.223 magnum primers

[slicer55]

Hi Just about to start loading some .223 remington shells and all they had were magmun primers when I was buying everything. How much difference are they going to make. Probably going to start with 26 grains of BL-C(2).

 

[Gatehouse]

Will they fit into your primer pockets? Most magnum primers are the large rifle variety, I've never seen magnum small rifle primers

 

[mike shickele]

CCI 450 small rifle magnum primers are what I have always used for 223. Using BL-C2 you should be using a magnum cap anyways.
Mike

 

[Tick]

Small Rifle Magnum Primers

I have a very accurate 223 load with BLC-2 and CCI 450 small rifle magnim primers.

 

[t-star]

Will they fit into your primer pockets? Most magnum primers are the large rifle variety, I've never seen magnum small rifle primers

cci 450 small rifle MAGNUM primers- small rifle are 400

 

[CyaN1de]

I have used the 450's in my .223 as well....I ended up with same load as BR4 primers, but work your way up just in case.

 

[Fassteel]

Have we confirmed that this new reloader bought SM rifle magnum primers? FS

 

[Win Shooter]

One manual I have states you should only use magnum small rifle primers in .22 center fire such as Rem .223 to prevent piercing and bolt face erosion, they are thicker I presume and able to withstand the pressures. They went on to say that the federal 205M was designed for this purpose, though I prefer CCI 450.

 

[maynard]

My Federal 205M are Match primer, not Magnum primers.

 

[Win Shooter]

O.K., fair enough I mean 205 SM rifle Mag.

 

[slicer55]

Cci 450

CCI 450 are the primers I bought. Thanks for the info guys

 

[slicer55]

Thanks guys. CCI 450 is what I purchased

 

[Gatehouse]

Ahh..I don't use many CCI primers, and never looked to see if Federal makes small rifle magnums. Learn something new every day

 

[Scott_N]

Actually you probably made a good primer choice if you're going to be using BLC2 since it is a ball powder.

 

[mike shickele]

I'm awaiting delivery of my third (and hopefully final) 223, and one of the powders that I plan to use in it is ww735, which is a bulk powder from Higgsons. This powder will probably make the use of magnum caps mandatory, especially on coyotes in the winter.
Mike

 

[MailleMas]

Hmm, I just bought 200 winchester small rifle primers for my .223, should I try to trade them off on mag. primers? I have a friend that loads 30grs BL-C(2) in his .204 with reg. SM primers to no ill effect.

 

[mike shickele]

Hmm, I just bought 200 winchester small rifle primers for my .223, should I try to trade them off on mag. primers? I have a friend that loads 30grs BL-C(2) in his .204 with reg. SM primers to no ill effect.

If he can do so, that's great, but has he tried them in the cold weather? What are the velocity variations. The companies that make primers and powder recommend magnum primers with ball powders for a reason, You may want to get some stick powder to use with those primers as most companies won't take back reloading supplies once they've been sold. That gives you yet another reason to experiment in any case.
Mike

 

[MailleMas]

Fair enough mike. He has used them in all weather (hunting coyotes in winter and gophers in the summer). We just chrony'd some today actually and found that 30grs pushed that little pill to about 3960fps. A good 300fps jump from 29.5. Unfortunately we just picked up the chrony so don't really know much about consistency just yet.

BTW, what is the difference between mag. and reg. primers?

 

[mike shickele]

I believe that with the RCBS small rifle primers, the magnum primers burn a little longer. One side note for regular primers that I didn't write last night, perhaps because I was tired; I would suspect that the winchester small rifle primers may be stiff enough for ball powders, as they would be making them for their own powders.
Mike

 

[sunray]

"...magnum primers burn a little longer..." And a bit hotter. They're made to light hard to ignite powders and for cold weather shooting. You don't need 'em for .223 loads, but they won't hurt anything. If you work up a load with them and then buy regular primers, you'll have to work up the load again.
"...they are thicker..." Nope. Same cup as a regular primer.
"...Most magnum primers are the large rifle variety..." Nope. There are small rifle and both large and small pistol magnum primers.
"...going to start with 26 grains of BL-C(2)..." Your manual will tell you what to start with. 26 grains is the starting load for a 50 and 53 grain bullet, but not a 55 grain bullet.