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Need small rifle primer advice .

S

Sasman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
66
Good day . Looking for advice .
I'm all out of Large rifle primers so i had to buy small primers and small rifle primer brass for my 6.5 Creedmoor and 308.s .
I managed to get CCI 400 , CCI BR-4 and CCI 450 Magnum small rifle primers .
My pet load for the 6.5 was 39g of IMR 4831 with Hornady 140 g Match .
For the 308 was 43g of IMR 4320 with 175g Sierra Matchkings.
Using small primers , what would be the best for each load . I do have various other powders and bullet weights available for each combo just unsure which primers to try .
Thanks for any help .
Kaz .
 
Unless you're hunting in twenty degrees below zero your good to go. No power changes. Suppose to be ignition issues at super cold conditions. But I've seen no imperial data backing that up.
 
I changed between 6 creed LRP Hornady brass with Federal magnum primers and 6 creed SRP Lapua brass with BR-4 primers. Both of them shot 39 grains of 4350 almost the exact same velocity. You might see a little difference but with that powder charge I dont think that you are going to see any pressure issues.
 
XLR Industries said:
I changed between 6 creed LRP Hornady brass with Federal magnum primers and 6 creed SRP Lapua brass with BR-4 primers. Both of them shot 39 grains of 4350 almost the exact same velocity. You might see a little difference but with that powder charge I dont think that you are going to see any pressure issues.
Click to expand...
This has been my experience as well. I found my ES and Accuracy to be improved with my 6.5CM when I switched to Lapua brass and BR4's. Velocity was unchanged from Hornady brass/Fed210m's. 41gr H4350.
 
lancetkenyon said:
Whoa whoa whoa. Is your brass the same headstamp and weight as your old brass? Switching brass could cause big differences.

For me, changing both brass and primers would be a "back to the drawing board" event.
Click to expand...
Yes , new Lapua small primer brass . I tried the cci 400's first as i have most of these . I only had a short time at home so i loaded up 20 rounds as a small batch test . I was also using IMR 4064 powder , another first for me with 175g Sierra Matchkings . I managed 3 x5 round groups of around .75 at 105 yards . I was using 42 g of powder as an arbitrary start off point . When i get back home in another 10 days , i will try upping the powder charge and maybe play a little with the seating depth to try and close the groups a little .
 
I would not use 400's the cup is thinner than 450 or Br-4. Ive had better luck with 450 than I've had Br-4's, to many FTF.
I would take Lance's advice also better to be safe than sorry.
 
Small rifle primers appear to be more available now. I load 6mm & 6.5 Creedmoor using small primers. I load CCI 41's and AA4350, H4350, & SW4350 with good accuracy & consistency. The CCI 41's with Staball & Hunter (ball powders) did not group as well & I quit using CCI 41's with those powders.

I recently bought 1,000 Remington 7 1/2 primers and these produce good groups with every 6mm & 6.5mm Creedmore suitable powders. The Rem 7 1/2's appear to be hotter primers than CCI 450's & CCI 41's and the Rem 7 1/5's set off 40 grain plus charges of ball powder giving good groups with relatively small velocity spreads. Looks like Remington is back in the primer business.

The following info appears to be valid regarding Rem 7 1/2's. Page 2, fig. 2, table 1.

IMG_1702 (2).JPG

I plan to chrony 10 rounds each with CCI 41's & Rem 7 1/2's and run stats before producing a good size ammo run.
 
Last edited:
Sasman said:
Good day . Looking for advice .
I'm all out of Large rifle primers so i had to buy small primers and small rifle primer brass for my 6.5 Creedmoor and 308.s .
I managed to get CCI 400 , CCI BR-4 and CCI 450 Magnum small rifle primers .
My pet load for the 6.5 was 39g of IMR 4831 with Hornady 140 g Match .
For the 308 was 43g of IMR 4320 with 175g Sierra Matchkings.
Using small primers , what would be the best for each load . I do have various other powders and bullet weights available for each combo just unsure which primers to try .
Thanks for any help .
Kaz .
Click to expand...
Well now you have me a bit confused, which at my age is somewhat difficult to do. I have been loading .308 since about 1970 and all of the brass I have come across for the .308 uses Large Rifle Primers. I have never run across any .308 cases with Small Rifle Primers. First of all, where did you find them? Secondly why outside of primer availability would you want to use small primers in a cartridge designed for large primers. There has to be a big difference in flame propagation between the two thus burn rate and pressure differences which would affect bullet velocity. Over the years I have found that using Magnum primers in virtually everything I load works well. Of course I work up the loads from scratch, using the minimum velocity from the loading chart and have not noticed any real changes in velocity or pressures even when working at the top end of the loading chart. I have had people tell me I am crazy, and to be honest probably all of us are, but this crazy old lady is not afraid to experiment but does do it carefully. In closing, what advantage is there to using small rifle primers in a cartridge designed for large rifle outside of primer availability which while yet is somewhat of a challenge they are pretty much available these days, Oh, yeah I forgot.Magnum primers are pretty well available, not so much any of the specialty type primers.
primers.jpeg
 

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