Famous CCI 450 vs CCI br4 debate

[MartyK2500]

A year ago when setting up my 6.5x47L I purchased 5000 CCI 450s, as it was popular.
I had got my 6.5 to get into steady 1/2-5/8 moa 10 shot strings at 200M, but never beating it like my 308 regularly has.

Fast forward to today, I know a local who would sell me 4000 CCI br4.

In your experience, has switching between 450 and br4 improved results by at least 1/8 moa or should I be looking to spend money/energy elsewhere for my improvements?

 

[MuthaFunk]

In my experience I've never seen the gains on paper that "Match" or "BR" primers have offered over regular ones. I'm not an F-class level shooter though. Still, I have done lots of shooting and load development at 200M and can't say I've seen a difference. I've played with Federal and CCI both.

I think it's simply matter of chancing your score card on possibly a bad primer getting through the QA or knowing in the end you did everything you can to eliminate the equipment as the fault.

I personally think the Match and Benchrest primers are more of a marketing thing. Agian, I don't compete in F-class so I can take that chance of getting a bad primer. That said, I can't say I've had any noticeably sub standard performance from Federal or CCI standard primers.

 

[Chilly807]

If the price is right, an extra 4000 quality primers is never a bad investment. Especially in today's climate.
The BR4's are good, I used them in my 6.5 CM for the first year, then switched to Federal 205 GMM for price and availability reasons.
My seat of the pants impression has been that the Federals aren't quite as consistent, but I don't have numbers to document that.