I've always used a standard Federal LR primer, and they shot fine, but I was curious if I should be using a magnum primer? Any advice would be appreciated. I run H1000 or RL22, and am about to work up a load for a 180 gr. bullet, if that matters.
What primer for 300 Win Mag?
- Thread starter Tipps
- Start date
I use Fed 215M in my 300WM with H-1000. Never though about using standard LR primmer. I was told LR primers can have issues with magnum size powder charges getting a clean ignition.
I used CCI 250's. Magnum primers are recommended for large powder charges and extreme cold. And it gets pretty cold around here.
I've been using Fed 210s with H1000 and 208amax with good results. The 225eld with H1000 get the magnum. Only reason being I didnt have M's when I started the 208 workup. There's some info out there about standard primers giving better SD's in the winmag.
With my .300WM I used CCI BR2's with 77grs of H1000 but, when I tried to use them with 71.5grs of Reloader 22, I got some hang-fires. They went away with magnum primers. This was just recently with warm weather too.
With the shortage of 215M & most magnum primers a few years back I tried Tula primers (cheap Russian) ended up they had better SD & ES than anything I've tried. A bonus of a slightly larger OD by about ,0002. Never a failure in over 1500 used.
I'm using F215M for H1000 and Berger 215s. For RL26, I found CCI 250 to give me better SD/ES using the same bullet. I used WLRM in my early reloading for the 300WM but never could get decent ES/SD with any powder/ bullet combination I tried. The worst primers I have tried were Sellor and Belliot LRM which seemed to cause hang fires with RL26 in cold weather (17F). I have never tried standard large rifle primers and after the problem with the Sellor and Belliot's not giving me clean ignition in cold weather, I'm not tempted to experiment even if it might mean some improvement in SD/ES in warmer weather.
I see very few reasons YOU NEED magnum primers. I use CCi BR2 primers and h1000. Never had a problem.
I use the CCI 250 magnum primers, with sub- 1/2 MOA groups and single digit SD/ES I haven't seen any reason to try the standard primers.
However some people have gotten better results with standard primers so if the magnums aren't working then it is worth trying.
However some people have gotten better results with standard primers so if the magnums aren't working then it is worth trying.
Kind of digging up an old post, but the info is timely.
I did some testing today with the .300wm using the H1000 load and standard Federal 210 primers. Outside temp was -3F and the loaded rounds sat outside for 24hrs with temps as low as -22F. They were cold soaked to say the least. All rounds fired normally and no issues were encountered. They ‘may” have printed about 1/2” right of normal...or maybe that was me shivering. Hard to say.
I did some testing today with the .300wm using the H1000 load and standard Federal 210 primers. Outside temp was -3F and the loaded rounds sat outside for 24hrs with temps as low as -22F. They were cold soaked to say the least. All rounds fired normally and no issues were encountered. They ‘may” have printed about 1/2” right of normal...or maybe that was me shivering. Hard to say.
I did the same thing a couple of days ago, -10F soaked outside for an hour with a good charge of WC857, 208 amaxes, and Fed 210's No change in performance from the last test at +35
The entire discussion centered around the lower SD/ES of the standard primer, and perhaps ignition problems at lower temps. The 208gr load I referenced was a very good performer down to about 30F which was the coldest condition I had shot it in. (Load was developed in warmer months.). Although it does get colder here (I’ve seen -38F) this was certainly a good test of the theory. There arent too many occasions I can see myself laying in the snow at sub -30F and shooting. Maybe when I was younger. Now, it’s more like look out the window, say “Damn!” and then return to the coffee pot.
I did some back to back testing in my win mag with these to see what the difference was and wanted to get the loads identical with different primers to see if I could get more or less out of my rifle. What I found, is running RL17 powder in my case, I needed to use .8 grains more powder with the standard LR primer to achieve the same velocity as the Magnum primer. both were FGMM primers, identical cases, powder, bullets, shooting day, chrono etc. SD never went over 6.0 regardless of which I used for 5 round groups, accuracy never changed, so I went with the Magnum to save powder/case space, and because I had a ton of them already. Your results may vary, and I have not done the same test in my current rifle, but that's what I got out of the Remington. I shoot in AZ, and it was prob 85 or so degrees out during this testing during "winter".
