the fact about being old primers.I found out that if they are stored over a long period of time they can go bad . I bought a brick of Fed 210's primers from a little shop in up state Pa that he had to blow the dust off to see the price. I should of not bought them ,but the price was hard to turn down.Out of the first 100 I had 12 that went off. None went off out of the next 100.So they can get to old.

[IMR]

New primers are always best. I use Winchester standasr, and Federal match. Different applications but with a lot of overlap. These two brands are very uniform.

[Setterman]

With a resizing die, could he really do that with a 308 or 30-06 case? Depending how he adjusted the die, wouldn't he only go between neck sizing and full length sizing? In order to screw up the head spacing with those cases, he'd have to alter the shoulder, wouldn't he?

Correct. If the shoulder gets altered there will be slop or play when the round is chambered. How that would happen could be a number of reasons. There is also no mention of the final case dimensions to see if the shell is within SAAMI specs. I never encountered this but the dies could be off. I personally haven't seen primers go bad but if they have been stored a long time or are exposed to the wrong things I would think that can happen.

[IMR]

Misfires are most likely with the occasional bad primer mix, or, especially, with OLD primers. If you bought only a box or two from a shop from a broken carton, the very well could be OLD. I ditched CCI long ago, and still use what I mentioned earlier. Been doing this since returninig from RVN ('71). Very infrequent misfire from Federal match, which is what I use the most because of comptetive shooting, but I have had the odd misfire. I doubt case problems even if full length resized right to the shell holder, standard or small based.

[Setterman]

The only CCI primers I'll still use are the Bench Rest primers for one rifle load of mine(6MM Rem.). I use mostly Federal, Winchester and sometimes Remington for everything else. I will admit to buying stuff when I saw it on sale for practice. (I wish today I could find primers on sale!) I have only experienced primer misfires on handguns with actions altered. Some lightened DA revolvers had primer strikes that failed. That I would attribute as my fault. Human error can induce problems as I've found out.

[Rickhem]

I've been through every brand of primers at one time or another, and have learned a few things in the process. First lets talk handguns. The Federal primers are by far the "softest" out there. Back when there was a lot of double-action only revolvers being worked over for PPC and other similar type competitions, they would tell you to only use Federal primers after getting your trigger work done. Winchester is next in line for hardness, followed by Remington and then CCI which is the hardest. Some of the heavy magnum handgun loads using ball powder specify using a magnum primer for reliable ignition, but the Winchesters say they are for "standard or magnum loads" and they've worked flawlessly for me. I currently am working off of a few thousand Winchester primers for large and small pistol reloading. I really only load for Bullseye, and these are light loads in .38, .40, and .45, all loaded with Bullseye powder, and I have no complaints.

For rifle, there is a lot of data that supports one particular brand and style of primer for a particular powder. The CCI BR primers with Varget are a good example. I also use the CCI BR-4 primers with Varget in my 6mmBR. That same primer has been my staple for .223 Service Rifle loads using Varget as well and I've not had any problems at all in the years I've used them. Going back a few years, the Winchester small rifle primers used to have a silver plating on them, possibly nickel? Anyway, they were one of the standards for .223 reloading in AR-type rifles. Once Winchester switched to non-plated primers, there were many, many people that had blown and pierced primers with what had been a safe load with the plated primers. Most don't use those Winchester primers for rifle loading anymore, especially if you're pushing the limits a bit. There are primers like the CCI 41 that are designed for semi auto firearms, and these have a thicker and harder cup so as to prevent slam-fires. Some use them but I have not experienced any issues with the standard primers so I just stay with those. I'm currently using Remington 7½ primers for my .223 loads, since they were a deal at the shop where I bought them. Still have a couple thousand CCI BR-2s for .308, and 30-06 loads, so I'll go with them for a while.

As for your problem with misfires, have to agree that it most probably is not the primers. I once removed the crimp on military 30-06 brass with the RCBS tool, but I also made the primer pocket a couple thousandths deeper in the process. That brass was misfire-city. Finally chucked it after figuring out what I did wrong, but that was an arduous process to say the least. You look everywhere else first. Another friend was seating his primers so firmly that they were partly crushing as he was seating them. He got a few misfires when the firing pin couldn't fully crush the priming compound against the anvil in the primer, but looking at the primers you could see that they were seated too firmly. I'd suggest that you look at your entire reloading process and see if there is any way that you might be doing something that might be contributing to the problem here. From brass prep, resizing, right on through. If your rifle is a push-feed, then headspace is a strong possibility.

Post up what you learn when you figure it out too, so we all benefit from it.

[Makoman]

I have used nothing but Remington primers for 40 years in my '06, .243 and 250-3000. Have never had a mis-fire. I am currently using magnum primers in the 250 upon a recommendation from the bullet mfr. that i am using.

[rishowl54]

Well I've been reloading for a little while now and no more misfires. I took the advice of being careful picking up the primers so I guess I was careless in the begining. Thanks for the heads up. Great advice.:bow: