Lee Loader

Good day All. I have been using almost exclusively CCI primers for pistol and rifle rounds. I have used Federal LRP in the hand-held Auto-Prime with no issues. However, I have just acquired eight boxes of Federal No. 100 Small Pistol Primers (red box - not sure how old they may be) and am nervous about using them in my newly-acquired Pro-1000.
The press has been working fine and has not upset any primers since I made sure that the priming area was cleaned out and kept clean. I therefore see no reason why the Federal primers should not feed as well as the CCI. If that is the case, and I take care not to force any primers, are there any residual reasons why I shouldn't just get on with life and carry on loading using Federal primers in the progressive press? The thought of having my fingers blown off does not appeal, but surely the Federal primers cannot be so sensitive that they are truly "dangerous"? Or are they?
EDIT.... Well, I posted this in the wrong place I think. Anyhow, to hell with it.... just loaded 50 rounds of .38 and a couple of issues. All was going well but then had a couple of distorted primers then a jam. The Federals seat deeper than the CCIs, the former having a height of 0.1165" and the latter 0.1215". Perhaps this leads to a feeding issue, with the Federals more prone to tipping slightly when deposited onto the priming ram? I think I'll stick with the CCIs on the Pro-1000 and use up the Federals with the hand primer. Just a bit disappointed to find that there does seem to be an issue of sorts with the Federals!

severnsider wrote:All was going well but then had a couple of distorted primers then a jam. The Federals seat deeper than the CCIs, the former having a height of 0.1165" and the latter 0.1215". Perhaps this leads to a feeding issue, with the Federals more prone to tipping slightly when deposited onto the priming ram? I think I'll stick with the CCIs on the Pro-1000 and use up the Federals with the hand primer. Just a bit disappointed to find that there does seem to be an issue of sorts with the Federals!

You bring up a good point. I wonder if a slight adjustment needs to be made to the press for the slight difference in height of the primer? The difference seems nill, but maybe not to the Load-Master.

I'm running Federal primers with my 45 Auto press without issue, but I haven't changed from one brand to the other. The press was set up with them. Everything else I shoot is CCI.

Ranch Dog wrote:

severnsider wrote:All was going well but then had a couple of distorted primers then a jam. The Federals seat deeper than the CCIs, the former having a height of 0.1165" and the latter 0.1215". Perhaps this leads to a feeding issue, with the Federals more prone to tipping slightly when deposited onto the priming ram? I think I'll stick with the CCIs on the Pro-1000 and use up the Federals with the hand primer. Just a bit disappointed to find that there does seem to be an issue of sorts with the Federals!

You bring up a good point. I wonder if a slight adjustment needs to be made to the press for the slight difference in height of the primer? The difference seems nill, but maybe not to the Load-Master.

I'm running Federal primers with my 45 Auto press without issue, but I haven't changed from one brand to the other. The press was set up with them. Everything else I shoot is CCI.

Hmmmm....... not sure whether there is much opportunity to make an adjustment. This is on a new Pro-1000 (sorry that I posted this in the Loadmaster section by mistake). I gather that the older models did not have this little mechanism (which prevents a primer from being slid onto the priming ram if no case is present in the shellholder) so each pull of the handle on the old model would raise a primer with no feed issues.
I suppose I was wondering whether the introduction of this mechanism may have been the reason for Lee's insistence that only CCI or Remington primers should be used?

severnsider wrote: Hmmmm....... not sure whether there is much opportunity to make an adjustment. This is on a new Pro-1000 (sorry that I posted this in the Loadmaster section by mistake). I gather that the older models did not have this little mechanism (which prevents a primer from being slid onto the priming ram if no case is present in the shellholder) so each pull of the handle on the old model would raise a primer with no feed issues.
I suppose I was wondering whether the introduction of this mechanism may have been the reason for Lee's insistence that only CCI or Remington primers should be used?

With no adjustment, it very well could be the recommendation is based on their height. Anyone have both CCI and Remington primers?

I will split this into a Pro 1000 topic.

Lee doesn't like Federal primers because they're too hot, too sensitive, and too inconsistent according to what I've read of their opinion.

GasGuzzler wrote:Lee doesn't like Federal primers because they're too hot, too sensitive, and too inconsistent according to what I've read of their opinion.

Well, I don't know about that, but it looks to me now that there's sufficient difference in height between the CCIs and the Federals that the Federals are able to just slip onto the priming post even when it's in the slightly raised (i.e. no case present) position. I've ordered a replacement primer trough just in case I may have inadvertently damaged the original during one of the jams. The lady who I spoke to at Lee was very helpful!

Agree with dealing with Lee, very helpful. I use CCI and Federal exclusively. The Federal were for reloading .38 Special in a spring tuned 686 so I had to use them. Availability is everything where I live. Last year Federal could not be found so I used CCI for .45 cap, 9mm and 357. Now Federal are back so I use both with no issue. The Priming die station is always worth keeping an eye on and I’ve given up trying to guess WHY. I just clear it and carry on using Federal and CCI primers. Every serious revolver shooter who has tuned their revolver uses Federal . I never understood Lees recommendation not to use them.

GasGuzzler wrote:Lee doesn't like Federal primers because they're too hot, too sensitive, and too inconsistent according to what I've read of their opinion.

Back in the dark ages (early 90s) when I was starting in black powder cartridge most of the local shooter swore by Federal LRM primers because they were "hotter" than all the others. Federals were hard to get at the time but I was finally able to get one sleeve of them. I ran two ten shot strings over the screens and didn't see a noticeable difference. I use magnum primers in both my 40-65 and 45-70 BP loads due to the compressed charge but I use CCIs.

Make smoke,