CCI Small Pistol Primers the absolute worse! Help

[marathonrunner]

Hey Guys

I don't know if I am the only one to experience this, but using whatever brass I find on the range floor to reload, I am getting lots of light primer strikes regardless which gun I try to shoot them from. I hear CCI are very hard comparied to Federal or Winchester but anyone here have bad experience with CCI primers?

 

[OKFC05]

I use CCI primers with no issue in my stock M&P Pros, 9mm.
BE SURE you have the primers fully seated, because high primers are often seated by the first strike, and fire the second strike.
However , my IDPA Model 66s have light springs, and only are fully reliable with Federal primers.
1. Check for high primers
2. Check you guns for light springs

 

[Culina]

The only time I have ever had a light primer strike is when I didn't do something else right with my reload. If you have custom hammer springs, that could be a source of your problem as well.

 

[27 Man]

Used CCI primers for 40 years. Never an issue.

 

[w.r.gun]

often light hits are caused from not seating the primers ALL THE WAY IN. I bet you could get a half a turn up on your primer seater

 

[diyj98]

You could have a bad batch, but they've been my go to primers for years with zero problems.

 

[stansdds]

I have not had problems with CCI primers. Make sure they are fully seated and some trigger jobs result in significantly less hammer or striker energy. Such a thing can make it difficult to ignite CCI primers.

 

[rockquarry]

Some tools used to seat primers won't fully seat every time, due to wear or because it's not a good priming tool. Run your finger over every seated primer as a check. CCI small pistol and other CCI primers work fine in guns that are in good condition and have not been tampered with. I buy the small pistol primers in cartons of 5,000. I've used more CCI for all cartridges, rifle and handgun, than other primers, but I suppose I've used most of the others, too. I started buying CCI in 1965.

Range pickup brass will often work fine, but it will never work better than same headstamp or same lot brass that you know the history of and primer pocket depth may not be uniform with the pickup brass.

 

[marathonrunner]

Some tools used to seat primers won't fully seat every time, due to wear or because it's not a good priming tool. Run your finger over every seated primer as a check. CCI small pistol and other CCI primers work fine in guns that are in good condition and have not been tampered with. I buy the small pistol primers in cartons of 5,000. I've used more CCI for all cartridges, rifle and handgun, than other primers, but I suppose I've used most of the others, too. I started buying CCI in 1965.

Range pickup brass will often work fine, but it will never work better than same headstamp or same lot brass that you know the history of and primer pocket depth may not be uniform with the pickup brass.

Using the same load and whatever brass I find on range floor never had a problem until I bought my first box of CCI. All my guns are new. My X5 legion does have a competition Grayguns sear, reduced sear spring and pelt2 trigger. My MP 2.0 in both compact and 5" barrel model are bone stock and I get light strikes every three to four shots fired.

I then ran factory ammo from 115gr to 157HST and not one light primer strike not one.

 

[fredj338]

I run cci in everything, revolvers, striker fired guns, 1911, never an issue. I use range brass exclusively in service calibers, never an issue, but I do cull certain foreign brands.
What press are you using? Do they fire on 2nd strike? IF so, you just need to push harder & fully seat them. They are not really that hard. More so than Win or Fed but not like S&B.

 

[muddocktor]

CCI primers are harder than the others in my experience, but I have no problems with them lighting off in any of my pistols either. I don't shoot competition and I won't let any of my guns be picky on the primers they will light off. Like the others, I think you might not be seating them fully for some reason or another. I've literally shot 10's of thousands of CCI primers with no problems.

 

[marathonrunner]

I run cci in everything, revolvers, striker fired guns, 1911, never an issue. I use range brass exclusively in service calibers, never an issue, but I do cull certain foreign brands.
What press are you using? Do they fire on 2nd strike? IF so, you just need to push harder & fully seat them. They are not really that hard. More so than Win or Fed but not like S&B.

I am using lyman's hand primer tool and it very well may be I am not pressing hard enough and why they are not fully seated however they are sitting just below the pocket surface so I would think they are seated I will press harder and try again

 

[4barrel]

I am using lyman's hand primer tool and it very well may be I am not pressing hard enough and why they are not fully seated however they are sitting just below the pocket surface so I would think they are seated I will press harder and try again

If they are level you are good to go. Look at the ones that misfire and check the brand of the case. Stay away from military brass as they have crimped primers. Federal seems to seat a little easier.

 

[mckenney99]

I will note that I have used CCI primers for years when hand seating primers in pistol and rifle rounds. I usually use Winchester primers in my pistol rounds loaded on my Dillon 550. Went to load a batch of 9mm on the 550, went to get primers from my stock and I didn't have enough to do the batch I wanted to load. I grabbed a box of CCI primers and went to work. (Note: not a max load or even close and I have previously been able to use CCI/Winchester primers interchangeably with this load.) Started having all kinds of issues with primers not seating completely. Some of these cases have been loaded enough times that it is difficult to read the headstamps. Some of the offending cases were military cases but they showed evidence of primer pockets already having been swaged and reloaded previously. Finally in frustration, called an older more experienced friend and described my problem and the switch from Winchester to CCI primers. He just chuckled and claimed he had run into the same issue years before and he had called Dillon. The tech he spoke with told him that the dimensions of CCI primers can vary quite a bit and can be tighter in some primer pockets and require greater than normal force to fully seat in the pocket. As a result they didn't recommend using CCI primers in their machines.

 

[Rocket3]

I've had issues with CCI light primer strikes with one of my revolvers. Did a fair amount of testing and measuring. At the recommendation of the folks at Starline I swithed to Remington. Problem totally gone.

 

[Smithboomer]

I have three revolvers that don't like CCI primers, and a dozen revolvers and pistols that don't care.

 

[cowboy4evr]

My stable is basically full of revolvers and that's quite a few and just a couple of semi auto's . I have NO problems with any of them using CCI primers . The only primers I have ever had problems with were primers bought during the component shortage from Russia , Tula brand and that was only occasionally . Regards, Paul

 

[AManWearingAHat]

Ive used both with never an issue. Check and make sure they're being seated fully

 

[MyDads38]

I've never had an issue with CCI primers, or Winchester or Remington. I've never used Federal. Just make sure they are seated completely.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

You might try Remington 1 1/2 SP primers. They will fire when others won't given a weak hammer spring. They were a favorite back when I was on the PD shooting team firing in the PPC course of fire. I still use them in 32 S&W loads and light 38 Special loads.

On the other hand, I've also used CCI primers in my field loads for something like 50 years without an issue.

Just as an after thought, if you are using S&W handguns you might check the strain screws to ensure that you are getting full powder from your hammer spring.