Federals are the softest but that doesn't mean they are the most consistent. You will need a chronograph to see the difference though. It very well may not show up on a target.
What I mean is this, softer does not equal better. It may not matter, it may, depends.
Case in point. I used Federal primers for some 2400 44Mag loads. Ran them over the chronograph and got very wide extreme spreads. Changed to Winchester primers that are designed for either magnum or standard loads with the same weight of 2400 and the ES shrank considerably.
I found that for consistent loads, in the larger cases anyway, Winchester give better numbers than Federals. Now, that being said, I have switched to Wolf, almost exclusively. I have found that their primers are as close to Winchester in both hardness and consistency.
Now, I shoot a lot of double action, no tuned actions either. Few folks realize that the hammer on a Smith doesn't fall as far when shot double action versus single. If you want to do another test and have a chronograph, take the same load and shoot it both ways over it, single and double action. You will see a difference.
As for having them go off consistently, I have only ever had problems with one gun, the M625JM that has the frame mounted firing pin. It comes with a very light action. Midway's Mikuleck (sp) spring kit says that you have to use Federal primers when installed. What I did was installed an extended firing pin and a spent primer under the spring strain screw. Problem solved.
I just bought another bunch of Wolf primers from Widener's. To clarify one thing, in magnum loads, you need their magnum primers.
CCI and Remington primers aren't available locally and Winchesters have been out of stock for quite a while. I turned to the Internet and try to either group buy or buy in large lots.
Hope this helps.
