I have been very lucky over the years with using the same brand of primers Federal 215 for mags and CCI 200 for non magnums but primers are getting hard to find and when I do they are sky high in price .A few years back I bought a guy out at a yard sell .I have 5000 mag primers in CCI ,Winchester and Remington and several thousand in standard in the same brands.Not ever having used any others I was wondering how much change in my loads can I expect
The effects of changing primers
- Thread starter Pa Grizz
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RockyMtnMT
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We will often make a primer swap to see if it will improve a load. The most drastic was a rife that had single digit es, everything looked like a perfect load, but it shot 5" at 200y. Made a primer swap and it went down to 1". I would never have believed it had I not seen it.
AkBirder300
Well-Known Member
This article is getting a little older but I still refer back to it for info on different primer brands. Ultimate large Rifle primer shootout
MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
For F-class load development, I always run the exact same components only changing primers side by side to see which performs best...and I try both standard and magnum primers within those tests regardless of cartridge. My 222 performs best with 748 and 205 magnum primers.
My 25-06's perform best with magnum primers as well.
It pays to test.
Cheers.
My 25-06's perform best with magnum primers as well.
It pays to test.
Cheers.
I was working up a load for my 300 wsm this past week with CCI 250s. I ran out of 250s on the bench while reloading and instead of walking to the next room and slapped some 215M's in the remaining brass. That little change cut my group size in half. So needless to say I'm running the 215s in that gun.
Several years ago I bought 4000 Federal 215 primers on sale at Long's Drug store in Anchorage. I have used nothing else in my 300 Win. Mag. I have some CCI and Winchester Large rifle magnum primers to try. I got a brick of each before this shortage started. Time to experiment. I think I will vacuum seal the old primer boxes for display- they still have to price tag on them. $7.35. They should be on display.
I should correct my last statement. I did try CCI Large rifle mag primers many years ago, but it had a negative effect on my groups. This rifle has had a new stock, trigger reworked and a Bartlain barrel installed since that time. I had just started working on a load with RL26 when it disappeared from the shelves. Just waiting to get more powder to experiment on primers.
Justice1327
Well-Known Member
Is there a certain amount of powder before you would use a magnum primer? Or is it a combination of a certain amount of powder and the type of powder i.e. ball versus stick? I've been reloading for 30+ years but just now starting to get into the science of it and long range shooting over the last 10 years. I am contemplating using magnum primer in my 280AI & 30-06AI
The standard rule of thumb is anything over 70 grains of powder or any ball powder needs Mag primers but I have found this not to be true in my personal experience
Stammster
Well-Known Member
^^^ I thought it was 60gr for Large Rifle? Or below 20degF.
So why do they even make a small rifle magnum primer?
So why do they even make a small rifle magnum primer?
The cups are harder so the dont Pierce.
Example 6.5 rem can be used in a hornet type case were as a 7.5 is typically used in a 223 style case and larger.
Years ago I had 6.5 piercing in a 222 mag after switching to 7.5 no problem.
I also start using mag primers in anything over 60.0 especially since its can be really cold in Montana during hunting season
