I keep reading that Federal primers are more "sensitive" than CCI, which is "harder". Both companies seem to make quality primers and many people say it doesn't matter which you use. I've got a couple of hundred CCI (small pistol) but am looking to buy bulk. Any recommendation which to use? I'm loading
.38 wadcutters. Thanks.

It does make a difference. Ask the revolver shooters in USPSA who use Federal primers exclusively because they know when they pull the trigger the revolver will fire everytime-no so with CCI. The USPSA revolver shooters use lighter hammer springs and the Federal primers are the only ones that will work. If you aren't having problems using the CCI primers then by all means continue using them-they are cheaper than the Federal's aren' they?

i prefer cci but both companys are making great stuff.just pick one an stay with it.

I've regularly interchanged primer brands for years with no noticable difference in performance. Unless I was loading rounds so hot the one more granule of powder might push it over the top, I wouldn't give the primer brand a second thought.

After thousands of reloads, I've had exactly one misfire, a dud, and it happened to be a CCI. Bad primer? Bad installation? We'll never know. But I've used a lot of CCIs since with zero issues. My belief is that if a gun doesn't strike the primer hard enough to fire--it's the gun's fault.

I prefer Federal - but then, I'm from Minnesota and so is Federal....

CCI makes a geat product as well but given the choice I'll take the Federals.

Ward

Maybe if they have lousy trigger jobs and too light springs.

Either Federal or CCI are fine in small pistol, you will notice zero difference on the range. Buy whichever is cheaper.

I use Fed's ( mainly) CCI's and Winchester. Dont see a bit of difference in any of them

The Federal primer cup is either thinner, a softer alloy, or both. I use them exclusively, since they reduce the chances of a FTF. If you use a factory hammer spring and there are no other mechanical issues reducing the hammer blow, any brand of primer should work. I find the factory trigger pull, at least on more recent Smiths, to be too heavy for me, and so I changed it on one revolver, and bought a second in which it had already been changed. Hence my use of Federals, and they work for me.

Andy

I've been reloading since approximately 1963 and I've used all the major brands of primers at one time or another, standard and magnum. The only brand of primers I have ever had a problem with and that was about three years ago was CCI 500primers that I bought in bulk locally. I had several misfires with them in a S&W Model 686, S&W Model 37, S&W Model 642, and a Colt Police Positive Special. I believe I just got a bad batch of primers because I have had no problems with CCI primers from the same lot since. However, my preferred primers are Federal 100's, whenever I can find them.

If you have a rev with a trigger job you will need Fed. To keep things simple just use Fed. CCI have gotten better.

I have used CCI primers in my semi auto pistol oads for my revolver loads I use Federal since their primer cups are the softest.

Around here, they are the same price: about $35/1000 or as low as $27/1000 on sale. My loading experience is somewhat limited, 38/357/45/9mm.
The only time I found an advantage to the Federal so far was loading 9MM. The pockets seem a bit tight on some 9mm brass. The CCI is a harder primer (due to the plated case?) and I had some problems with a few of them shearing when I pressed them in. The Federals are softer (plain brass?) and have a little more "give".

By the way, a buddy taught me that if I feel resistance when pressing to rotate the case (instead of slamming it home!) and I won't have that problem anymore.

Quality wise there is no difference but should someone say that FUNCTIONALLY there is none, they are either lying or inexperienced as a reloader.

There is a thing called brisance. Federals, the standard type in any size, have the lowest rating according to my testing. Here is how I did this: I took the exact same load, same day, same firearm, different primer and ran them over the chronograph. I used Federal, Winchester & Wolfe. It is common knowledge that CCI primers are the hardest to ignite so I NEVER buy them.

Then, I did two tests over the chronograph, 6 rounds single action, 6 rounds double action.

What I found out was amazing. (p.s. The gun was my M625JM with an extended firing pin added.)

In all of the loads, oh and by the way, these were target loads with either Bullseye or AA#2 as a propellant, the single action loads produced more velocity and better consistency than those run in the double action mode. Beside the point, I know, but may be useful information for someone at sometime!

The Federal primers have always gone off in the M625JM, the Winchester and Wolfe, not so much UNTIL I put the extended firing pin in and put a spent primer under the strain screw (a trick I learned from Joni-Lynn, here on this forum). Now all of them go off no matter how they are fired in the gun.

If you look at the spring kit offered as an after market kit from Brownell's for the "N" frame Smith with Jerry's name attached to it, it specifies Federal primers only after installation. Why would they do that if there was no functional difference? Exactly, there is.

Federal primers are easy to ignite and work exceptionally well in tuned actions. The Winchester gave much more consistent numbers across the chronograph even with these fast pistol powders. The Wolfe, they gave the same ballistic results as the Federal primers but acted like Winchester ones on how hard they were to ignite.

In another comparison, I used Wolfe Magnum Large pistol primers against the Winchester Large pistol that are rated for either. I found no functional difference in magnum loads using either. I used a M629 Classic in 5" barrel for that test.

In magnum loads, I only use Winchester Large or Wolfe Large and have never had any primer flow with either. I did have a bit of a problem when using Federal primers when we were doing testing for "THE LOAD". As pressures increased, they flowed and flattened out much sooner than the Wolfe ones I used for later testing.

While I am no expert, I do have a bit of experience in this one small area gathered through my own tests.

Of course, your mileage may vary!


Oh, and by the way, there is another area where they are quite different, price. As has been stated, Widener's has Wolfe primers for $15-$18/1000, CCI and Federal are both higher.

I use both, but, prefer the CCI because they seem to work better in my automatic primer tube filler. I also crank a lot of them through my progressive presses and would prefer not to detonate one during the process with a softer primer if I don't need it. I've had no failure to fire problems with the CCI's - so far!

Unlike some reloaders above I buy mostly CCI primers. I do like Winchester primers too but CCI seem to be my favorite and for no other reason than they have never failed to go bang. I don't use Federal primers mostly because they are too hard to find and when you do find them they are more expensive than the others.

I have used all the primers below and all have done the job as they should but I still buy CCI when I can.
Winchester - Remington - CCI - Federal - Magtech - PMC - Wolf

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Only use Federal for most of the reasons mentioned.Also Jerry uses them thats good enough for me. DUH

__________________
T. Johnson

I've never noticed any difference in primers, never had a FTF with any of them. Winchester, followed by CCI are my favorites. I hate the box that Federal comes in. Box is too big and when I try to open the box or put in the primer tray I end up with half the primers on the floor.

Steve,

As Skip (aka smith crazy) points out, there are differences in primers, so the question becomes, will those differences effect you adversely.

IIRC - You are just starting out in reloading, but I don't remember what kind if shooting you do, so it more or less depends on whether any of your guns intentionally (or unintentionally) have reduced or light hammer strikes.

If so, you may find that using "Hard" primers like CCI may result in some FTFs.
If not, you might not notice the differences.

Of course, I'm only talking about reliability, rather than velocity, accuracy and consistency.

Personally, all my center-fire revolvers go bang every time I drop the hammer on one of my reloads no matter what brand the primer is, but I'm a plinker rather than a competitor or hunter, and I use factory ammo for SD/HD, so that's about all I ask from the primers I use for reloading.

Bottom line, load up a hundred or so rounds with each brand/type of primers you are likely to buy in bulk and spend some time at the range finding out if they work the way you want them to in your guns.

__________________
Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I have loaded over 2K (small amount to some) and never have had a problem with CCI. I'll have to try Federals, but when there isn't an issue why look elsewhere? I'm sure Federals are great primers though.

__________________
Endeavor to persevere. <><

I started using CCI primers in LR in 1969 and later the 550 and 500 primers for pistols. Never had any problem with them and prefer them till this day. I've used Federal when I couldn't' get CCI for whatever the reason, and maybe a thousand of Winchester. I don't use Wolf or Tulula (or whatever they're called) and the only way I would use them would be to have no way of getting CCI or Federal. Unfortunately the gun shops around here primarily sell Wolf like that's all there is. So, I either have to wait till the gun shows or pay a hazmat fee and order CCI. Something works, you stick with it.

I started using Federal about 15 years ago after some FTF in my Python (with a trigger job) caused alibis in my Bullseye matches. Since switching to Federal, I have never had a FTF. I switched so long ago, I forget the brand that FTF. I never had one go off in my progressive press, including the upside-down ones I punched out.

Lee says there are safety issues with Federals when used in their hand priming device. When using up my big, fat, box of Federals, I use a RCBS hand primer.

I use the Federal 215 for my magnum hunting rifles, and the 210 Match primer for target loads in .308. I've only had one FTF.

I've also had several factory rounds throughout my life fail to fire. They were all Federal factory loads.

I presently use CCI [primers for home defense. In 25 years of reloading, and many thousands of rounds loaded and fired, I have experienced zero failures.

All of my guns indent the primer deeply and surely. I wouldn't use a gun that was marginal on firing pin force as a defense weapon anyway.

When I shot benchrest the Federal primer was used by 99% of the competitors, as it was more uniform from shot to shot. People had done camera tests and the Federal 205 & 210 “looked” very uniform compared to the others and they always gave satisfactory performance. Seemed like everyone in the top 20 used Federals, so what was good enough for them was good enough for me.

I think the CCI 350’s are probably the hottest magnum pistol primer out there today and will significantly raise the peak pressure in your magnums. The only difference between the Federal standard & magnum pistol primer is cup thickness, so don’t compare the Federal 155’s to the CCI350’s, as the difference is like night & day.

Naturally, if you modify your hammer/hammner spring in a production gun designed to fire production primers, why would you not expect to have have problems with some primers? Yes, different brands are "different," but as long as they ignite, so what? My cars are diffferent, but both get me from point A to point B.

I buy whatever brand primer the LGS has on hand. After many many reloads I've had one (1) misfire. That's pretty reliable in any brand name.

Federal small pistol primers seat a little easier than CCI. When using nickle brass CCI primers are difficult to seat, while Federal are no problem. I haven't tried CCI large pistol primers.