Primer Package Frustrations!!

P

Palmetto-Pride

New member
Ok why the hell cant all primer manufacturers please come to some common sense and package there primers either face up or face down. The primers in question mainly are Federal rifle primers they package there shotgun primers the way they should be, but there rifle primers are packaged where you cant just have them come out all one way. That way you could lay the package down and have them face down with out having to flip them the correct way.

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I agree with you and don't understand why they do it that way but what gets me is the size of the box compared to all other brands. On the other hand if this is all we have to worry about in life then I think we have it pretty good.
 
I'm sure primers are packaged at fairly high speed by machinery that doesn't have any idea how they are oriented. It's just that the flange at one end of the shotgun primer makes it possible to make a hole they only fit into one way, where the standard primer's shape does not.
 
I've made the same observation, but . . .

I use a Lee hand primer - have done so for 31 years (I only load for handgun). I wear gloves (and eye protection) when I prime. And I always have a pair of tweezers handy. I will not touch primers with my bare hands (for the sake of the primers, not my hands). At any rate, the floor of the Lee primer tray is "nubbed" so all you have to do is give the upside-down primer a little nudge, and it flips right over - the anvil catches the nub and "pole-vaults" right over. Nothing to it.

After that long dissertation, point is, I'm a patient person, and so the Federal primer thing doesn't bother me much.

Come to think of it, when the NASCAR race comes on, I'll probably sit down and prime a few hundred today ;).
 
i could care less if face up or face down, but federals sideways packaging is super annoying. any other company, even if the box is bigger than the primer tray, you can just slowly push the cardboard back facedown on the flipper/tray and they all sit neatly in rows. when they are sideways, they have to "drop" out of the box and roll all over, then some stay sideways, so i can't put any cover over the flipper while I, you know, flip.

there have been interesting theories to as why they started packaging this way, but flat seems to work for every other company in the world except for federal for some reason. ny solution......i din't buy federal primers, even though i really like them, good move federal
 
I always use CCI and Winchester so no problem. I did use Federals 1 time, and I too hated the way they were packaged. Won't use again.
 
I also use the primer flipper device. My main complaint about Federal is the freakin huge box they use. I just bought a thousand OLD CCI's from back when the box was green, black, and grey. It measures 2 x 1.5 x 4 inches. Those were the days! jd
 
Putting it all in perspective.....

This subject has come up before and fairly recently. The important thing to take away from this is to be thankful you can even get primers. Federal primers are among the better primers out there. If you are on a quest for the very best accuracy load for your rifles, then you will get over your vexation at Federal's packaging. It must cost more to package them the way they do, but hey, maybe they are worth it. And yes, CCI and Winchester primers are a little more convenient to work with. If the packaging matters more than accuracy, then choose accordingly. Once they are loaded, they all are the same size and you will discard the empty box anyway. Like everyone else, I have a preference for which way the roll of toilet paper gets mounted too. But in the end, does it really matter? Choose your primers based upon their merits as primers and don't lose sleep over the package. There are brands of primers that I avoid. But I use plenty of CCI, Winchester, and Federal primers. A day spent reloading with Federal primers is better than a good day at work.
 
I got more issues with caps, lids and tear tabs for stuff than primer packaging. IMO Coke makes a good cap/lid because it hardly ever binds. I can't recall the last time a pull tab tore straight.
 
Rumor has it that Federal had legal troubles with primers going off in a delivery truck or something and agreed to change their packaging. Makes it a PITA to get them into a primer flipper tray.

Love those #100 SPPs & Gold Medal LPPs though. They seat just right and always go bang.
 
I have no problems with any of them. I slide the plastic slowly and they drop into my RCBS Hand Primer Tray. I put in 200 and put the lid on and gently shake them sideways once most have flipped over I take off the lid and turn over the few remaining with a large safety pin.
 
I like the Federal large box, I like the way they stand the primers up with room. I have the large flip tray. AND! I use The Lee Auto hand prime, the one with the round primer tray. I have no problem moving the primers from the 'BIG BOX' to the small tray, I cut a 1/4 section out of the Federal sleeve and then dump about 25 primers at a time.

And POWERFUL PRIMERS? MY favorite, If it was not for Federal primers I would be 'almost' out of primers.

And then that is that part where R. Lee said he did not test Federal primers because Federal did not donate primers to be tested.

F. Guffey
 
there rifle primers are packaged where you cant just have them come out all one way. That way you could lay the package down and have them face down with out having to flip them the correct way.
Click to expand...

I like that in a primer, R. Lee said he did test, he declared the primer is dangerous. I know, there are reloaders that take/haul loaded ammo to the range is baggies, I don't.

When a primer is struck there is a reaction, goes something like the reaction is equal in both directions. Federal stands their primers up, the primer is confined/restricted in front and rear.

F. Guffey
 
Sideways, even when not in separate compartments, ensures no possibility of stacking, which is the most ignition-prone arrangement.

Federal used to use flat trays like their shotgun primers. (These trays make great airgun pellet holders. Sort your pellets for a match and sandwich them between two of the trays with a rubber band to hold the sandwich together. Easy to keep track of how many went on a bull, pulling them one-at-a-time.) The drawback to this method of packaging is that you cannot guarantee something dropped against the cardboard won't strike a primer and set it off. With the shotgun primers, the flange can keep the anvil from touching the bottom of the hole, and it is very hard to set off with nothing to bear against. Sideways ensures the anvil and the back end of rifle and pistol primers have at least some amount of plastic that has to be pushed through, instead of just cardboard, before ignition risk occurs. It's simply a method of reducing accidental ignition probability.

The old packaging Jmorris referred to (I still have some CCI pistol primers from the 80's that are packaged that way) had the primer sideways, but touching each other rather than in individual compartments. This was OK, unless one primer in a row went off for whatever reason. Then the others in the row would go off with it. That's why the compartments are separated by Federal. It's to stop that "sympathetic detonation" from occurring. Their higher-than-average primer sensitivity is more prone to this than some other brands. It's the reason Lee recommended against using them in the original Lee auto prime, as this post explains.
 
Well, and no offence intended; but 18 posts whining about the orientation of primers in a package? If one objects to the packaging, don't buy them, or learn to deal with "sideways" vs. "facing down" primers. :confused:

FWIW, and it means absolutely nuttin', I either dump my primers in the tray of my hand primer and shake a bit to get them all the same, or I dump, 10 at a time, out on a paper towel when using my ram prime...

Now about the color of the primers, brass vs. silver, that's a big deal...:D
 
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