Federal Primer Packaging - WTF

NewBeige

NewBeige

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I’m running out of room in my safes….

So I have read the fire prevention education stuff that says to always store primers in the original packaging.

I am lucky to have 5k Federal SPP on their way to me and as excited as I am, I am dreading making room for the huge amount of space they are going to take up in my safe. The difference in the CCI and federal packaging is worth a marketing dissertation but I digress… So far:
Option 1 is to load them asap for bulk storage ammo.
Option 2 is to cut the packaging down and vac seal them in groups of three or four hundred still in trays but with the tall edges cut off (a normal reloading session worth)
Option 3 is to start reloading with CCI ASAP and save the white plastic trays and transfer the Federals over to CCI trays and then vac seal them for longer storage.

Has anyone got any clever ideas that don’t tempt fate?
Anyone have a stock of CCI trays? I never would have thrown one out if I had foreseen this coming lol
 
What in the flying f*** are you storing primers in your safe for? I realize theyre unicorn tears these days but jesus christ.... [rofl]

I used to take the flats out and stack them in layers in big ammo cans and throw the thing in a filing cabinet. The ammo cans did well to keep moisture out.
 
NewBeige said:
Has anyone got any clever ideas that don’t tempt fate?
Click to expand...
I store mine in a 16"Dx24"Wx15"H particle board kitchen wall cabinet that I bought off Amazon for $43+tax for the purpose. Cheapest one I could find at the time. No longer available. LOL. What a piece of crap. I pity the poor fool that actually used that in a kitchen. Just sits on the floor next to my reloading table. Put a hasp on it and a combination lock to meet the "locked-up" requirement. I have my 9,999 primers on the top shelf. The bottom has about 3K rounds of 9mm and 38 special reloads stacked up in ziploc bags.

Modern primer compounds don't absorb moisture from the air, so the cabinet is fine, but I store my 16# of powder separately in large MTM plastic ammo crates (with silica gel packs) with TSA-style combination locks. They have gaskets. Not sure how many federal primer boxes would fit in one of those. Several.
 
drgrant said:
What in the flying f*** are you storing primers in your safe for? I realize theyre unicorn tears these days but jesus christ.... [rofl]

I used to take the flats out and stack them in layers in big ammo cans and throw the thing in a filing cabinet. The ammo cans did well to keep moisture out.
Click to expand...
Sorry, when I say safe, I mean Stack On storage cabinet. I don’t own a “safe”. I’m not old enough yet.

Keeping ammo in anything more expensive than the steel cabinets that they sell at tractor supply is a waste of money. I get that.

Federal’s packaging is also a waste of that cabinet space. Whether it’s a safe, a storage locker, a kitchen cabinet or an ammo can with a lock, 10k of primers in Federal’s packaging is a ludicrous amount of space for primers.
 
NewBeige said:
I’m running out of room in my safes….

So I have read the fire prevention education stuff that says to always store primers in the original packaging.

I am lucky to have 5k Federal SPP on their way to me and as excited as I am, I am dreading making room for the huge amount of space they are going to take up in my safe. The difference in the CCI and federal packaging is worth a marketing dissertation but I digress… So far:
Option 1 is to load them asap for bulk storage ammo.
Option 2 is to cut the packaging down and vac seal them in groups of three or four hundred still in trays but with the tall edges cut off (a normal reloading session worth)
Option 3 is to start reloading with CCI ASAP and save the white plastic trays and transfer the Federals over to CCI trays and then vac seal them for longer storage.

Has anyone got any clever ideas that don’t tempt fate?
Anyone have a stock of CCI trays? I never would have thrown one out if I had foreseen this coming lol
Click to expand...
Trade them for other brand in the classifieds. That’s what I did when I got 5k Federals last month.

Did you buy a case from targetsports? If you didn’t, don’t post the name here. Just curious as I haven’t seen cases of federal SPP aside from TSUSA and the other vendor I bought from last month.
 
NewBeige said:
I’m running out of room in my safes….

So I have read the fire prevention education stuff that says to always store primers in the original packaging.

I am lucky to have 5k Federal SPP on their way to me and as excited as I am, I am dreading making room for the huge amount of space they are going to take up in my safe. The difference in the CCI and federal packaging is worth a marketing dissertation but I digress… So far:
Option 1 is to load them asap for bulk storage ammo.
Option 2 is to cut the packaging down and vac seal them in groups of three or four hundred still in trays but with the tall edges cut off (a normal reloading session worth)
Option 3 is to start reloading with CCI ASAP and save the white plastic trays and transfer the Federals over to CCI trays and then vac seal them for longer storage.

Has anyone got any clever ideas that don’t tempt fate?
Anyone have a stock of CCI trays? I never would have thrown one out if I had foreseen this coming lol
Click to expand...
IMG_0979.jpg
 
NewBeige said:
I’m running out of room in my safes….

So I have read the fire prevention education stuff that says to always store primers in the original packaging.

I am lucky to have 5k Federal SPP on their way to me and as excited as I am, I am dreading making room for the huge amount of space they are going to take up in my safe. The difference in the CCI and federal packaging is worth a marketing dissertation but I digress… So far:
Option 1 is to load them asap for bulk storage ammo.
Option 2 is to cut the packaging down and vac seal them in groups of three or four hundred still in trays but with the tall edges cut off (a normal reloading session worth)
Option 3 is to start reloading with CCI ASAP and save the white plastic trays and transfer the Federals over to CCI trays and then vac seal them for longer storage.

Has anyone got any clever ideas that don’t tempt fate?
Anyone have a stock of CCI trays? I never would have thrown one out if I had foreseen this coming lol
Click to expand...
Dude, the reason for the bulky packaging is the Federal primers are very sensitive compared to all others on the market. Thats why revolver shooters use them. They space them apart to prevent a mass detonation.
 
Federal must be packaged that way for a reason. Replacing them in CCI packaging is a bad idea not to mention a tedious mess. I’ll trade you even up a thousand CCI I have for Federals.
 
I don't think Federals need to be packaged any differently than CCI. Their alleged "sensitivity" is a function of the hardness and thickness of the metal. If that's really a factor, then Federal's packaging isn't going to solve the problem. CCI's packaging would be fine.

There's nothing about Federal's packaging that's really better, IMHO. They take up more storage space, it's more work to get the primers oriented the same way in a loading tray, and the squares don't fit completely inside some circular hand-primer loading trays. Having said all that, the Federal storage trays do fit in my hand primer's tray. Getting the primers oriented with a shake and few pushes is like 3-5 seconds of extra attention, which I might have to do with a CCI tray anyway if it's been mishandled, and the Federal boxes don't take up enough space for me to give a sh*t about that one way or the other.
 
For those of you who are so distressed about the Federal packaging, I’ll happily trade Tula SPP or SRP straight up for Federal SPP, SRP, LPP or LRP. Nice small packaging! Got a bunch. Just PM me.
 
shootymacshootface said:
Dude, the reason for the bulky packaging is the Federal primers are very sensitive compared to all others on the market. Thats why revolver shooters use them. They space them apart to prevent a mass detonation.
Click to expand...
So I assume you are a NO vote for that photo above w the loose primers in the Tupperware lol

It sucks to say but for the foreseeable future these primers are not going to get any easier to come by in large quantities for cheap. As many of you have told me: “Stack em Deep” and given that they are available now, from time to time, if you get lucky… It’s probably time to restock, even at the premium price you’ll pay today.

The way I’m seeing it: Russian primers are off market for foreseeable future. Russian steel case ammo supply will have to be replaced by brass ammo w primers that are competing with our domestic primer supply for ammo and reloaders. And there is a chance we are about to see a small hoard of new patriots, many of whom voted for Brandon and watch MSNBC, and are interested in getting into guns after seeing Ukraine get walked into defenseless. (This last one sounds like a long shot, but I’d put a few bucks on it happening)
 
The massive packaging that Fed primers come in was their answer to Haz Mat shipping regs.
Thats all there is to it.
Not extra sensitive, not made of gold, its some interns idea of what carriers want.
If they were as sensitive as every housewife thinks, then they'd show up in a wooden crate inside a blast cabinet, or not al all. Nor would they be stored (or shipped) in the same warehouse or truck as super-extra nuclear grade gunpowder like Titegroup.
 
TrashcanDan said:
The massive packaging that Fed primers come in was their answer to Haz Mat shipping regs.
Thats all there is to it.
Not extra sensitive, not made of gold, its some interns idea of what carriers want.
If they were as sensitive as every housewife thinks, then they'd show up in a wooden crate inside a blast cabinet, or not al all. Nor would they be stored (or shipped) in the same warehouse or truck as super-extra nuclear grade gunpowder like Titegroup.
Click to expand...

Pretty much.

Although I do believe that the Federal primers are slightly softer than the CCI - and if you're running a lightened revolver, (springs changed so that hammer force is less), I'd load the rounds with Federal.

I keep a "tupperware" box of loose primers on my bench and load my primer tubes from it. It's not going to be subjected to any impact, nor to any flame. The mysterious gnomes and elves that pick up loaded guns and make them go boom all by themselves have been banned from my garage - so I'm not worried about them coming around and shaking the box until it goes boom.

I would NOT put that plastic container full of primers in my truck and go for a ride; but it's perfectly safe sitting there on my bench.

storage is not the same as shipping; and the requirements are different.
 
Last edited:
allen-1 said:
I would NOT put that plastic container full of primers in my truck and go for a ride; but it's perfectly safe sitting there on my bench.
Click to expand...
So I take it you are also ok with the Tupperware dropping from your bench and hitting the floor and either A) having them scatter or B) having them contained in a small space bouncing around for a second. Just curious.
 
NewBeige said:
So I take it you are also ok with the Tupperware dropping from your bench and hitting the floor and either A) having them scatter or B) having them contained in a small space bouncing around for a second. Just curious.
Click to expand...

That's not gonna happen. It's a 3 x 8 workbench, they're nowhere near the edge and I'm not clumsy.
You're doing the "NES pants shitting thing".
 
LMAO

Warning when looking at these pics of primers, they are not for pant sh*tters. If you are a pant sh*tter, I suggest you dont look at the pic or wear some depends.

Several trays like these in one box.

This is more efficient than CCI or Federal.

20210901_154252.jpg

20210901_143132.jpg

PS - these primers are as soft as Federal. My revolver that only shoots Federal reliably shot 100 out of 100 of these primers as a test.

I think they are hotter than Federal because I see sparks when using these.
 
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