So, how about primers?

Brian in Montana

Brian in Montana

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In my limited reloading adventures, I haven't given a lot of thought to primers. I read somewhere, I think it was in the Hornady manual, that Federal GM210M - match grade primers, were the most consistent they'd tried. I went, "sounds good to me", and proceeded to put those in everything I loaded for my 7-08 and .308. They seem to work fine as far as I know, but I assume different primers ignite hotter than others, or with more energy, or one thing or another, otherwise there wouldn't be so many different ones. I've done a pile of reading and research on powders, bullets, and brass, but not primers. So...

What's your favorite large rifle primer and why?

Any info or advice you might provide to a noob with regard to primers? I'm mainly just reloading for the calibers already mentioned, but I also have a 300WM, my wife's .270, and a couple of .243's I'd like to start loading for eventually.
 
I use strictly Federal in everything I load. The problem with the Federal Match is availability. I've used both the Match and " regular" primers in the same rifle and did not notice any appreciabe difference. mtmuley
 
I prefer Federal 215's for magnum and CCI's for large rifle, but I have nothing against the federal large rifle as well. I stick to federal and CCI for primers. I'm no authority on reloading, I'm in about the same boat as you, everything I read pointed to CCI and Federal and I have never looked back.

When I was reloading for a 340 weatherby I used to have, they recommended only Federal 215's so I ran with it. That is what I use in my 300 Win Mag as well as I believe that is what the nosler book showed for the 300 as well.
If you want any recommendations for your 243 let me know, I have done a lot of experimenting with my 243 with a lot of different bullets and powder combinations.
 
CCI 250 mag primers for everything I load, from 22-250 through 338 WM.

I cant remember the exact reason I started using them, IIRC, just so I could use one primer for everything for all powder types, for all potential weather?

That, and CCI's are/were always readily available and I like to have 6-10K on hand.
 
Once you find your powder node and seating depth you can test primers. Mostly I use Fed215M and CCI250 but sometimes the Fed210M works better in a certain load. I've seen a simple primer switch tighten groups and cut vertical.
 
BuzzH with that many primers hanging around (and is it powders and bullets in similar overstock quantities as well?) what is your system for keeping track of shelf time in your house? I'm guessing that you want to use the oldest ones first??
 
I used to think I needed match primers, until I couldn't find them. I started buying all CCI because that was all I could find. Now, I just use either 200 or 250 for everything. I don't worry about he date I bought them.
 
I let my rifle tell me which primer I like best. I use CCI 200/250, Rem 9.5M, WLR/M, and Fed 210/215. I haven't noticed much difference between regular and match primers.
 
I was planning on going out to the range today to some load development. I read the original post this morning before heading out to shoot. I loaded up an experiment to possibly shed some light on Brian's question.

4 rounds each:
7mm o8, 140 gr Sierra Game kings, New Nosler brass (never fired) 43.0 grains Varget. COL 2.795"

Federal 210M primers.
Results:
Muzzle velocity average 2740 FPS with an extreme spread of 17 Fps.

CCI 200 primers.
Results:
Muzzle velocity average 2720 FPS with an extreme spread of 40 FPS.

A small sample size but kind of interesting results.
 
I actually did a test on them earlier this week confirming your results. I had been having consistent velocity spikes with RL 16 and CCI 200. I decided to switch to H4350 and CCI off from everyone’s advice. To my surprise I still had the swings just not as bad. So I loaded my rounds with a printed Nosler load and 3 different primers. CCI, Fed, and Win. The CCI had a spread of 73FPS and shot into a 1.5” group at 100. The Winchester showed pressure signs so I only fired 2 and pulled the bullets on the rest. The Federal 210 (book primer) had a spread of 23 and shot a nice group. 5 shot groups 6EE80036-9E73-4FCD-A927-9169E2DE747C.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've used every other brand primer made for my pistols and rifles and I've decided to stick with CCI for general use loads and Federal primers for maximum consistency.
 
Federal 215 for magnums and Rem 9-1/2 for large rifle. Those 2 were chosen as a few sources suggested most consistent results. CCI 400 for 223 and the like because I bought a case a few years ago. Sellier & Bellot for small pistol since I'm not good enough to know what is the primer and what is me. I plan on trying S&B for small rifle as I suspect they work just as well or better than cci
 
I've used CCI, Remington and Federal. I now stick to all Federal and try to use their match grade primers, but in using some of Federal's regulars as well I didn't see enough difference to matter. As much as my sons go through ammo, we buy components in big batches and date everything coming in and use them by date.
 
Addicting said:
I actually did a test on them earlier this week confirming your results. I had been having consistent velocity spikes with RL 16 and CCI 200. I decided to switch to H4350 and CCI off from everyone’s advice. To my surprise I still had the swings just not as bad. So I loaded my rounds with a printed Nosler load and 3 different primers. CCI, Fed, and Win. The CCI had a spread of 73FPS and shot into a 1.5” group at 100. The Winchester showed pressure signs so I only fired 2 and pulled the bullets on the rest. The Federal 210 (book primer) had a spread of 23 and shot a nice group. 5 shot groups View attachment 81172
Click to expand...

I've also had groups get tighter when I switched to magnum primers. Try your most accurate load and run magnum primers to see what happens.
 
The Winchester’s were Magnum primers. They were too hot and actually shot the primer out of the case. The Federal were just plain 210 primers and performed the best. I shot them again today but didn’t get to finish my testing. Hillbilly neighbor started complaining and it’s not worth starring a fued.
 
Actually I still have 5 or 6000 Herter 120 primer's and they work very well. I have used a lot newer LRP and yep I do use them. One time I think it was in a 243, I switched fron the newer primer to a Herter primer and cut the group about in half. But the bad group was still under 1" so it was no big thing to me. How I get to 1" doesn't matter to me. Everything under that is just bragging right! I also went from a standard rifle primer to a mag primer using H414 in a 243 and the mag primer bettered the load. Not a lot but enough. H414 is a ball powder and magnum primer's are generally recommended for it. I just wanted to find out why! Before trying that I'd always figured a primer was a primer and I still think that. But trying different primers seem's to be to be a way to tweek a load that actually shows improvement you can see.
 
I usually run the Fed210M.
When hard to find i use Fed210 or CCI.
Most of my rifles prefer the Fed.
 
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