CCI vs. Winchester Primers

[GypsmJim]

I've been reloading for years and have loaded literally tens of thousands of rounds. 100% have been with CCI primers. I use Lee priming tools and that's one of the ones that were recommended, so that's what I started with way back when. I've read that they have harder cups, so that sounds good to me. All my guns go bang, so no problem there.

Went to my LGS on Saturday to get 1000 each of small and large pistol primers and they would sell me only one or the other. They were rationing because of the run on them and their limit was 1000/day. I can't blame them because they were only trying to satisfy as many of their customers as possible. I was not trying to hoard them, just buying my usual year's supply for Winter reloading.

So, today when I went back the CCI large pistols were all gone. All they had left were Winchester Large PIstol Primers. I passed.

Anyway, long story short, should I have taken them? What's the diffrerence? Or, would I even have noticed any difference?

 

[growr]

I have not noticed any differences in the two....if you need them go back and get them while you can.

Randy

 

[Born2Lose]

I would have bought them. They don't seem quite as hard as CCI. Never noticed any difference accuracy wise, The only primers I do not care for (that I've tried) are Remington, they seem over sized.

 

[blujax01]

CCI or Winchester either one runs fine. It don't make no never mind in my 45's.

Interesting comment about Remington - their 1-1/2 is my preferred primer for loading 9mm.

If you don't mind, tell us where your LGS is located?...

 

[steamloco76]

Pistol primers are unobtainable in much of the land right now!

Yes, you should have taken the Winchester primers. I too am a CCI user, however Winchester primers are very good too without being soft like Federal.

The only local store with any primers in my neck of the woods is rationing his to 100 of any type, 200 total per week to a customer.

 

[M16]

I prefer Winchester primers but use CCi on occasion.

 

[wantmoresmiths]

You should have taken what was available. The only time the hardness of the primer cup becomes an issue is when you are using them in a gun with that has had the action lightened. I have a few revolvers where, I must use only Federal primers or will have quite a few FTGB's (failure to go bang). I have never encountered any semi-autos with an action so light, but I guess anything is possible.

 

[MichiganScott]

I use Winchester if CCI is unavailable. I never noticed any difference as long as we're talking standard primers.

 

[mikelain]

The Winchester small pistol primers do not feed well in my Lee Load Master.
They get stuck in the feed tube. I have had the best luck with the cci primers.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Win LPP"s are the only LPP designated for both standard and magnum loads. I use them in all applications, and I'm very pleased

 

[Cdog]

I'm true blue Winchester for my precision rifle loading. I prefer Winchester for all my loading needs, but I do use CCI for the majority of my service rifle loading.

The Winchester Large Pistol primers are excellent performers. They will seat a bit easier than many CCI too.

Also, the Winchester primers have ran through my Lee hand priming tools for 25 years without issue.

 

[max]

Years and years ago one of the gun magazines asked the gun writers what their favorite hand loads were. Jim Clark who was a top gun maker and world class shooter said that to him, primers made no difference at all. He just bought what was cheapest.

 

[SMSgt]

I use about all of them interchangably. I avoid the Russian stuff. For my purposes, as long as it goes bang I'm happy. The guns don't care either.

 

[johngalt]

I use mostly federal, I have used both CCI and Winchester. I don't make max loads, mostly light loads for target shooting. I've never noticed any difference. I like federal because they fire more reliably with light springs but I wouldn't hesitate to use the others. I've never bothered to adjust powder charges for different primers, I don't think there is enough difference that it matters.

 

[silentflyer]

Right now any primer except maybe for some of the Russian stuff is a find.
I use the Winchester with 2400 in .41/.44 mag works great.

 

[b.guggenmos]

My primer of choice is also CCI but I buy what I can find. Lately I came across Federal and Remington. I have never used either before but the guy was willing to sell me a full 5000 box of Remington large pistol. Same with Federal except in 1000 qty. I did pass on some last weekend at $50.00 a 1000.

 

[rwsmith]

Don't pass up primers

I've always used CCI but lately I've been using Winchester. I have to buy primers and when I go to the store. I'll probably end up with what they have instead of what I want..

 

[arjay]

I've used Winchester,Federal and CCI over the years depending on what was available and they all work fine.You may have to tweak the load for a given primer,but if you keep records on what works,you will have good recipes for whatever components are around.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

You didn't say what you are reloading for or how you'll be loading them but I recently read a fairly in-depth article at Leverguns.com testing large pistol (& rifle) primers in the .500 Linebaugh case with a moderate dose of slow powder. The WLP primer had the second worst in Standard Deviation & was worst in Extreme Spread, in this test setting ?!?

.500 Linebaugh Primer Test

I don't think that the test means to imply WLP are inconsistent in all situations. The moderate load (for a 500L) of AA1680 (actually WC680) was 30grs. It seems to say to me that the WLPs can handle "regular" primer duty better than "magnum" primer duties. The WLP is labelled for standard & magnum loads. I personally don't see how a primer can do both ends of the power range well (light loads of fast powder with light bullets, to heavy loads of slow powder with heavy bullets) without doing one of them not as well (over do or under do) as the other. Wouldn't it have to compromise somewhere? I guess that's why we have other choices to best suit our particular combination.

FWIW.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Like said above, primers are primers for the most part. I'm a CCI primer fan too and have used them for a very long time. Before the 2008 shortage I did buy a lot of Winchester primers and I did not notice any difference between them and the CCI primers.

Go back and buy them before you get shut out. There is a shortage going on because some are hoarding everything they can find.

 

[alwslate]

I much prefer Winchester primers to CCIs in small or large pistol.
CCI primers are hard to seat in my experience.

 

[BruceM]

I personally don't see how a primer can do both ends of the power range well (light loads of fast powder with light bullets, to heavy loads of slow powder with heavy bullets) without doing one of them not as well (over do or under do) as the other. Wouldn't it have to compromise somewhere? I guess that's why we have other choices to best suit our particular combination.

Well, I've been using the WLP primers for both standard and magnum handgun loads since the late 1970's without issue so, I guess that there is no discernible tradeoff. On the high side, they reliably ignite charges such as 30.0 grains of W296 below a .44 cal. 180 grain Sierra in .44 magnum rounds. In the low side, generally all that needs to be done is roll back the charge weigh a couple of tenths of a grain as compared to loads with a "Standard" primer. However, you really should go back to the minimum charge and work up as directed in loading manuals.

I started using the Winchester primers because they were a little easier to seat that CCI's. I use a single stage press so primer feeding issues in a progressive were a non-issue.

Bruce

 

[FishingPilot]

I've been interchanging the two (CCI and Winchester Small Pistol Primers) without any issues in my 9mm Luger reloads. I haven't been able to tell any difference. This weekend, if the weather cooperates, I will take the chronograph out and see how a string of CCI reloads compares to those with Winchester. I have a few thousand rounds of 9mm reloaded exactly the same but some have CCI and some have Winchester primers. Should be interesting but I'm not expecting any significant differences.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I have tested cci and win small pistol primers in my 38 and 357 loads over the years and will say that they are very close to one another.

I did find a bigger differnce with the Magnum primers from both,though..........Velositys and groups changed with powders more so than with the standard primers. Some state that the wspm is the hotter of the mag primers but I have had higher fps with the cci550 at times,also.

If you find that the winchester primer works in a load ..........great.
I have yet to have a misfire from this primer and the w209 is all I use in my trap loads.

 

[wbraswell]

To me, primers is primers. That is, between CCI, Win, Rem, and Fed.

 

[johnjohn]

I have used almost all brands and have had good results with all i've tried. They all go bang.

 

[S&W HE]

I guess I'm one of the few that doesn't think the world of CCI Primers. I quit using them in the early 1980's because they were so difficult to seat without mashing the cup... unless the brass had been loaded many times.

Edit: I have not had a similar experience with Federal, Winchester, Remington primers. I just bought my first 1000 MagTec small pistol primers but have yet to try them.

 

[feelinlucky]

I've always used CCI primers, but all that was available the last time I bought primers was Winchester. First thing I noticed when I started using them was that they didn't seem to feed as easily through the Lee Safety Prime on my turret press as the CCI primers did. A good cleaning of all the involved parts cleared the problem up, something I should pay more attention to anyway, but it indicates that the Winchester primers are just a tiny bit larger than their CCI counterparts. I also noticed that the Winchester primers are not plated like the CCI's are.

I backed the powder charge weight on my loads off a few tenths when I switched to the Winchester primers, but that proved unnecessary. If there is any difference in their performance, I can't tell it.

 

[kennyb]

ok....i'll pile on go back and get the winchesters...they will do fine...around here its the winchesters that are hard to find...i just picked up 2k cci lpp,magnum

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I quit using them (CCI) in the early 1980's because they were so difficult to seat without mashing the cup... unless the brass had been loaded many times.

I personally can't related to this. I've used them almost exclusively since the 80's & it's a rare occasion that a cup gets squashed, no matter if it's SPP or LPP, even if it's in brand new brass. And if it does get squashed & I try to fire it unpowdered, it shoots fine. I don't have any complaints with CCI primers. We've had more issues (FTFs) using Remington SP primers recently that my son had gotten for his reloads.