Ed Harris
posted this
24 September 2018
Primer choice is important for reliable ignition in DA revolvers.
Federal 100s and Remington 1-1/2 are the softest and were favored by PPC target shooters back in the day.
Norma primers were also highly prized, but not common today.
Winchester WSP will be 100% reliable in a stock revolver action producing 0.010" copper indent on the .225"x.400 size "C" government copper in the correct gage holder. Tuned target actions producing 0.009" Cu indent will misfire 1 in 100.
CCI primers of many years ago in the Korean and Vietnam era had plated steel cups and were "hard." I don't believe they have used these in many years, but would check older CCI primers with a magnet. They work find in .357s and .38s with strong actions and heavy trigger pulls producing 0.011 Cu indent, which S&W Model 10s, COlts and Rugers back in the day would do out of the box.
The "lead free" primers used in Speer Lawman range ammo are less sensitive, about like the Federal 200.
Federal 200 primers used to be identified as "Small Rifle and Magnum Pistol", having a 0.0185+0.0015/-0.000 base metal thickness of the primer cup, vs. 0.015" for the Federal 100. I use these in action testing because doing so is easier and cheaper than the government method. The gages are expensive and the coppers not sold to the gunsmith trade, being available only to the Government and its contractors. The last time I bought any the minimum order was 1000 copper at $1 each, and that was back in 1987!
The Federal 200 is similar in cup thickness, anvil point geometry and its "all-fire" vs. "none fire" drop ball test height as the military 9mm primer and US .30 Carbine primer. If you want to test your revolver action as to its suitability for defense carry using +P loads, just prime 100 sized cases with clean primer pockets with Federal 200s. Pop 100 of them. If you get a single misfire, repeat the test, accept on 1, reject on 2 in 200.
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia