Q.C. with Federal primers

D

DMY

New member
After reading so many posts about how Federal primers are the softest and are the least likely to suffer from soft firing pin strikes, I bought a 1000 box of Federal Champion large pistol and another 100 box of Federal Champion small pistol primers. Loaded the first 200 large pistol primers into .45 ACP and auto rim brass and am not so impressed.

In the first 100 card, 2 primers would not seat fully and 2 more would not seat at all because they were either too large or had a small burr on one edge. I always clean the crust / residue out of my primer pockets and use a RCBS Rock Chucker press, so I know there is no physical obstruction preventing the primer from fully seating. The next primers went into the same case, so I know the primer pocket is not deformed. I am hesitant to put too much pressure on the primer to "force" them into the pockets. Several primers also hung up in my primer feeder tube. I have only used CCI primers in the past and have never had similar problems with primer seating.

Did I just get a bad box or have others also experienced less than stellar quality control from Federal primers? I haven't shot them yet. I presume all of them will go "bang".
 
Do your cases have a crimp?

I load both 210M and 215M in all of my Large Rifle primer ammo.

Thousand of rounds and Never,never an issue.

Sorry man, but I'm suspecting pilot error here.
 
no crimp in primer pockets

None of my brass, which I have successfully loaded 10 - 50 times with CCI primers have a crimped primer pocket. I only had 4 out of the first 100 Federal Champion large pistol primers which would not seat. After discarding these 4 primers, other Champion primers seated just fine in the same case. When I decapped these 4 primers, 2 of them had small burrs preventing them from going into the primer pocket in any manner. The 2 others would not seat flush, but I did not see any obvious deformation or production error. I didn't measure them to see if the anvil protruded or if the primer was taller than others.
 
If not for federal primers I would almost be out of primers. I do not have Federal primers called champion. I use the RCBS auto primer and the old Lee auto hand primer. I have tried to set off primers while priming with no success. The only problem I have had with seating primers in an auto hand primers was caused by double clutching. Double clutching the auto hand primers is something like getting your hair cut by a nerves barber.

F. Guffey
 
From your description it does sound like you may indeed have primers that slipped past QC. With that said however, there are two points I want to make.

First is that it's at least a slight red flag when you describe being hesitant to put too much pressure in to seating primers-- I mean, I do understand where you are coming from but please consider that if Brand X is the ONLY primer you ever work with, it's not your best bet to rely on your experience of "feel" when seating a totally different primer. My point is that I have loaded CCI, Federal, Winchester, Wolf, S&B and in the case of CCI and Winchester -- I have loaded primers from across half a century of production. Different primers WILL have different resistance in seating.

Like Guffey above... I have NEVER (not ever!) detonated a primer with proper seating and "too much force" in the lever. Never. Based on the years I have done this -- I suggest you push harder. Throw a bath towel over the entire press if you are queasy about it.

The second thing I want to say is that yes, I believe that any volume-manufactured product can let out some lemons on occasion, and that is possible here, but we should keep in mind that we are talking about one of the true legends in it's field here. Federal primers have written handloading and competition HISTORY. So we need to keep in mind that your 1,100 primers are a water drop in the Atlantic compared to the legend and reputation of this product.

Perhaps a call or e-mail to Federal with lot numbers is a good idea.
 
I do not rely on any "they said" info. heard at the LGS, range or on line. All my firearms are stock except a revolver I replaced springs in. None have required a "soft" primer and in nearly 30 years of reloading I have had no primer problems with any kind of primer, properly seated...

It's been several years since I used any Federal primers and not being able to see/check the brass used I would not blame it on Federal...
 
Hand seater is the best way to go IMNSHO

I hope to score some Federal Primers one day, in large rifle they are not to be found (plenty of Winchester, CCI and Remington)

they have a solid rep as pretty close to a bench rest primer in the regular, probably never see the BR primers, sigh.

I did finally score some CCI BR2s.
 
additional observations

I loaded primed another 200 cartridges last night with Federal Champion large pistol primers. All seated fine. I guess I had one bad card (the first 100 Federal primers which I loaded) which contained 4 bad primers. Hopefully, the rest of my experience with Federal primers will be the same as everyone else's experience.
 
I know its a #%^* off when something like this happens but considering how many get loaded with no issue that amount probably doesn't even register on any kind of statistics. They all make good primers.
 
That's not the point or the post wouldn't be posted. I feel it was the brass pocket not the primers, I uniform all my pockets & never had a problem, ever. If I did have a problem after uniforming then yes I would look at the primers.
 
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I don't uniform primer pockets

CW308:
I do not uniform my primer pockets and am not sure how to do that. I have never had the need to do so with the tens of thousands of rounds which I reloaded with CCI primers over the past 25+ years of reloading. After reading so many posts about Federal primers being softer, and since they were the same price as CCI primers, I bought 1000 large pistol primers and 1000 small pistol primers. Only loaded the Federal large pistol primers so far and had problems with 4 of the first 100 which I loaded. After 2 primers would not fit at all, I discarded those 2 primers and other Federal primers seated normally. With the other 2, they would not seat fully, but again, subsequent priming with CCIs were fine after I decapped the Federal primer. Also, the Federal primers get stuck in my primer feeder tube (about 2 - 3 times per 60 primers which is what my RCBS tube holds). If I tap on the tube, the other primers fall down. This happens when I have about 5 and 10 primers left in the tube. Again, this never happened with CCI primers.

One other thing I noticed recently. Lately, when decapping CCI primers, the anvil seems to come apart from the primer housing a lot (>50% of the time). I do not recall this happening much over the years. When I decapped the Federals last night (after shooting), almost all of them stayed together. I don't think the two issues are related. This is only an observation.
 
DYM, I can agree how you feel its the federal primer, it also could be a few of the Winchester cases with a small problem. If uniformed you would know for sure. It's not hard to uniform the pockets, once there uniformed I use it to clean the pocket, one turn and there clean. The uniformer will keep all your pockets to the same exact size.
 
I am with 308
For 30+ years I occasionally had problems seating primers. I just wasn't aware that there was some thing I could do about it. I use to think is was the fault of the primers but it wasn't.

Then I ordered a Redding primer pocket uniformer from Midway. All it is is a exact size pocket reamer that trues up the sides and bottom of the primer pocket. All you do is easily clean up the pockets and never again will you have to do it again. Primers will seat with the same amount of friction and they will always be to the proper depth. It is a real cheep fix.
Try it I think you will like it.

I have had problems with some of the hand priming tools not holding the location of the primer prior to being pressed.
 
Primer pockets can be out of spec.

One time I bought 100 unprimed 30-30 cases of Winchester brass and found that 25 percent of them would not accept a primer.

After uniforming the primer pockets all primers went in easily. I could not believe the amount of brass the uniformer cut out of the pocket. Bad QC at Winchester.

I used a Sinclair uniformer chucked up in my drill press at about 500 rpm. If you have a drill that will accept the diameter of the uniformer, no need to buy an adapter or handle. They are made of solid tungsten carbide and seem to last forever.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi...clair-primer-pocket-uniformers-prod34720.aspx
 
I have an RCBS Case Prep Center. It is the first tool that comes out of a drawer, the next tool out of a drawer is the companion tool to the press, the feeler gage.

F. Guffey
 
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