Below I have dismantled some factory Blazer Ammo and compared the primers to standard #500 CCi small pistol. Blazer is owned by CCi, the box says “CCi” primers, so I was surprised to find that the aftermarket primers are nothing like those found in Factory ammo.
These were struck with a Bersa Firestorm (aka California Thunder, California Blunder, Thunder Blunder, the Soft-hit monkey…..). No powder or projectile. Testing purposes only.
The two on the left are straight out of a box of Blazer, knocked down, resized, pressed, and struck. The two on the right are the same range brass, but packed with no. 500 aftermarket CCI primers, using the same process.
There is a true night and day difference! The factory-loaded CCi primers totally deformed, they much be must softer or thinner material! …. The aftermarket primers show no sign of deformation… but they DID light off, that is NOT a soft hit. Wow.
- The aftermarket primers are probably harder/thicker to be less likely to light off in a DIY press eh?
- No doubt the robots at CCi can press much more sensitive primers without freckling their face
The video above shows that the CCi (or WHATEVER) primers shipping in Blazer (a CCi company) are 112mils tall while the aftermarket are 118mils tall. 5 or 6 thousandths seems like a lot to me. Turns out it was!
Totally different primer in every way. I suppose other people already knew this (I have been told), but I am just proving it for myself now. I never really took the time to observe the difference.
Well…. There you go. PRIMERS ARE NOT PRIMERS ARE NOT PRIMERS….
When you shoot a piece of shit, unreliable gun.
- It shoots very straight
- It fits my hand very well
- It is very light
- I feel very little recoil
- It racks easy enough
- Its small
- It comes back on target FAST
- ….
I like everything about the Bersa Firestrom except:
- It is totally and completely unreliable (at least mine)
- It can only shoot CCi primers (for WHATEVER reason…)
- The double action / single action transition throws you WAY off
- The decocker makes me nervous as hell – claptrap
- The magazine interlock is obnoxious (you can remove it*)
- My hammer pin was set so tight that I had to BEAT it out
- There is not even a manual posted for it (that I could find)
- Parts fly everywhere when you disassemble the slide
WHICH YOU HAVE TO DO, ELSE IT WONT FIRE, LOL
… Meh, no sense complaining anymore. The gun will be used for teaching kids and blind ladies how to shoot. Its a perfect training gun for all ages.
- Shoots as easy and accurate as can be
- Breaks often enough to be interesting
-Schindler