Primers is it safe?

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Davidkjs1

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I am very new to reloading. In fact just started in the fall. so far I have only loaded for one caliber. 7mm rem mag. I made up quite a few rounds and was always running out of primers so I eventually bought a carton of 1000 Large rifle magnum primers. I made up about 500 rounds of 7mm and now would like to start making my own 22-250. I was wondering if it would be safe to use the large rifle magnum primers in 22-250. I have read in my manual and there is no mention of whether or not it will be ok. I have looked on google and asked reloaders I know, and got mixed results from too fast burn on ignition to too much pressure. Some say it's ok if you start with reduced powder loads to compensate for extra pressures. and some say it will make absolutely no difference except the added cost and some say it is best and advised if I will be shooting in winter. I do most of my shooting with this rifle in -15°C to -30°C. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance
 
Shooting in that temperature would only benefit from a hotter primer.

Do your usual load work up and watch for pressure signs as you increase powder charge.

When "experimenting" I look through as many manual/resources as I can, start with the lowest charge I find and work up from there.

Some powders recommend a hotter primer even in non-magnum chamberings.

Remember, magnum is only a nameplate.
 
Short answer- You can use them, just work up. You may find you don't get to max listed powder charge, but you might not see any difference.

Real answer- A LR primer is more suitable

Bottom line- If all I had were magnum primers I would use them and work up, but I have lots of LR primers and they are readily available so no reason not to use them.
 
Best load in my 22/250 uses H-380. With this load I use a Rem 9 1/2 M primer. Works great. In fact many sources recommend a mag primer when using ball powders, H 414 WW 760 etc.
 
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Primers come in cases of 5,000. Don't dink around with onezies and twozies.

Buy a case of large magnum primers and carry on exactly as normal. Start with the Start load, work up and find what works well.
 
Ganderite tells it true and from decades of being in the business knows what he is talking about.

For my part, I don't use anything but magnum primers. Much more consistent loads under all conditions.

For those lucky enough to be able to get Remington primers good for you. I haven't been able to find a source in Canada for years.
 
bearhunter said:
Ganderite tells it true and from decades of being in the business knows what he is talking about.

For my part, I don't use anything but magnum primers. Much more consistent loads under all conditions.

For those lucky enough to be able to get Remington primers good for you. I haven't been able to find a source in Canada for years.
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During the primer scare 15 years ago, I bought 20,000 Remington 91/2Ms, and am near the end now. When I resupply I intend to switch to CCI, and already have for match and small rifle primers.
 
bearhunter said:
Ganderite tells it true and from decades of being in the business knows what he is talking about.

For my part, I don't use anything but magnum primers. Much more consistent loads under all conditions.

For those lucky enough to be able to get Remington primers good for you. I haven't been able to find a source in Canada for years.
Click to expand...

Got a good supply at x=reload
 
I use mag primers with all ball powders...so I use em in 222,223,7.62x39,30-30,308,30'06,8x57 and probably others I'm forgetting....
Work up a load, don't sweat the little things.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
OP is having an availability issue.
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The OP didn't say he couldn't get LR primers, he said he wanted to use his stash of magnum primers for his 22-250. Since he's a novice reloader, its a good idea to use the info available in his reloading manual. When he's got more experience, he can experiment which loads & powders may not be affected as much by substituting primer types. There's a reason manuals recommend certain primers.
 
snooker said:
The OP didn't say he couldn't get LR primers, he said he wanted to use his stash of magnum primers for his 22-250. Since he's a novice reloader, its a good idea to use the info available in his reloading manual. When he's got more experience, he can experiment which loads & powders may not be affected as much by substituting primer types. There's a reason manuals recommend certain primers.
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+1. Novice reloaders should be encouraged to diligently follow recipes.
 
He said he was always running out but that is whatever.

When the manuals state a particular type of primer it is to ENSURE proper ignition if a particular primer may not be hot enough ,hence using a hotter primer for particular types of powder just as Hitzy said.Also the author says he will be using this load in -15 to -30 , a warmer primer will be a benefit.

A hotter primer will not be hazardous in any ways when doing proper load development.What has more punch? 1 grain of powder or a magnum primer? I bet that is an easy answer.Like any load development stop at pressure signs.

Now, if you would as well as the OP please go see the photos in this link...

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/3...ind_the_best_primer_for_308_match_loads_.html

It will show you that the "burn" of the primer is not relative to the designation of it.This also shows that you must do proper load development as a "magnum" primer may be less hot then some "standard" types.You can clearly see that the Rem 9 1/2 is hotter than a Fed 215M.

As Hitzy says , don't sweat the small stuff.

I just wanted to provide for you(the OP) the information so you can make a fully informed decision.

Again, pick your components for desired performance and do proper load development.




snooker said:
The OP didn't say he couldn't get LR primers, he said he wanted to use his stash of magnum primers for his 22-250. Since he's a novice reloader, its a good idea to use the info available in his reloading manual. When he's got more experience, he can experiment which loads & powders may not be affected as much by substituting primer types. There's a reason manuals recommend certain primers.
Click to expand...
 
The early loading charts and miniature manuals of the day did not specify what type primer to use. In fact the word primer did not exist in them, it just being presumed you would put a primer in the case.
I loaded for a lot of years, while paying no attention, whatsoever, to the primer being used. As a matter of fact, I think it was in the mid 1960s that some firm tagged the word magnum, onto their primers.
The way I understand it is the primer makes a spike in the pressure of something like 5,000 pounds. In the lab where they can measure such things, I think this spike comes well before the peak pressure of the load. Thus, it does not really add to the top pressure.
In any case I have never been able to determine the slightest difference in velocity (pressure) from using different primers. Never, regardless of what the powder was or what the temperature was. One primer just acts the same as another, regardless of what is marked on the box.
I recently did a bit of a test, using a 243, 75 grain bullets and 414 ball powder, which is Winchester 760. I loaded identical loads of 45 grains of the 414 and a 75 grain Sierra HP bullet.
One batch of loads had standard CCI 200 primers and the other batch had the magnum type, CCI 250.
Here are the results. The CCI 200 averaged 3404, with a es of 59.
The CCI 250 magnum primered loads averaged 3412, and es of 67.

The 8 fps difference is only half of the stated tolerance of the chronograph, of 1/2 of 1%, so the results are completely equal.
 
Actually, novice reloaders should be encouraged to do proper load development as the recipes are only guides and are not by any means going to be consistent in different rifles during different conditions.

Variances in components will also have a bearing on this.

P.S. - Listen to H4831, there is more practical knowledge there then at CCI Federal and Winchester combined.


GunsNotPuns said:
+1. Novice reloaders should be encouraged to diligently follow recipes.
Click to expand...
 
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