Magnum Large Rifle Primer Question

[bgordon]

What is the primer of choice for load velocity consistency for the magnum rifles?

[Darryl Cassel]

Hello

Hard to beat the Federal 215 Mag primer or the Federal 215 Gold Metal match.

Darryl

[bgordon]

Thanks very much. I used Winchester magnum rifle primers, but have not done any reloading in any magnum calibers for several years now. These days it is all fast twist 22's. I have been trying Reloader 25 in my 22-250 AI with 80 grain Berger VLD bullets. The spread in velocity has been excessive and they gunsmith suggested that I try magnum primers to see if that is the problem. Personally, I think the 24.5" barrel is just a touch short for RL 25, but it is worth a try to see if I am right or if he is right.
I will swing by the gun store after work and get a couple of hundred Federal 215 match primers as I have been really happy with the Federal standard large rifle match primers so far.

Bruce--
I think you are right about the tube being too short. Try some H4350 and se if that doesn't get your ES down a bit. I shoot it in my fast twist .22-250 and have been pleased. R25 was too slow in the .22 cal bore even for my 28" tube. Change your powder, not your primers. I think you will see a pressure spike w/the magnum primers without gaining any stability in your burn. I use Federal 210M primers and they light 62 gr. of R22 in my .280 AI without a hitch, another reason I think the problem is the powder, not the primer. Good Luck!

[ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: Chris Jamison ]

[bgordon]

It is not the primers. I put some across the chronograph this morning and the magnum primers did not make any difference. Still in excess of 100 fps velocity spread for two different 5 shot strings.
Oh well, the Reloader 22 works superbly, so I will just stick with it. It gave me a 19 fps spread for the 10 shot string. The standard primers seem to work a bit better than the magnum primers with it because the 9 shot string using magnum primers gave a velocity spread of 43 fps.