reg. primers vs. mag. primers?

[josh]

I have only been handloading for a few years, so be gentle with me... When my brother was home visiting for x-mas he reloaded a bunch of ammo for his 308, the problem is, he mistakenly used magnum primers, I shot a few rounds, no signs of excess preasure, But he is all bent up about it! So I figure I'll ask the experts...what do ya think?

 

[WDSWIFT]

josh, Please don't take this as an endorsement for the use of magnum primers in just any situation. I have shot many different calibers reloaded with the magnum primers, and I know some reloaders who use only magnum primers with great success. In my opinion he lucked out in that this mistake was made on the 308 which in my experience is a pretty forgiving caliber. So bottom line I think as long as he wasn't at or over his maximum on powder, and he shows no signs of excessive pressure he may be ok.WD.

 

[deadeye2]

I agree with wds, if you are showing no presure signs you are most likely O.K. with this little boo, boo. One thing you might want to watch for is presure if the Tempreture goes up/down, like from 60 up 100, that will some times change things.
Be sfe, have fun!
deadeye2

 

[danr55]

Josh, Tell your brother to relax. Winchester large rifle primers burn hotter and longer than most magnum primers anyway. He should be OK. If the loads were hot anyway, he should shoot a couple and see what the cases look like. If he is using less that max loads, I wouldn't worry about it anyway.

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Dan AZ www.huntandlodge.com

 

[Chainsaw]

Josh, If your brother was using "ball type" powder, I wouldn't worry about it either. The only primers in magnum that I believe are hotter than most is the Federal 215, which gives very different results than, CCI 250, standard WLR, or Rem.9 1/2M. I haven't used WLR magnum primers and can't comment on them.

The powder I use are all ball type, H414, W748, AA2520 and surplus WC846. Magnum primers from CCI and Rem are used in 95% my loads with great results. We are in a cold climate, but I do shoot throughout year. Most of my loads are worked up during the cold weather months, so they match my hunting conditions.-------Chainsaw

 

[danr55]

Actually Chainsaw, I used to think the same thing until I read a study done in Shooting Times magazine. Rick Jameson had a setup that fired all of the major brand primers, then photographed the ignition, measured the burn time, etc. The results showed that Winchester LRM is the hottest and burned the longest of the lot. Next in descending order of magnitude were CCI, Federal, then Remington. The regular LR primers were pretty much the same. If I recall correctly, the Winchester LR primer burned hotter than both Federal and Remington mag primers. I believe that Federal's claim to fame is that they burn the most consistantly. Almost as consitant as a BR primer.

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Dan AZ www.huntandlodge.com

 

[Chainsaw]

danr, I just read some thing by Craig Boddington, and he found Federals to be hotter than most in that article. I found in my reloading that CCI 250 and Remington 9 1/2 M almost interchangeable. Federal gave very different points of impact. I used to use only WLR primers until the "shortage" some years back when all I could buy was Rem 9 1/2 M primers. Switched my 06 to these primers and the group closed up and POI dropped 1 1/4". The little woman was at a sporting goods store that had a closeout on CCI 250's at $11.00 per M, and bought 3000, so I have used the Rem and CCI almost exclusively and have a few Fed and WLR on hand if I need to "try something different" With Winchester using most ball powder in there factory it would make sense that they need a hot primer to ignite it.

The place where I buy most of my supplies really pushes WLR and Fed. They claim they are the most consistent. Thanks danr for the update. It is hard to argue with Jameson. I will see if I can reference the article I read, and see if I read it incorrectly---------Chainsaw