Howdy folks, with my preferred Federal pistol primers becoming a bit scarce around here there seems to be Remington small and large pistol primers available. Never used em and wanted to know how they compare to the CCI primers concerning the "cup hardness/ignition" issue. Any info or opinions welcome. Tried a search but my search word phrasing is not the best with no joy.

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They work fine. Often, it doesn't really matter if you "tailor" your load to a specific primer, but sometimes it does.

Some handloaders are happy with a load using a certain primer, then switch to another without fine-tuning the powder charge to get the desired accuracy and/or velocity. As a result, they assume they're using an inferior primer when that is seldom the situation.

Again, it often makes no difference and fine-tuning may be unnecessary, but the effort required to verify this is time well spent.

My primer stock is mostly Remington,but also use Winchester and CCI. I don't hesitate to use either/or. I started out in the mid70s' with Remington but found out over time,they're the same.

I like them all. Tula & Wolf are harder to seat for me. The last case was $160. In 2009 I gave $260 for a case.

I've used Remington primers in small pistol Mag (5 1/2) and large rifle Mag (9 1/2M). The large rifle primers were bought back in the early 70's and I just finished loading them a few years ago and they were still as good as when new. And I bought some of the small pistol mag primers a year or so ago when on sale for less than what CCI 550 primers were selling for and again, work well for me. I did read a review on Midway that said the 1 1/2 and 5 1/2 primers use the same priming charge but that the 5 1/2 have a harder cup and this person stated that he had called Remington and verified this info. Take that for what you think though, as it wasn't myself that called and verified that about the difference between 1 1/2 and 5 1/2 primers.

Ive used just about every primer available but magtech. All work fine. My issue with rp is price.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I have used Rem primers of all sizes and varieties ever since they were available to the public. I have no issue with them at all. I use Federal BRs for most accuracy in very accurate rifle loads and I use CCI in handguns that have large firing pin holes in the recoil shield. CCI are harder and don't flow back into the firing pin hole. ......

My experience with Remington primers is those used in the Remington UMC ammunition, which I like to use to obtain fresh cases for reloading. Note, Remington is the ONLY brand I've found that features a 0.082 diameter flash hole so I do not have the ream the flash holes to keep stainless steel pins from jamming during a cleaning cycle. Any other brand of case and I have to ream the flash holes before using them.

As for the primers in Remington UMC, they are absolutely HARDER than CCI 500 or 300 primers and about equal to the CCI 550 primers. Note, my CCI is my preferred brand for reloading. As a result ignition issues with UMC I have re-tuned the triggers on all of my center fire S&W revolvers to have a 9 lbs. DA trigger weight. Previously I had them tuned to 8 lbs. which was 100% reliable for non magnums but too many outings where I had to shoot the UMC ammunition using single action had me re-tune the trigger weight. To be honest I really don't notice the difference but my Lyman Digital and the now 100% reliable function with UMC is a clear indication that I did increase the energy for the primer strike.

I use Remington primers and they work just fine.

I've used a few Rem SP primers but I prefer my usual Winchesters. The
LP Rem 2 1/2 is actually my favorite primer for all loads that don't
really need a mag primer like full power 44 magnum loads with 296. For
all midrange 44 mag loads and 45 AR loads the R 2 1/2 gives good
velocity and low extreme spreads. I do think that Rem primers are
harder than other brands but since I don't lighten the mainsprings of
my revolvers I've never had a misfire with any brand of primer.

I usually use Winchester due to availability and price, but have nothing against Remington and have used them on occasion in the past.

I did a test not too long ago, and made up 38 Special rounds, with the exact same load except the primer. I used 10 rounds each with CCI, Winchester, Federal, and Remington. Ran them all over the chronograph and both velocity and group size was with in 1% of each other. I no longer pay any attention to which primer I'm using, depends on which have the best price.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I don't use a lot of Remington primers because they cost more than the other where I live. The ones I have used worked just as well as any other primers I have loaded.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I still have Remington's that I have been using on for over 40 years and have never had any problems with them . I bought them for $2.00 pr 1000 from a local hardware store that had had them stored since the early 50's and bought all they had . I have not bought any since but most suppliers in my area have either ( or all ) Winchester , CCI , or Cheddite . Would not hesitate to buy and use the Remington if I found them priced reasonable.

Eddie

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Grumpy Old Man With a Gun

My thanks to all for the info! Some of my older S&W revolvers have weak mainsprings and they work fine with the Federals and not so much with some others. I could just replace the mainsprings but prefer to leave them original at least for now.

Call me a hoarder if you will but depending on the results of the upcoming election I would like to extend my usual one year of supply's to two.

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I obtained a listing from somewhere in the forum showing that after Federal, Remington primers were considered soft. Whether true or not, I've used Remington primers from time to time and I can detect no difference between them and other brands.

I use Fed, WW, Rem, CCI all interchangeably. If you're having issues with CCI primers "hardness," fix your gun. Never had an issue with them yet.

As I had noted in my last post my issue is with two old pre WWII S&W revolvers with weak mainsprings. I could "fix" them with new mainsprings but for now anyways I prefer to leave them in original condition. They fire every time with Federals, not so much with others. I suppose if things get tight with primers I could stash some Federals just for them. These are not work guns and if they were they would get fixed to be sure.

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Stay safe people!