What are the softest pistol primers?

Which small pistol primers are the softest or will work best with guns that could benefit from a softer primer?

vmax said:

Which small pistol primers are the softest or will work best with guns that could benefit from a softer primer?

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I just had to even out the choices.

Back in the day when I was practicing all the time Federal had the softest. Then Remington, Winchester, the back of the bus was CCI. That was in the 80's. At a match we shot Federal factory ammo. 148gr HBWC. The others were not around then. At least not to my knowledge.

Dunno about soft, but Federal are the most sensitive.

CCI is hardest followed by Winchester, Federal and Remington about the same, haven't used any other brands. Have actually tested this by changing the tension on my S&W 19 mainspring. Have to have the screw all the way in to get CCI firing reliably.

Sam Colt said:

Dunno about soft, but Federal are the most sensitive.

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Will they cry if you yell at them?

Thank you for making this multiple choice so I could be helpful and a jerk at the same time.

SQLGeek said:

Thank you for making this multiple choice so I could be helpful and a jerk at the same time.

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Well...I have to cater to the large percentage of assholes on here...myself included of course!

I have never had a single failure of any pistol round I have ever loaded for any caliber I load for. In spite of brands used and striker vs hammer fired guns as well as small or large pistol, magnum or standard. That bring said, after plenty of research on the subject it is almost universally accepted that federals are the most sensitive.
Although it was not a pistol primer, I did get several pierced primers with a 2012 batch of wolf small rifle primers. They were also the only copper colored primers I've ever come across. Maybe a defective batch as the small rifle magnums from the same vendor were nickel/silver. They were pretty tame loads but several were pierced all the same.

Dealing with the rush on components lately I had to make due with some Remington 5-1/2 primers for my 9mm loads. They are the only magnum cup but non magnum ignition primers that I know of. At first I was concerned about them running through my striker guns reliably but after a couple hundred rounds through an x five without a hiccup I have full confidence in them.

I think you would have to have an extremely weak sprung gun to not regularly set off any primer but I can appreciate tailoring a load for a specific gun or purpose so pick one, load up and fire away.