Granted this is a rather limited sample and over a span of easily 50 plus years,
yes simply an opinion based on my experience so take or leave as you see fit
Over the last 55 or so years I've tried and used primers that were occasionally on sale,
and without any doubt over that time
,hundreds of thousands of reloaded cartridges ,
eventually you see a pattern develop and these charts may help.
given any choice,
in any center-fire rifle, especially the 270 win and larger cartridges,
but especially in the belted magnums using slower powders like IMR 4831 or slower,
Id suggest you always use FEDERAL PRIMERS,
with WINCHESTER a close second choice
In a handgun winchester,federal,
CCI, alcan seem to work fine in handguns,
but I give any remington primers away , that I might acquire,
and only use them, if I'm loading some ammo for someone,
who supplies all the components and won,t take advice.
now you might have gone a lifetime using remington primers,
but Id say close to 90% of the hang-fire and dud primers,
I have ever had, over the last 50 plus years of reloading,
were remington, I doubt I just got a bad batch or two.
to be fair I generally buy primers in 5000 case batches ,
and obviously I have no way to know
under what conditions a gun-shop,
on-line vendor or gun show vendor stores,
his primers before I purchase them,
Ive used primers that were 20 years old with zero issues,
age does not seem to be a factor
and out of a full couple cases I might have had 3 hang fires
but you get rather hesitant to use them once you've experienced a couple duds or hang fires.
trust me when you get a 1/4-1/2 second ...
delay between pulling the trigger and the cartridge igniting,
especially,
with a 378 wby or a 458 win, you tend to remember,
and if your revolver has a squib load that barely makes it out the bore,
and the bores full of only partly burnt powder , you remember.
obviously there might be factors I'm unaware of ,
but I can,t remember a federal or Winchester primer malfunction.
BTW REMINGTON and some winchester, primers are GOLD in color,
, fed and some win primers are silver
and Ive shot many a group off the bench rest,
and consistently the tighter groups Ive shot,
were with federal or winchester match or magnum primers
I've purchased easily 70% of my primers from local gun shops,
when they have sales,
for years one local gun shop had a post x-mass / new years sale
(I think they assumed everyone was broke so they would not sell much,
and were selling primers and powder in stock, at cost
to get a few extra dollars before the years end,
and make sure the inventory stays fresh)
where all primers and powder was on sale every December for 30% off,
easily costing less than even on-line vendors,
https://www.federalpremium.com/reloading/primers/gold-medal-centerfire-primer/11-GM215M.html
but keep in mind I was purchasing and using thousands of primers,
every year long before the internet was useful, and also well after.
I consistently use these on-line vendors for supplies with zero issues
Id generally buy at least 20K in federal and winchester ,
small & large mag primers, and small and large mag pistol primers,
in 5K case lots,
If I got to the sale late they might only have ALCAN or CCI,
so Id reluctantly grab those.
http://stevespages.com/page8a.htm
https://www.midwayusa.com/primers/br?cid=17587
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/search?SearchTerm=primers
yes simply an opinion based on my experience so take or leave as you see fit
Over the last 55 or so years I've tried and used primers that were occasionally on sale,
and without any doubt over that time
,hundreds of thousands of reloaded cartridges ,
eventually you see a pattern develop and these charts may help.
given any choice,
in any center-fire rifle, especially the 270 win and larger cartridges,
but especially in the belted magnums using slower powders like IMR 4831 or slower,
Id suggest you always use FEDERAL PRIMERS,
with WINCHESTER a close second choice
In a handgun winchester,federal,
CCI, alcan seem to work fine in handguns,
but I give any remington primers away , that I might acquire,
and only use them, if I'm loading some ammo for someone,
who supplies all the components and won,t take advice.
now you might have gone a lifetime using remington primers,
but Id say close to 90% of the hang-fire and dud primers,
I have ever had, over the last 50 plus years of reloading,
were remington, I doubt I just got a bad batch or two.
to be fair I generally buy primers in 5000 case batches ,
and obviously I have no way to know
under what conditions a gun-shop,
on-line vendor or gun show vendor stores,
his primers before I purchase them,
Ive used primers that were 20 years old with zero issues,
age does not seem to be a factor
and out of a full couple cases I might have had 3 hang fires
but you get rather hesitant to use them once you've experienced a couple duds or hang fires.
trust me when you get a 1/4-1/2 second ...
delay between pulling the trigger and the cartridge igniting,
especially,
with a 378 wby or a 458 win, you tend to remember,
and if your revolver has a squib load that barely makes it out the bore,
and the bores full of only partly burnt powder , you remember.
obviously there might be factors I'm unaware of ,
but I can,t remember a federal or Winchester primer malfunction.
BTW REMINGTON and some winchester, primers are GOLD in color,
, fed and some win primers are silver
and Ive shot many a group off the bench rest,
and consistently the tighter groups Ive shot,
were with federal or winchester match or magnum primers
I've purchased easily 70% of my primers from local gun shops,
when they have sales,
for years one local gun shop had a post x-mass / new years sale
(I think they assumed everyone was broke so they would not sell much,
and were selling primers and powder in stock, at cost
to get a few extra dollars before the years end,
and make sure the inventory stays fresh)
where all primers and powder was on sale every December for 30% off,
easily costing less than even on-line vendors,
but keep in mind I was purchasing and using thousands of primers,
every year long before the internet was useful, and also well after.
I consistently use these on-line vendors for supplies with zero issues
Id generally buy at least 20K in federal and winchester ,
small & large mag primers, and small and large mag pistol primers,
in 5K case lots,
If I got to the sale late they might only have ALCAN or CCI,
so Id reluctantly grab those.
http://stevespages.com/page8a.htm
https://www.midwayusa.com/primers/br?cid=17587
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/search?SearchTerm=primers
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