Federal primers

[Swampman1]

As CCI large pistol primers are scare locally, one place has Federal large pistol primers. What do you guys think about these?

[243winxb]

Federal makes 2 i think? Standard and Magnum. This mean you need to stock 2 types, maybe? But if you buy Rem 2 1/2 or WLP you only need one to do it all. From Bullseye powder to W296. But these day, buy what you can find i guess.

[F. Guffey]

If not for Federal primers I would be out of primers.

I know, R. Lee did not test Federal primers because they did not give him primers to test. I also know I can not fill a primer tube with primers then give it a Ki-rack chop, folding a primer tube filled with primers can cursh them, split the tube and blow a hole in a finger.

F. Guffey

[mehavey]

Federal [pistol] primers are fine (in fact I use them in all my pistols as well as my black powder cartridge rifles).

[Salmoneye]

I use the Fed magnum large pistol with excellent results...

[TopMCITWS]

Federal primers are ideal for revolvers which have had some trigger work accomplished on them. Normally use Winchester primers for most of my reloads; however, when loading for my S&W 625, those rounds are always made with Federal primers and they always go "bang" instead of "click" which can happen with harder primers.

[Slamfire]

Federal primers are, by design and manufacture, the most sensitive primers on the market. They are excellent revolver primers. I have shot tens of thousands of the things, and if the ignition system on your pistol is marginal, due to old mainsprings, trigger jobs, etc, your best option for reliable ignition will be federal primers.

However, this sensitivity is not so great for military type weapons with free floating firing pins. Federal match and standard rifle primers are the most slamfiring primers around.

I can't say there are any significant velocity differences, over my chronograph screens, between federal large pistol and any other brand.

[Gster]

I've used a lot of Fed #150 lg. pistol primers for my .45s and they work fine.

[std7mag]

I'm using the Federal Magnum primers for 40S&W. Have had good results this far. Using 150gr hp, and 165gr hp over longshot and bluedot.

[green_MTman]

i use federal 210 match in the swedish mauser

[iraiam]

Federal makes good primers, If you get them: I recommend re-working up to your desired powder charge, I have different max powder charges worked up in several recipes with federal primers vs CCI, the Federals are a tad hotter.

[4runnerman]

Federal are all I use in my Pistol. Never a problem,never had a bad one yet.

[Smokey Joe]

Swampman 1--What do I think?? I think that Federal uses HUGE amounts of packaging for their primers for no good reason. I can't spare the extra shelf space, and the primers are awkward to dump into the tray of a hand priming device because the plastic shipping holder is so huge.

I will not use Federal primers if I can get anything else to do the job.

Talked with a Federal rep about this once. (Rep) "Well, the Federal primers are more powerful, so they have to be more separated in the package." (Me) "OK, then, do I use the same load data with Federal primers or is there special load data to use?" (Rep) "Oh, no, you can use the standard loading data in published manuals, with Federal primers." (Me) "But you said they're more powerful, that's why the packaging is so much bulkier. Wouldn"t that require a change in the powder charge?" (Rep) "No, you use the regular charge." (Me) "Then the Federal primers are NOT more powerful, and the Federal primer packaging is excessive?" (Rep) "Oh, no, the Federal primers need that extra packaging!"

After going in circles like that for a bit, the Federal rep spotted someone else to talk to, who looked (I guess) like an easier sell, and walked away.

So as far as I am concerned, Federal can peddle their huge packages of primers elsewhere. I have one such Federal package, 1000 Large Rifle Magnums, match grade, # GM215M. It was the only match-grade LRM's I could find at the time. The box is about 2x or more, the size of all my other boxes of 1000 primers.

Bah! Humbug! Remember when primers came in little milled slots in a piece of wood, all touching each other?? How many of those ever exploded?

[rclark]

Like smokey, I stay away from Federal for that very reason. Packaging. A pain to load the hand primer tray, and bulky to store. Other than that, the Federal primers work just fine. If they are the last ones left on the shelf, I'll use 'em without any qualms. Good primers.

[MEATSAW]

Yes huge boxes but good primers. I really get good results using the Fed 205 small rifle primer for my 40 S&W. Very low ES and SD

[Slamfire]

Talked with a Federal rep about this once. (Rep) "Well, the Federal primers are more powerful, so they have to be more separated in the package." (Me) "OK, then, do I use the same load data with Federal primers or is there special load data to use?" (Rep) "Oh, no, you can use the standard loading data in published manuals, with Federal primers." (Me) "But you said they're more powerful, that's why the packaging is so much bulkier. Wouldn"t that require a change in the powder charge?" (Rep) "No, you use the regular charge." (Me) "Then the Federal primers are NOT more powerful, and the Federal primer packaging is excessive?" (Rep) "Oh, no, the Federal primers need that extra packaging!"

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So, what you experienced is a manipulative Corporation sticking to its talking points. Federal knows that Americans like “more powerful”, this is as true in primers as it is in V-8’s or V-12 engines. Considering Federals are the most sensitive primers on the market, it is more likely the extra packaging, which cost extra money, is there because their primers are more likely to go off, in bulk, in standard packaging.

But telling people their primers are the most likely to ignite due to handling , shock, and vibration might cut into sales, as this is a dangerous characteristic of their primers.

Hence, Federal claims the extra packaging is there for other reasons, the reasons, by your analysis, are probably not true.

[Nick_C_S]

I always choose CCI 300's first. But during the darkest days of this shortage, I got ahold of 2000 Fed 150's (standard large) primers.

They worked great - flawless.

I'm not a big fan of the "shoebox" they come in; but if that's all I have to complain about, then they're plenty good enough for me.

[F. Guffey]

but if that's all I have to complain about,

I have always claimed Federal used the large box to give R. Lee something to complain about, I had no ideal owners of the Lee automatic hand primes would be the ones complaining, I have the Dillon large flip tray and cutting the lid of the Federal box to dump 25 primers at a time would take less time than complaining.

F. Guffey

[Misssissippi Dave]

I have used a lot of Federal primers and others as well. No problems here. I also use a Dillon flip tray and it easily handles them. Federal is my first choice in pistols with reduced hammer springs followed by Winchester. Pistols with stock hammer springs get what ever primer I happen to have the most of at the moment.

[rclark]

FYI, My hand primer is a RCBS ... the CCI, WLP primer boxes all 'fit' on the round tray when dumping... Not the Federals. I am always doing 100 at a time so very convenient ... not 25 or 10 or ...

[mehavey]

CCI, WLP primer boxes all 'fit' on the round tray when dumping...
Not the Federals

I just have learned to dump them into a small soup bowl, then dump
the soup bowl into the primer tray. Since I already use soup bowl(s)
to hold all the processed cases as they go from unsized/sized/expanded-
/primed stages anyway, it's not much of an extra step.

[F. Guffey]

not 25 or 10 or ...

If this stuff locked me up and or drove me to the curb I would quit. And if all I could see was fault I would be as miserable as those that find fault in everything, instead of complaining about the big boxes I would cut a 1/4 section out of the sleeve and dump 25 at a time, rather than complaining about wanting to dump 100 primers to dump I would rotate the sleeve and dump 25 more and if that did not make me happy I would continue to dump and rotate until the tray was empty, nothing like lightning a candle or turning on the little light that operates all that gray matter.

F. Guffey

[rclark]

Duffy, whatever flips your primers .

It's called convenience and space savings . First, If you ever used the RCBS primer tray (for hand priming), with a CCI or WLP you simply pull the whole 100 primer holder out of its box, put the RCBS tray over the open box and then turn it over. All primers are now resting on the RCBS tray ready to install except for a couple that you have to hand flip. Easy and no mess and fast. If you try to do 25 at a time and try to 'dump' them on the tray you'd end up with a mess, some on the tray, some on the floor.... So, better to put all in a bowl at that point and then try to dribble onto the tray and then flip each of 'em over by hand (or by shaking) to get the right side up. No, I'll use the convenient CCI (which I prefer) or WLP packaging before using the Federal primers (and again, nothing against Federal primers as they all go bang just like any other primer). Second, like has been said, the Federal box of 1000 primers takes up a lot of room.... I like to have plenty of primers on hand. If my primers were Federal, I wouldn't have room to squeeze into my work room .

[F. Guffey]

Duffy, whatever flips your primers .

the Federal box of 1000 primers takes up a lot of room.... I like to have plenty of primers on hand. If my primers were Federal, I wouldn't have room to squeeze into my work room

First, If you ever used the RCBS primer tray (for hand priming), with a CCI or WLP you simply pull the whole 100 primer holder out of its box, put the RCBS tray over the open box and then turn it over

You are correct, I agree, if there is a priming system I do not have It is a new design, room? My walls are 28" away, I do not waste space, I have deep shelves and shallow drawers.

F. Guffey

[WESHOOT2]

I prefer them.