In addition to the comments I made in my post on the subject of "Evolution of the e-caller" as posted by nhcrowshooter, I have a pic of a box of Alcan 220 Max-Fire primers to show. Bob A. suggested that the Alcan Company also made shotgun shell primers, in addition to powder, shotgun shells, wads, and maybe other reloading components. Bob is correct...yes Alcan did make, or at least sell primers. Attached is a pic of a primitive box of them that I have had since about 1973.
Note that the box reads "Alcan, Manufactured in the USA by Smith & Wesson-Fiocchi, Inc. Alton, Ill. I don't know what the business arrangement between those companies was.
If memory serves me right the Alcan primers were a soft primer so you never got any duds.
I have been buying my shotgun ammo new for the last 10 years or so and once in a while I get in to a bad lot of ammo! This is when you get anywhere from one to three duds per box! This is why I never buy just one lot of ammo.
I don't know about soft but they are normally considered to have been pretty hot primers---like hotter than current Fed 209 or CCI mag. I've still got a few thousand of them sitting around
