I’m aware magnum primers are considered to be hotter and set off slower burning and double base powders more easily, what I’m unsure of is if bench rest / match primers are also hotter than a standard primer for a given caliber? How do they differ? Are match primers just getting extra QC?
Match vs magnum primers for bench rest
- Thread starter Mean_Man
- Start date
Yes, that's pretty much it . . . more effort with QC.
Note with something like CCI's, their BR primer cups are thick skinned like their magnum primers where their standard primers are thinner skinned. This can be an issue depending on your firing pin and firing pin spring configuration.
Nah I think that covered it, mostly was wondering about primer and powder combinations with SRP .308 brass. If I want to use SRP I may want to use a Winchester or magnum primer to avoid a possible hangfire as I’ll most likely be using a double based powder.
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For my bolt .308, I've only used 3 different powder in my Lapua SRP's: AR-Comp, IMR 4064 and Accurate 4064 behind 168 SMK's, 169 SMK's, 175 SMK's and 177 SMK's. Primer's I've used: CCI-400's, CCI-450's, Fed 205M's and Remington 7.5's.
My go to load of these that I've used the most and like the best is AR-Comp pushing 169 SMK's with CCI-400 primers. I've never hand any hang fires with this load or any other with any of the primers I've used. While I've tried the CCI magnums, I didn't find any benefit in using them. . . though if I were shooting in very cold weather, I probably would. The Rem 7.5 were only recently tried and they performed ok, the CCI-400 still do better for me.
Unless you're shooting in really cold weather, I can't imagine needing to use hot primers like magnums. But. . . that'll probably depend on the powder and bullet combination you're using.
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I do recommend having experience with a wide spread of primer brands and versions and keeping some of all kinds on hand.
At the same time, you should bet on the come so to speak and keep your favorites in bulk so you don't get caught during political/economic cycles.
At the same time, you should bet on the come so to speak and keep your favorites in bulk so you don't get caught during political/economic cycles.
what I’m unsure of is if bench rest / match primers are also hotter than a standard primer for a given caliber - it dependes. CCI BR4 are mostly hotter than 450M.
other brands may be different.
and remember for all times:
not all magnum primers are hotter than standard ones,
and magnum primer from one brand can be weaker than standard primer from other brand !
This past weekend I finally had time to regroup on my 7.62x39 subsonic load development. Got a new Garmin C1 chrono to help. The process thus far is going extremely well with my main issue left is finding a powder that produced enough gas to lock back the bolt. Putting all that aside, I was in a rush to load up some test rounds using Hornady small rifle primer brass.
I had some already loaded up with 9.9gr of AA1680 and CCI # 41 military SR primers as my baseline. I inadvertently grabbed a box of CCI #450 SR magnum primers and loaded the new test loads at 10.3 grains of AA1680 thinking the primers would not matter THAT much as they are both considered "magnum" primers.
The CCI #41's at 9.9gr gave me an average of 1049.5 fps. The new test load using the CCI 450's at 10.3gr of AA1680 gave me 917 fps. The only common denominator is the primers. I will retest to confirm but not expecting this result.
I had some already loaded up with 9.9gr of AA1680 and CCI # 41 military SR primers as my baseline. I inadvertently grabbed a box of CCI #450 SR magnum primers and loaded the new test loads at 10.3 grains of AA1680 thinking the primers would not matter THAT much as they are both considered "magnum" primers.
The CCI #41's at 9.9gr gave me an average of 1049.5 fps. The new test load using the CCI 450's at 10.3gr of AA1680 gave me 917 fps. The only common denominator is the primers. I will retest to confirm but not expecting this result.
To bad Trail Boss has dried up as it was an imported powder... there was a suggested alternative from Hodgdeon I saw in a video a guy was making the other day... I think it was on the "Ultimate Reloader" youtube channel...
Ah found it on my phone...for some reason trying to go to YT on my laptop is just...not working.
They were using Titegroup.... not a very high case fill powder, BUT 7.62x39 isn't a high capacity case for it's caliber... and he was using it in .308win and .45-70.
Ah found it on my phone...for some reason trying to go to YT on my laptop is just...not working.
They were using Titegroup.... not a very high case fill powder, BUT 7.62x39 isn't a high capacity case for it's caliber... and he was using it in .308win and .45-70.
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