Rumor behind Federal primer packaging

[TC260]

Having worked in retail at one time I just figured it was a marketing thing, bigger package, more visible on the shelf.

 

[FloridaAKM]

Only my vacuum cleaner & firing pins will set off any primers. If the primers are Russian made, all bets are off as they will detonate when installing them @ a rate of 1 detonation per every 100 primers installed.

Having the primers detonate in the shipping package is something I have never heard of.

 

[PhilC]

I could dig through my old Precision shooting mags, but that just ends up with me wasting a day reading old articles while forgetting what I was looking for. WH

Guilty! Old shooting, cars, airplanes, & boating mags every time.

 

[jds holler]

Can't be a marketing incentive. Most of us would buy ANY other primer than Federal, just to avoid their huge, stupid, awkward, packaging. jd

 

[divingin]

Not likely, I've dropped a lot of them and never had one go off.....

Cases? Or single primers?

I heard the same rumor as the OP. According to the rumor, they were fined, and decided to go overboard with the packaging safety to avoid a recurrence. No idea if it's true or not.

I recently loaded a bunch of old packaged CCI primers, which had rows of 10 primers on edge in 10-wide channels separated from the next row by a thin piece of plastic. I could see that causing problems. Very space efficient compared to newer packaging though.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Only my vacuum cleaner & firing pins will set off any primers. If the primers are Russian made, all bets are off as they will detonate when installing them @ a rate of 1 detonation per every 100 primers installed.

Having the primers detonate in the shipping package is something I have never heard of.

I hope not I bought 30,000 of them years ago. Seated 20 for the first time the other day.
I guess I haven't hit my quota yet.

 

[cp generation]

They package them like that so when you are trying to get them out of the package they fall all over the floor!!!

 

[dthomas]

Can't be a marketing incentive. Most of us would buy ANY other primer than Federal, just to avoid their huge, stupid, awkward, packaging. jd

That's the reason I use cci. I would test federal primers but don't want to deal with storing them in bulk. And I get the precision i need from cci.

 

[Dave Way]

I like the packaging. Without one primer able to touch another, it may not help, but it certainly can’t hurt either.

In the end what matters to me is how well they perform on paper. I have never once thought “I’m not buying federal primers because they take up too much space”!

Dave.

 

[Laurie]

If the primers are Russian made, all bets are off as they will detonate when installing them @ a rate of 1 detonation per every 100 primers installed.

I've seated many 10s of thousands Russian primers since the 1990s and never suffered this. I know many others who used them (under various brand names) for years until Russian imports were banned and none of these people ever had an occurrence. I worked for the sole UK importer / distributor of PMC ammunition / components back at the turn of the century - PMC brand primers were made for this Korean/US company by Murom which makes all Russkie primers - and we never had a single example of feedback of this from dealers and shooters nationwide.

Never seen it mentioned on this forum either prior to today!

On packaging, S&B primers sold in Europe came loose in little flat sided drums until 10, maybe 15 years ago. You had to crack the drum halves with fingernails to get the lid off and risked spilling the primers over the floor. This was many years after all US packaged caps were packed in segmented trays. Small primers came as 250 per container, large were less, but I can't remember the number now, maybe 150 (?).

 

[TxBowHunter409]

Truck driver killed in explosion at Illinois ammunition plant

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is investigating the death of a truck driver at an ammunition plant in Madison County, Illinois, on Thursday.

cdllife.com

 

[jds holler]

They package them like that so when you are trying to get them out of the package they fall all over the floor!!!

Been there, done that. That tricky little "spill prevention flap" on the back of the box, has spilled more primers than they ever might have imagined. The engineer who designed it prolly works for Boeing now. jd

 

[jds holler]

I like the packaging. Without one primer able to touch another, it may not help, but it certainly can’t hurt either.

In the end what matters to me is how well they perform on paper. I have never once thought “I’m not buying federal primers because they take up too much space”!

Dave.

You must have more space than I do -- or less primers! jd

 

[Murray Brook]

He said with a grin...

"While wiping his chin"

 

[TC260]

Never seen it mentioned on this forum either prior to today!

Same here, I'm still burning through Russian primers from 2010 when Wideners was selling them for $13/1k. Never a single problem other than not being able to get them anymore.

 

[ebb]

Putin ain't helping that one little bit.

 

[Preacher]

Cases? Or single primers?

I heard the same rumor as the OP. According to the rumor, they were fined, and decided to go overboard with the packaging safety to avoid a recurrence. No idea if it's true or not.

I recently loaded a bunch of old packaged CCI primers, which had rows of 10 primers on edge in 10-wide channels separated from the next row by a thin piece of plastic. I could see that causing problems. Very space efficient compared to newer packaging though.

Case's..

 

[Tommie]

Can't be a marketing incentive. Most of us would buy ANY other primer than Federal, just to avoid their huge, stupid, awkward, packaging. jd

Totally!
I haven’t spent a penny on Federal primers in a couple decades and likely never will. My fear is working up a load with those primers and then being married to Federal.

Worst packaging ever.

 

[Fire Dog]

Cases? Or single primers?

I heard the same rumor as the OP. According to the rumor, they were fined, and decided to go overboard with the packaging safety to avoid a recurrence. No idea if it's true or not.

I recently loaded a bunch of old packaged CCI primers, which had rows of 10 primers on edge in 10-wide channels separated from the next row by a thin piece of plastic. I could see that causing problems. Very space efficient compared to newer packaging though.

I have been using up some Very old Remington primers that are packed in the same way. Ten on edge in ten rows, very efficient and compact and still going “Bang” after 40 years! Only for my 30-06 Springfield used for Military competition and with my old eyes at 100 there is not going to be much issue if the SD varies a bit… Saying that, the SD is in the 8-12 range…. Just wish I could still buy them for the $12 price tag on the carton…

 

[Fire Dog]

Totally!
I haven’t spent a penny on Federal primers in a couple decades and likely never will. My fear is working up a load with those primers and then being married to Federal.

Worst packaging ever.

You could always get a “Quicky” divorce in Vegas….