The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Is there really such a thing as hard primers?

John Lawson · April 7, 2000, 01:27 PM

We had trouble with CCI primers, switched to Federal and the problems disappeared. This was in caliber .38 special, and I noted that the later model .357 revolvers that some officers carried ignited them with freat uniformity. The older guns like the Model 10's and 15's were the ones having problems. I replaced some hammer springs, properly lubed the guns, in one instance removed and replaced the firing pin and in another replaced a hammer that was warped and struck the frame on the way down. Perfect ignition with CCI's. However, by that time administrators were heavily into Federals.
A few years ago Handloader magazine did a drop test and found CCI primers to be the hardest to ignite of all common brands.

April 7, 2000, 01:27 PM	#3
John Lawson Senior Member Join Date: August 28, 1999 Posts: 281	We had trouble with CCI primers, switched to Federal and the problems disappeared. This was in caliber .38 special, and I noted that the later model .357 revolvers that some officers carried ignited them with freat uniformity. The older guns like the Model 10's and 15's were the ones having problems. I replaced some hammer springs, properly lubed the guns, in one instance removed and replaced the firing pin and in another replaced a hammer that was warped and struck the frame on the way down. Perfect ignition with CCI's. However, by that time administrators were heavily into Federals. A few years ago Handloader magazine did a drop test and found CCI primers to be the hardest to ignite of all common brands.