Comments on: Surprising Results in Dept. of Defense Lead-Free Primer Tests

By: GeneD

GeneD — Thu, 17 May 2018 19:50:36 +0000

For those who are of a mind-set that Russian primers ; ( bullets , powder , cases , etc..) are junk , or inferior products , you only need to look back thru history when the Russians were dominating many types of competition with their “inferior” components .
And I am one F-Open / F-TR shooter who will happily purchase your Wolf primers to compete with . As are the majority of F-class shooters nationwide . Top level F shooters know that Wolf is one of the most consistent primers available , both for SD and ES , or they would not be so highly sought after within the community .

If you read Laurie Holland’s Small and Large rifle primer study ; Target Shooter Magazine – UK , the data he collected reflects that currently , The S&B primers rated much higher over-all than even the Federal , and other so-called “rated” competition primers .

Sometimes ; We need to look past our nationalistic bias to shoot better . Just sayin….

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 17 May 2018 00:31:18 +0000

I’ve used > 5000 Fiocchi Lead Free Small Pistol primers for action pistol shooting and have had great results, no problems. More expensive, but not as expensive as to treat high lead levels from high-volume shooting.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 07:38:26 +0000

Classic goverment “scientists” millions of dollars in fancy equipment but they pick a rifle with that cant strike the primer hard enough and end up with a high deviation

Classic rookie mistake, everyone knows russian primer cups are hard

By: Marcia Mason

Marcia Mason — Sat, 06 May 2017 03:13:18 +0000

I haven’t reloaded in years, but would like to start again and thought I’d look into this primer issue. So who makes the best rifle primers today for accuracy, and do they have lead? As I age I get a little dummer every year and sure don’t need to breathe more lead “dust” to make it worse. Other than wearing a mask while shooting, I’d still like to benchrest like Tony Boyer. So the question is, use a lead primer or not?

By: Johnson

Johnson — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:59:24 +0000

The results are not surprising at all. Lead-free primers are well known by ammunition engineers to not be reliable. That is why they are not used except for training ammo.

By: Michael Courtney

Michael Courtney — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 03:02:58 +0000

The SDs of the small primers are not significantly different from each other (in the strict statistical sense of “significant”.)

The SD of the DDNP-based large primer is significantly larger than the lead-based primers.

The difference in primer strength among the lead-based primers is more interesting and relevant than the differences in SDs. Note, for example, how much stronger the Rem 7 1/2 is than the other small primers. Also note the strength of the Fed215M and CCI 250. I recently obtained outstanding consistency in Trail Boss using the CCI250 because I followed a recommendation for a stronger primer to improve consistencies in velocities. Who would have thought velocity SDs in the 5-12 fps range would be possible with Trail Boss?

We are eager to test the other DDNP primers as soon as they are available.

By: Barry

Barry — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 21:01:14 +0000

A sample size of 10 is a nearly meaningless comparison between the lead-based primers of everything but the grossest properties.

A sample that included 10 different lot numbers of each primer would be something you could actually draw some useful conclusions from.

By: Alan Fraser

Alan Fraser — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:48:54 +0000

These results are not surprising, and I wouldn’t attach much importance to them. Note that for Table 1 figures it mentions sample sizes of 10 (shots with each type of primer). To attach any significance to SD as a percentage of the mean for samples of this size is statistically non-sensensical. Note that the authors (both PhDs) of the report don’t make any such claims, and that would be because they are aware of the limitations of the data. So I wouldn’t advise all you CCI large primer users to rush out and change to Federal based on these figures. By my reckoning, there’s a reasonable chance the true situation could be completely reversed.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:20:32 +0000

JCB – Actually, Russian (Wolf) traditional primers score very well in Cast Bullet Assc. benchrest matches. Those shooters would beg to differ with you.
That said, I agree with your comment about the limited sample of Russian only. Maybe they just have not got it right yet.

By: Nigel

Nigel — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:49:36 +0000

I have found that in loading for the 6.5×55 Winchester WLR primers give better results and lower SD than CCR BR2 primers.

WLR ES 10 SD 5 CCI BR2 ES 15 SD 7