Any difference in primers? (cci v. Wolf

[fuse]

I have loaded about 2200 9mm with cci no. 500 small pistol primer. Everything has been peachy.

I bought a couple thousand wolf small pistol primers a while back. I heard they may not be as reliable, so I've decided to use them for my own individual practice and get rid of them.

My question is..will this affect my load in any meaningful way? I did not adjust the powder charge. I am loading a fairly middle of the road 9mm. 4.2-4.3 grns of titegroup, loaded fairly long.

Do let me know if I'm about to lose a finger or something.

[rsa-otc]

I used both Wolf Large & Small Pistol Primers. Large pistol have been perfect. Small pistol; I have had several failure to fires and have personally watched two other people I shoot with have the same problems. I would use them for practice now that you have them but not for anything else. They just will not fire and should not contribute to a KaBoom.

I will not purchase any more Wolf Small pistol primers in the future.

[SecondsCount]

I had 100% success with 2000 Wolf large pistol primers so I purchased some small rifle primers to try in 223 loads and have had one failure in the first 20 rounds that I tried. The primer looked like I may have not fully seated it which could be because I find them harder to seat than any other primers I have used.

I picked up some Wolf small pistol primers that I am going to make some loads for this week and will report back.

[John Ralston]

How much $$$ are you saving by buying the Wolf Primers?

[TAP]

I haven't used wolf primers but I've never seen more than 10-15 fps difference in primer brands if using standard primers. Of course, a standard primer compared to a magnum primer will have a more appreciable difference and I would not suggest doing this without dropping down your load. I wouldn't even use magnums unless called for but that is just my opinion even though some people did when there was a primer shortage two years ago.

CCI, Winchester, and Federal Small Pistol Primers have all had negligible differences in my chrono readings if everything else was held constant.

Two of my friends are using wolf SPP right now and they are having quite a few that don't ignite on the first strike due to a hard primer cup. I believe these are the silver primers and not the brass colored ones but don't hold me to it (I could have the colors reversed).

[TAP]

How much $$$ are you saving by buying the Wolf Primers?

PVI has wolf/tula SPP for $20 per k. CCI is $25.5 and WSP is $25.

[SecondsCount]

How much $$$ are you saving by buying the Wolf Primers?


Originally when I purchased them it was not for money savings, it was because of the massive run on ammo and primers which created a shortage and Wolf was all I could find. During the rush, the savings was as much as $20 per K but now that things are settling down it is about $7-10 per K. $10 may not seem like a lot but when you load 10K rounds a year it adds up.

After having success with the first 2000 large pistol primers, and getting them for almost half the cost of Winchester which I normally use, I thought it was worth it. Now I am second guessing myself.

[fuse]

I find them harder to seat than any other primers I have used.


I have found this to be the case as well. Had several high primer in the last batch I made.

[fuse]

How much $$$ are you saving by buying the Wolf Primers?

I don't think it was much. I don't remember though, it was a while ago.

[gringop]

I've had trouble with Wolf SP and SP Magnum primers since some time in 2009 when Wolf went to silver color on the SPs. These problems are fairly well known, look on the Benos forum for many threads on the issue.

I have had alt least 2% failure to fire and many size variation problems with the Wolf SP. I have no problems with Wolf SR223 and LP primers.

Prior to the change, Wolfs SPs were as reliable as other manufacturers primers. I still have 2k Wolf SP Mag primers that I use for practice ammo, once they are gone I'll never use Wolf SP again.

I'm back to Win SP primers for match ammo. The cost saving is not worth the constant TRB and cussing.

Gringop

[rsa-otc]

My reason for using Wolf primers was also that no others could be found at the time. I prefer CCI & Federal myself.

[VolGrad]

Two of my friends are using wolf SPP right now and they are having quite a few that don't ignite on the first strike due to a hard primer cup. I believe these are the silver primers and not the brass colored ones but don't hold me to it (I could have the colors reversed).
I'm one of those two he speaks of. The primers are silver in color. They always ignite on the second strike and the first strike is always good and on center.

I had 3 fail to ignite in a HACK class this weekend. Round count total for the weekend is unknown but TAP will surely know down to the exact #. He keeps up with all that stuff. :cool: Whatever he shot .... I shot the same. :p

[fuse]

What shitty fucking primers.

Out of 200 rounds I had probably 20-30 that did not ignite on the first try. 2 did not ignite at all.

Granted I am using a lightened striker spring. Probably the main reason.

Perhaps I'll put a standard striker spring in a carry Glock and see if I can shoot it well, and perhaps more of these will work.

Kind of like true snap caps...I never knew when one wouldn't work.

[VolGrad]

Granted I am using a lightened striker spring. Probably the main reason.

Perhaps I'll put a standard striker spring in a carry Glock and see if I can shoot it well, and perhaps more of these will work.

Doubt it will make any difference. I have had days where I will have 15-20 out of 300-400 rds not ignite and days where they will all go bang. This is with stock GLOCK springs and a stock P30. I get the same rates with my GLOCK I use in IDPA which has reduced power springs in it.

[fuse]

Doubt it will make any difference. I have had days where I will have 15-20 out of 300-400 rds not ignite and days where they will all go bang. This is with stock GLOCK springs and a stock P30. I get the same rates with my GLOCK I use in IDPA which has reduced power springs in it.

thanks for the info, that is good to know.

and I was wrong in my initial post. I bought 3 boxes of these turds. thats 2800 left, after today.

ugh...

[TAP]

At least you will get a lot of practice on immediate action drills. :cool:

[fuse]

At least you will get a lot of practice on immediate action drills. :cool:

No kidding

[SecondsCount]

I have not been able to shoot more of the 223 ammo that I loaded with Wolf primers in which I had one failure to fire. Closer inspection of the round that failed looks to me like it may have been a high primer so it could be my mistake.

To confirm my suspicion, I loaded up 100 9mm with the same copper colored Wolf small rifle primers, making certain that they were fully seated, and shot them in the P30- 30 rounds on Tuesday and 54 rounds on Thursday without any failures. Next I will try the last 16 in the G19 to see how they perform.

[fuse]

I have not been able to shoot more of the 223 ammo that I loaded with Wolf primers in which I had one failure to fire. Closer inspection of the round that failed looks to me like it may have been a high primer so it could be my mistake.

To confirm my suspicion, I loaded up 100 9mm with the same copper colored Wolf small rifle primers, making certain that they were fully seated, and shot them in the P30- 30 rounds on Tuesday and 54 rounds on Thursday without any failures. Next I will try the last 16 in the G19 to see how they perform.

Assume you meant small pistol.

Anyway, I have the new silver wolf primers.

[Munson]

Originally when I purchased them it was not for money savings, it was because of the massive run on ammo and primers which created a shortage and Wolf was all I could find. During the rush, the savings was as much as $20 per K but now that things are settling down it is about $7-10 per K. $10 may not seem like a lot but when you load 10K rounds a year it adds up.

After having success with the first 2000 large pistol primers, and getting them for almost half the cost of Winchester which I normally use, I thought it was worth it. Now I am second guessing myself.
You need to find a new place for your supplies. There were lots of so called "discount" places that jacked their rates up 2 years ago. There were lots of places that stayed loyal to their customer base and did not gouge their customers. Those are the only ones I do business right now

[fuse]

Indeed.

Sadly I was just starting out at the time and did not know any better.

*********

I seem to be having better success as of late. I have loaded 600 rounds with the wolf primers so far, in batches of 200.

The first 200 were awful. Probably 20 that did not ignite on the first try. 2 that did not ignite at all.

The next 200 were better, probably not more than 10 light strikes. Again 2 that did not ignite at all.

I shot the last 200 at the SLG mini class Sunday. Only 1 light strike, and all other rounds fired successfully of the first try.

All 600 have been with a lightened striker spring.

These primers for some reason are a bit oversized than most everything else and thus harder to seat in tight, once-fired primer pockets. I believe I have learned how to really ram it in there (internet joke goes here) when seating these primers. This has nearly eliminated my problems with them.

Still will never buy them again, of course.

[SecondsCount]

Assume you meant small pistol.

Anyway, I have the new silver wolf primers.

No, I wrote what I meant, small rifle primers. :)


You need to find a new place for your supplies. There were lots of so called "discount" places that jacked their rates up 2 years ago. There were lots of places that stayed loyal to their customer base and did not gouge their customers. Those are the only ones I do business right now

Well if you can tell me where to get Winchester, CCI, or Federal primers for $18K per thousand then I am all ears.

[Munson]

Well if you can tell me where to get Winchester, CCI, or Federal primers for $18K per thousand then I am all ears.[/QUOTE]

First off, I haven't seen any of them for 18 per k in MANY years, but finding them in the 20-23 dollar range ain't too hard. My local store sells them for about 21 per k. My point was that if you were using a store that was selling them for 20-25, then went up $7-10 during the run... then you need to find a new store. There were plenty of guys who did not raise their prices. Powder valley comes to mind on the internet
.

[SecondsCount]

First off, I haven't seen any of them for 18 per k in MANY years, but finding them in the 20-23 dollar range ain't too hard. My local store sells them for about 21 per k. My point was that if you were using a store that was selling them for 20-25, then went up $7-10 during the run... then you need to find a new store. There were plenty of guys who did not raise their prices. Powder valley comes to mind on the internet
.

Well if you are getting them for $21 per K then you are doing well. Nobody around here is selling them for less than $30 per K and online they are over $25 per K.

[Boxy]

I have found this to be the case as well. Had several high primer in the last batch I made.

I have used Wolff Large primers and find them to be the devil to seat using a Hornady LNL AP Progressive press and with a hand primer. The dimension of these primers have alot of variance as the auto primer station seems to have an inordinate amount of mis-feeds as well. In addtion, some of the primers have failed to fire after two primer strikes. I handle the primers appropriately and cannot attribute this to improper storage or handling.

Just ran 200 loads with CCI 300 large primers through the LNL AP with no seating issues.

Like most folks I bought these when no other primers were available two years ago. When I have CCI primers on hand these are of low value to me.

I know this is my first post here but I would avoid Wolff primers.

B

[Boxy]

I have found this to be the case as well. Had several high primer in the last batch I made.

I have used Wolff Large primers and find them to be the devil to seat using a Hornady LNL AP Progressive press and with a hand primer. The dimension of these primers have alot of variance as the auto primer station seems to have an inordinate amount of mis-feeds as well. In addtion, some of the primers have failed to fire after two primer strikes. I handle the primers appropriately and cannot attribute this to improper storage or handling.

Just ran 200 loads with CCI 300 large primers through the LNL AP with no seating issues.

Like most folks I bought these when no other primers were available two years ago. When I have CCI primers on hand these are of low value to me.

I know this is my first post here but I would avoid Wolff primers.

B

[jar]

There were plenty of guys who did not raise their prices. Powder valley comes to mind on the internet
.

And PV was backordered for months and months. If there's a supply loss or demand spike, prices have to rise or there are shortages. Places who jacked up their prices weren't screwing people, they were making sure they had primers in stock for people who really needed them.

I bought a bunch of Wolf SPP when they were all I could find at a reasonable price. They were a bear to seat and about 2-3% FTF. I'll burn the rest of them for practice ammo at some point, but I load Federal now.

[fuse]

The happiest day for me reloading-wise in a long time was when I loaded and shot a round with my final wolf primer. Good riddance.

[mizer67]

Wolf, nickel plated SPP post 2009 are a huge PITA. I wouldn't personally wish them on my worst enemy unless they had a Super 1050 and could crush those suckers in the pocket consistently and ran extra power striker springs. Still have 800 of 10K left, and will get 1-2 light strikes per 100 rounds even when these are seated by hand running extra powered striker springs in my M&Ps (which are very primer depth sensitive, IMO).

Wolf .223 SRM primers work fine, as do the Tula standard SRP. I find the standard Russian small rifle primers, when seated by hand, to be as consistent in reducing ES/SD as Federal GMM primers.

CCI SPP handle pressure the best of the big 4, but are also the least sensitive.

Federal are the only thing I run in lightened actions and will ignite consistently when nothing else will. They do not handle pressure well without deformation.

Win SPP are almost as sensitive as Federals, but are generally cheaper.