Is there a down side to Federal primers?

[1sailor]

I was talking with a couple of other shooters I know and one of them mentioned that he needed to pick up some more Federal primers because that's all he used for SD loads. It made sense considering that they are supposed to require a lighter strike to ignite. I have even seen spring manufacturers recommend only Federal primers when using their lightest springs. The question was raised however that if softer primers are easier to ignite then why doesn't everyone else do the same. Gotta be a reason right. None of us were sure what the real reason would be (some pretty good guesses but no real answers). Anyone here that can factually answer that question. Or is there no reason for it and it's just the way things turned out.

 

[growr]

I will never own a firearm that is primer specific. It must ignite anything I seat in the primer pocket.
As to your original question...don't know the answer to that one.......

Randy

 

[Nevada Ed]

M49 38 spl snub nose with 110gr Win. SJHP

Red Dot with 4.8 grs.......... oal 1.155" per ( Can.)
Federal primer........... 798-861 @ 840fps
CCI std primer........... 826-911 @ 866fps.

686 6"
red dot 5.2grs win 110gr
Federal.......... 1044fps
cci std ........... 1060fps

I loose fps with the federal primer ..........
it depends on the weapon on which primer gets the bets accuracy.

I liked them until they came out with the "Tripple Size" box, that takes up
all the room in my loading bench!

Win/CCI for me right now for 98% of my loading.

It is a good primer, though, if you can find them.

 

[Fishslayer]

I won't touch Federal primers because of the PITA packaging. Pain to store, pain to load into a primer tray.

 

[1sailor]

Yeah, the shoebox size of the packaging is kind of a PITA.

 

[TomkinsSP]

Is there a down side to Federal primers?

Why yes. There is an "up" side and a "down" side. What's more, they tend to go bang only when loaded up side up.;-) I will go sit in the corner now.

 

[yeti]

The packaging is um large, but other than that I really like FED primers. QC has been very good & they are consistent. Not the highest brisance (pistol primers) but low SD.

 

[Eddietruett]

I use only Federal Pistol Primers. I keep an emergency supply of Winchester and CCI just in case the supply dries up. A few of my revolvers have light springs and will only ignite Federal. Also Federal are a little more forgiving if the primer does not seat all the way in.

 

[SMSgt]

I've never had a problem with any brand of primer with one exception--two duds in the same pack of CCIs about 1975. Could have been a rookie loading problem. Nary a problem since. CCI is my preferred brand for no particular reason. WIN, REM, Fed--never a problem.

I hear the stories that CCIs are "too hard." If I had a gun that wouldn't fire CCIs, I'd take that gun and get it fixed, as the problem is not the primers. You want to put weaker springs in a gun, you get what you get.

Back in my revolver days I'd have high primers that dragged on the frame, but they still all fired. Never had round that needed a second strike. And I know the primers were high because my Lee hand primer was worn out and wouldn't seat fully. I finally replaced it with an RCBS model.

 

[M29since14]

In shotgun loads I prefer Winchester primers. For everything else, I use only Federal, and not because of the belief that some highly-tuned revolvers require them. None of my guns are setup that way. I prefer them because I always have had good luck with them.

In certain small cartridges (generally the .32s) I use Remington 1-1/2s, but everything else gets Federals only - unless I can’t get them. The 1-1/2s probably aren’t really necessary, but old habits are hard to break.

If there is a drawback, it’s sure the enormous packaging. I’ve never seen any actual test results that document that Federal primer cups are softer than others.

 

[pittpa]

I won't touch Federal primers because of the PITA packaging. Pain to store, pain to load into a primer tray.

I've used them for 20+ years, have not experienced any of these problems. They're reliable in guns that have trigger jobs. My Pythons, my 625 with Miculek spring kit.
EDIT, I don't require formal testing. My Pythons and 625 are unreliable with other primers. The Federal are 100%.

 

[BigMuddy]

Only downside for me is they are often hard to find.

Dan

 

[pittpa]

I will never own a firearm that is primer specific. It must ignite anything I seat in the primer pocket.
As to your original question...don't know the answer to that one.......

Randy

I own 3. They are for competition. That is the nature of revolvers with light triggers that are shot in double action mode.

 

[reddog81]

The downsides for me are the packaging is huge, they are typically more expensive and they can be hard to find. Even with those downsides I still prefer to use them in most revolver loads.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

In my area it's difficult to find Federal primers, add in the huge packaging and they're not for me.

I mostly use CCI and Winchester primers. I don't use Remington because they are usually priced very high, much more than the others.

I have used Federal primers and they performed as well as others I've used so no complaints about the primers themselves, it's availability and shelf space that's the problem.

 

[Westie1]

With one exception, never really worried about what primer I was using. Had a 1911 built when i was shooting USPSA. Smith that built the gun gave me a load to use, and it called for WLP's. And when your smith, who went to the IPSC World Shoot and has shot Bianchi Cup, says to use WLP you use WLP.

Lately, since I've gotten a 6.5Creedmoor, and the range I shoot at has a 1000yd range, I find myself experimenting with different primers.

 

[6string]

One HUGE problem....
Many (most?) priming tools come with a warning not to use Federal primers.
The price of that ease of ignition is accidental detonation.
A Dillon tube stacked with primers has more than once turned into a powerful explosive through chain detonation.
My brother in law also had an unpleasant Federal primer discharge. Fortunately, it was only a single primer. But, it scared the tar out of him!
Conversely, CCI primers can be tough to seat with the handheld tools.

Jim

 

[growr]

I own 3. They are for competition. That is the nature of revolvers with light triggers that are shot in double action mode.

I also have three revolvers that I use in USPSA/IDPA and they will run with ANY primer and are still very smooth in Double Action as well.

Randy

 

[rockquarry]

One HUGE problem....
Many (most?) priming tools come with a warning not to use Federal primers.
The price of that ease of ignition is accidental detonation.
A Dillon tube stacked with primers has more than once turned into a powerful explosive through chain detonation.
My brother in law also had an unpleasant Federal primer discharge. Fortunately, it was only a single primer. But, it scared the tar out of him!
Conversely, CCI primers can be tough to seat with the handheld tools.

Jim

I was unaware of this warning. Which primer tool manufacturers issue such a warning?

Some years ago, Lee advised against the use of Federal primers and another one (don't recall the brand) in their original Auto Prime tool with the round plastic primer magazine.

Any primer should work just fine in any out-of-the-box, unmolested firearm. About the only difference will be in accuracy and it takes a pretty accurate gun and a skilled shooter with good bench technique to determine this. Even then, the difference is often slight.

 

[DWalt]

I can't imagine any of the Lee-type primer pans being subject to mass detonation. That is much more likely with the vertical brass primer tubes, but I have never personally known of that happening to them either. Nor have I ever seen a warning regarding use of Federal primers. In fact, I recently bought a new Lee Auto Bench Prime tool, no warnings about primers anywhere on the box or instructions. If someone can document such a warning concerning Federal primers, I'd like to see a copy of it.

While I have seen and heard many anecdotal tales about which primer brands and types are most impact sensitive, I have yet to see anything resembling quantitative scientific laboratory test results establishing that any primer brand is more or less sensitive than any other brand of the same type primer. And it's a subject that none of the primer manufacturers will talk about. Therefore I continue believe that all those tall tales are in the same category as "fake news" until I see proof that there are significant differences.