223 primers

[roundss]

I am building a 223 to hunt in Montana and Easter WA in the winter and summer. There are chances I could be in weather around or below zero degrees. Is there any small rifle primer that is better than another? If it does well in the heat that's even better. I could be looking at a temp change from zero in the winter to 90 degrees in the summer.
From what I understand the 223 takes a small rifle 7 1/2 primer. Can a guy go wrong with a CCI, Federal, or Rem primer?

If there's a "223 FAQ" I didn't see it. I tried the search with 223 primer.....I think that popped up about 1/2 the threads for the last 3 years, lol.
Thanks in advance.

 

[roundss]

UPDATE:
I picked up some of the CCI small rifle Mag primers since that was all they had and hotter can't hurt in the colder weather. If anyone has any input either way or can tell me how they have done with these primers please let me know.

Here's my load that I planning:
Winchester brass
Hornady v max 40 gr moly
26 gr of benchmark (up to 28 depending on any pressure issues caused by mag primer)
CCI small rifle mag primer

I should see mv around 3700 fps. Chrono will determine exact fps.

FYI, I ran a box of the Hornady box ammo with the moly 40 gr v max and saw an average of 3700 fps not the advertised 3800 fps on the box.

 

[pressman]

i use just standard cci bench rest and have great success my pet load is 24.4 gr of H335 with a 60gr sierra. and it is 3016 fps with a 24" barrel. a real tack driver for me

 

[Dan Carey]

CCI and Federal primer are used by a lot of BR guys. I use Rem 7 1/2 BR primers in all my small rifle primer loads and that includes my 38 super pistol. I've tried them all in the 38 years of competition shooting and don't see a difference in any of them. The last time I bought SR primers I got Winchester the cheapest and bought 15,000 of them. But I still use Rem in the BR guns.

 

[Waltech Jim]

CCI and Federal primer are used by a lot of BR guys. I use Rem 7 1/2 BR primers in all my small rifle primer loads and that includes my 38 super pistol. I've tried them all in the 38 years of competition shooting and don't see a difference in any of them. The last time I bought SR primers I got Winchester the cheapest and bought 15,000 of them. But I still use Rem in the BR guns.

I like the Rem 7 1/2 BR primers too, for certain applications.

I am not able to see much difference in large rifle primers, but in my 223, 204 and 17 rifles, primers seem to make a difference.

In my 223 the slight edge goes to the Rem 7 1/2 BR primers.

In the 17 and 204 my groups tightened significantly using the Rem 7 1/2 BR primer.

I would borrow some different primers from some reloading buddies and try them out with the powder you are using and see how they do.

As far as temperature is concerned, I think the powder will have more of an effect on your velocity than the primers do, all other conditions being the same.

I have shot my 223 at 10 below up to over 100 and the primers worked fine. It was the powder that tended to vary the velocity.

Jim

 

[USMC M38A1]

primers

I agree the primers don't make as much difference as the powder I load all my 223 with Varget only because I have a lot and it is what I shoot competition with.I load 24.5 gr of it to my 77 gr match bullets it shoots very well at 2693 fps.

 

[magicofmt]

Pay the little extra and get the CCI BR 4 primers, you can't go wrong there.

 

[roundss]

Thanks guys. I was pretty sure that the primers didn't have as much of an issue as the powder I just thought one might act better than another in specific weather.

 

[roundss]

Pay the little extra and get the CCI BR 4 primers, you can't go wrong there.

I picked up 1000 at Cabelas today.........pay no tax today or tomorrow at the one in Lacey, WA. So I picked up the primers, some 40 gr v max moly, and some 90 gr bullets for my 270.
light bulb I told my wife the more I spend the more I save. She didn't understand

 

[linksmechanic]

I like the cci primers but I think there price is a little high compared to federals so I use federal.

 

[keithcandler]

I have seen a heck of a difference in primers ......

when dealing with super accurate custom guns. Funny how a particular powder will love a particular primer to get those little tiny holes in the paper.

Rem 7 1/2, CCI BR-4's, and CCI450 all have thick cups, and in my loads the CCI450 is the hottest, but is not always the most accurate.

I'm a new convert a couple of years ago on Vit N-133 with the 40's & 50's, and Vit N-135 for the 55's. Out of my 26" Hart barrel, I can get 3900-3950 out of the 40g NOsler BT putting all the bullets into a tiny hole. With the 50's, using the 133, I am getting 3600-3635 out of the 50's, into the same very tiny groups, and with the 55's with the 135, I am getting 3550 with groups less than .300.

All of these loads are high pressure loads but will not require full length sizing of the brass, but will demand a thick cup primer.

I use IMI and Lapua brass with a minimum SAAMI match chamber with a .250 non turn neck with .2245 thoat and 1 /1/2* leade angle in 14 twists.

When I was playing around with the loads, some loads with the 133 had a slight edge with 7 1/2's while others liked the BR-4. All of these groups were in the .185-.250 range shooting Nosler BT bullets. The groups opened up slightly with the 450's, but not by more than .030.

Win and Fed 205's have very thin cups.

If I were shooting in super cold weather, then I would use the CCI450 or the 7 1/2 in that order. Remember that in temps of -25* and colder, pressures can spike!

 

[Dan Carey]

"Remember that in temps of -25* and colder, pressures can spike!"

Why do you think that?

 

[VarmintGuy]

Roundss: I use Federal 205M primers in ALL my small Rifle primer applications!
I live in and Hunt all over the Rocky Mountains year round!
This entails temperatures from -30 degrees to +100 degress Fahrenheit.
No surprises what so ever - just reliable performance.
I am currently loading for and shooting 7 Varminters in caliber 223 Remington. Like I mentioned they all use Federal 205M primers!
I highly recommend them for your useages.
Best of luck with the 223.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy