Foreign born Small Pistol Primers

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sbrmike

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Gees, Small Pistol Primers have instantly dried up again around here! A few of the local gun shops have some made in Turkey, and some made in Bosnia.

I don't really trust foreign ammunition, mainly because if there is something corrosive it will be from the primer.

What are other's experience or opinions with non US Primers.

It is strictly a corrosive issue, not performance. I am not the best hand gunner in the world, but do like to shoot and do reload to support my habit. LOL!

I should have bit the bullet and bought a brick of Rem or CCI at Cabelas in Cheektowaga, NY a few weeks ago, but only wanted a couple hundred. They only sold by the brick @ $79-$99 depending on make / application.!!
 
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I purchased 2000 Aquila small pistol primers ...made in Mexico. It says non corrosive on the box. I am assuming they're the same ones they use in their centerfire ammunition which seems to have a decent reputation.
 
I've been through a serious load of S&B primers with no complaints whatsoever. And unless I'm mixing up my thoughts... they are out of the primer business due to a plant explosion.
 
I'm fortunate that I've always been able to use US-made primers since 1965 and have never had to buy foreign primers. If necessary, however, I'm pretty sure the foreign primers would be fine if that's all that was available.
 
I bought 3K Aguila primers not too long ago. I plan on working up some loads soon and comparing across the chronograph.

I'm not expecting any problems. I've shot a fair amount of Aguila .22LR.
 
Empe said:
I purchased 2000 Aquila small pistol primers ...made in Mexico. It says non corrosive on the box. I am assuming they're the same ones they use in their centerfire ammunition which seems to have a decent reputation.
Click to expand...

Nothing to worry about. Great primers
 
I should have been more specific. I have used much Aguila 22RF and also Armscor, Ely, and RWS. I didn't know they sold centerfire primers because I only ever bought primers locally, and they were never on the shelf. No problems with England, Mexico, South Korea, Phillipines, or Germany/ Austrian made primers / ammunition.

Thanks for a lot of good information. I have been reloading for 50 years. Just this past week, I had three primer cups break during decapping. The pockets were very corroded in relation to the usual black soot that is in the empty pockets. It caused me to wonder if someone had loaded these with corrosive primers. I never had a primer cup break in all those years!

What I really meant was primers from former eastern bloc countries. Many of those countries used corrosive primers way longer than the rest of the world.
 
Never ever will I purchase Anguilla 22s. That is the only 22 that has ever made my Ruger Mk4 malfunction. It has sort of a stupi_ wax coating on the head and that built up with a few dozen rounds to a wax ball in the breach. Unbelievable. Doing good at the steel challenge match until this...a weekend day wasted.
 
I have used literally thousands and thousands of primers from Russia , Tula made at the plant in Muron back a few years ago when components got scare before . Those primers worked just fine . Regards Paul
 
Last edited:
oysterer said:
Never ever will I purchase Anguilla 22s. That is the only 22 that has ever made my Ruger Mk4 malfunction. It has sort of a stupi_ wax coating on the head and that built up with a few dozen rounds to a wax ball in the breach. Unbelievable. Doing good at the steel challenge match until this...a weekend day wasted.
Click to expand...

My experience with Aguila has been only a little better than with many of the cheap bulk ammos - inconsistency from one batch to another. One may be quite accurate but don't count on that being the case with the next batch.
 
cowboy4evr said:
I have used literally thousands and thousands of primers from Russia , Tula made at the plant in Muron bacl a few years ago when components got scare before . Those primers worked just fine . Regards Paul
Click to expand...
I still have a few bricks of Wolf primers (same as Tula, IIRC), large rifle and large pistol. In all the previous uses of Wolf primers I have had zero FTFs...
 
Another Russia primer user here. I have never had a problem with them over the years. I have a couple of thousand left that I paid $19.00 a thousand for in Tulsa one time. It's been a long time ago and they are still problem free.
 
My question is strictly about corrosiveness. I have no doubt most will go bang and as I said I am not a good enough shot to rate accuracy of this primer vs that primer.

I am a dinosaur and know it, in fact am proud of it. I only used Fed 100 Small Pistol Primers, CCI 200 Large Rifle Primers, and Winchester WSR Small Rifle Primers. Why? Because that was what was on the shelf in the local shops when I initially loaded a caliber that used them.

Also those 3 broken primer cups came from brass from a friend. His brother (recently passed, RIP) used to reload for him. The entire base of the cups came right off, leaving the primer body in the pockets. The pockets were very corroded.
 
I suppose I'm pretty ignorant regarding corrosive primers, especially since I use only American-made primers. I didn't think corrosive primers had been made by anyone in many years. I did buy some of the 7.62x39 in a 550- round sardine can about thirty or more years ago when it was plentiful and cheap. That may have had corrosive priming and I cleaned bores as if it was corrosive. No telling when that stuff was made.

For those that have a concern about corrosive priming, it's very simple to clean bores that such ammo was fired in so that the priming mixture residue does no harm.
 
sbrmike said:
My question is strictly about corrosiveness. I have no doubt most will go bang and as I said I am not a good enough shot to rate accuracy of this primer vs that primer.

I am a dinosaur and know it, in fact am proud of it. I only used Fed 100 Small Pistol Primers, CCI 200 Large Rifle Primers, and Winchester WSR Small Rifle Primers. Why? Because that was what was on the shelf in the local shops when I initially loaded a caliber that used them.

Also those 3 broken primer cups came from brass from a friend. His brother (recently passed, RIP) used to reload for him. The entire base of the cups came right off, leaving the primer body in the pockets. The pockets were very corroded.
Click to expand...

It seems as likely that the brass case pockets might not have been totally cleaned, or those few rounds might have been loaded (or stored?) "wet"...?

The term "non-corrosive" means the same East or West of Ye Olde Iron Curtain, IMHO.

Cheers!
 
And all those former eastern bloc countries wouldn't falsely advertise. I remember when the eastern bloc first started exporting ammo to the USA, all was listed as non-corrosive and then bam after a couple of years it was detemined that it was "mildly" corrosive. I am sure they didn't destroy all of the ammo and primers on hand that were corrosive. They dumped it here. My opinion.

I will wait for US components. We have standards and QC. I don't need to clean my bore and bolt with windex every time I shoot and then have to get the windex out and clean conventionally.

Thanks for the replies. To each his own.
 
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