Primer primers primers ???????????

WestIslandRifle

WestIslandRifle

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Well I have another question to ask youse.
What kind of primers are you using for your 308 reloads here's what I got so far
Hornady cases
Imr3031 powder
168 Hornady bthp match and some sierras too ( got about 500 brass and projectiles for free today with dies
But I'm not sure which primers to go with Winchester ? CCI ? Federal? Seller and ballot
Right now I use Winchester LP for my 45's and federal SP for my 9mm but I have never done any rifle rounds before ! What are you guys using . Thanks in advance
 
I use CCI BR2's. My Dad used them, I inherited his stuff, so I've stuck with them. I use CCI small pistol primers for my .38 S&W and my Shadow as well.
 
I use CCI for everything, but sticking with a brand is more important than the brand itself. The only thing to note is that Federal primers are significantly softer than the rest and are not recommended for use in semi-auto rifles due to the danger of slam fires occurring.

If you jump around in brands you have to re-develop the load every time, which becomes a PITA. I say buy a stock of whatever brand you like, develop a load with it and then shoot until they're gone.


Mark
 
WestIslandRifle said:
I'm planning to shoot these out of a semi auto so I guess federal is out of the question
The CCI br-2's are those like the fed gold medal primers
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BR-2's are benchrest primers, subject to higher levels of QC and priced accordingly. If that .308 semi auto is an M-14 clone, I would suggest CCI primers as they are the hardest of the group. CCI also makes a military primer (not sure of the designation) that has an extra hard primer cup to minimize slam fire issues, but it is harder to find and not required from what I can see. I have shot lots of 30-06 out of my Garand using regular CCI 200's without any issues and expect to continue that in the future.


Mark
 
I'm just getting started, I just bought 1000 CCI 200 Large Rifle primers. I didn't know there was that big of a difference in primers, I knew some were softer then others but not that big of a difference. Glad to see that these should work for my application.
 
mmattockx said:
I use CCI for everything, but sticking with a brand is more important than the brand itself. The only thing to note is that Federal primers are significantly softer than the rest and are not recommended for use in semi-auto rifles due to the danger of slam fires occurring.

If you jump around in brands you have to re-develop the load every time, which becomes a PITA. I say buy a stock of whatever brand you like, develop a load with it and then shoot until they're gone.


Mark
Click to expand...

mmattockx

Forgive me for being forward, your only partially correct about Federial primers, I load for the M1 Garand and two AR15 rifles where slamfires are possible. Any small rifle primer with a primer cup thickness of .025 is more than safe with the AR15. And as you can see below the large rifle primers all have the same cup thickness of .027 and safe to use in semi-auto rifles.

Slam fires occurred in early military ammunition for the M14 and M16 rifles when the magazine was removed and a single round was loaded in the chamber and the bolt allowed to slam home. With the magazine in place and feeding the rifle, the bolt speed and firing pin inertia are reduced. The military cured this slam fire problem by using thicker primer cups and making the firing pins lighter.



Also the military requirement is to have the primers seated .008 below the surface of the rear of the case. The majority of slam fires are caused by using thinner primer cups and primers not seated properly. (high primers)



Again forgive me, but this rumor started about Federal because people were reloading the small rifle 200 primers that have thinner cups in their AR15 rifles. I'm 62 years old and I have shot cases of the Federal military ammunition like pictured below and I have never had a slam fire in my entire life. The ammunition used by the U.S military has mil-spec requirements and Federal would not be allowed to make it for the military if it had a slam fire problem. ATK owns Federal and ATK has the contract to produce ammunition at the Army's Lake City ammunition plant, and you don't keep a military contract by making bad ammunition.

 
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btw, CCI stands for Cascade Cartridge, Inc. I found this bit of trivia in "Pistols- A Modern Encyclopedia" by Henry M. Stebbins, published 1961, in the chapter titled "Basic Handloading".
A very good book indeed.
 
Here in the U.S. right now your lucky to find reloading components on a regular basis, meaning able to keep using the same type and brand of anything. Below is a link to a primer test of large rifle primers by a well known competitive rifle shooter, take a look at the primer flash photos of the different primers.

Primers - Large Rifle Primer Study
A Match Primer Study in the 30-06 Cartridge
By Germán A. Salazar
http://riflemansjournal.########.com/2009/06/primers-large-rifle-primer-study.html

As a side note the newest Hornady reloading manual for the .308 lists using Federal 210 for a bolt action rifle and Winchester WLR primers for the Service Rifle loads for the M1A.
 
coleman1495 said:
I like CCI just cause the boxes are like half the size so that makes storage a little easier
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Now this ^^^ makes sense. I currently use CCI SR for AR 15 and small pistol. If I were a BR or LR shooter I'd pay up for QC, and hoard for consistency, but otherwise primer lore is largely lost on me. I've used Win, Federal, & CCI without any problems whatsoever. Hell, I've never even blown up a Lee priming tool by using Federal primers in it. Anyhow, if you're a fairly pedestrian shooter like myself, just lay in a decent supply of the cheapest LR primers you can find and shoot em.
 
Primers are pretty much primers when it comes to the "big three" of Winchester, Federal, and CCI. I tend to buy whichever brand is available at the best price. I'm not a fan of Federal's packaging, which is literally twice as bulky as anyone else's, but I will buy them if that's what's on the shelf.

It is interesting that ATK makes both what are considered the hardest (CCI) and softest (Federal) primers.
 
Rifle primers seems to work consistently through the different brands.

Pistols is a whole different matter.
 
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