Importance of Primer

groc426

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Feb 20, 2013
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I'm not entirely sure how to ask this question. I'm new and trying to find primers. The ideal situation would be to find the ones used in the load data I'm looking at, but the odds are against me finding the same ones for sale at this moment. If the load data is using a large rifle primer, does it really matter which large rifle primer I use? Does magnum vs standard, or CCI vs Winchester, or benchrest vs standard really matter?
 
Yes...it matters some.

Within a class of primers - there are some that produce more/hotter/flame/pressure. They can and often have a smaller influence on accuracy.

IMO...most people here test different primers without much concern due to very low safety risk.

Moving from lr to lrm will definitely change the chamber pressure.

All load data is a starting place, not the gospel. To many variables effect pressure.
 
Good advice provided above. Get what you can find, buy enough to meet your needs for at least a season, and develop a load using that particular brand of primer. Obviously, it is important to stay in the same class of primers for your particular chamber.
 
With proper load development techniques the primer of choice won't matter from a safety aspect.

From an end result aspect results may vary from not much to a lot.
 
Is it prudent to use specific type of primers with certain types of powder?
Some reloading manuals recommend magnum primers for ball powder's and sometimes they do work better and sometimes not. If you aren't getting the accuracy you need feel free to try a different primer just remember to drop your powder charge before changing primer.
 
Primers are the hardest thing sometimes to figure in loading/ reloading shells. Sometimes you get primers that have no rhyme or reason to them. If the priming solution the manufacture is putting in the primer is to thick to thin or something causes the primers to not be filled with the exact same amount of priming material.

About 1993 my brother and I was working up loads for our 338 WM's for our first moose hunt. He was having a problem every 8 or 10 rounds he would have a shot go 6" out of his group. He was blaming himself. We was at a local range one day and one of the club members had just got a Chronograph. He asked if we wanted to shoot through the chronograph. I insisted my brother shoot his rifle. With 225 bullets, IMR 4350 the first 3 shots ran at 2970-80 fps. went in 1" at 110 yds. His 4 shot 6" low and to the right. Looked at the chronograph the vel. was 2760's fps.
I gave him a 100 flat of primers and no more problem, He threw the rest of the primers over the hill.

I have a load right now my Rem. 700, V. 223 Rem. it will shoot .250 @100yd. groups with a load I developed. The load uses Remington small rifle primers. I tried Winchester and CCI primers in the load workup, No good results. Now with the fall of Remington, When I run out of Remington primers the rifle may only be a good Tent Stake.
 
I believe you could adjust your primer striking to optimize results -from a chosen primer.
That the abstract in this is every gun striking differently, due to utter lack of any striking standard.

A standard would be force X relative speed per contact area, with primers pre-sensitized correctly as seated.
Action shrouds could be modified to externally adjust for this established energy, against an instrumented snap cap, given a set trigger sear position. No more which primers works best for what, with 20 different answers.
Are there any ballistic pioneers among us?
Greedy & resourceful would be good enough
 
it's not like shotshell where the load is exactly what the book says including the specific primer, and you do not deviate.
Pick a primer and start low. Drop back down if you switch primers.
 
It's tough these days to find primers, but here is an example of the difference that primers can make. Exactly the same loads and shot at 200 yards with 338LM.
 

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