Winchester Match Grade Primers

[varget204]

have shot 40,000 + win small pistol primer in last 5 years,thousands of win SRP and LRP ,zero problems

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

A few years ago, I read MANY complaints about WLR primers letting go at the edge and pitting bolts. It appears that when they stopped nickle plating their primers, the troubles began. In the past I used many thousands of WLR nickle plated primers, no issues, but I don't buy Winchester primers anymore.

Every time I look at my 30.06 bolt I think of them

 

[jthor]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020690910/winchester-usa-ready-large-rifle-match-primers

 

[Nature Boy]

I don’t use Winchester Primers after I found that WLR primers were below SAMMI minimum diameter specs. Afraid I’d ruin a bolt as others experienced.

Maybe their new “match” primers are better. Hope it isn’t just marketing

 

[Milo 2.0]

I am struggling with Winchester and match grade used in the same sentence.

 

[JimT]

Just got my 6th edition Sierra manual and the preponderance of primers used are Winchester. I suspect if there was really an issue with them this would not be the case.

 

[dolek]

I am struggling with Winchester and match grade used in the same sentence.

Google is your friend...

Match grade frequently refers to quality firearm parts and ammunition that are suitable for a competitive match. Sometimes it also refers to other devices and parts that are made with high precision in mind.

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today owned by the Olin Corporation and the name is used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group: Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Ogden, Utah.

 

[Milo 2.0]

Google is your friend...

Match grade frequently refers to quality firearm parts and ammunition that are suitable for a competitive match. Sometimes it also refers to other devices and parts that are made with high precision in mind.

The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American maker of repeating firearms, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The Winchester brand is today owned by the Olin Corporation and the name is used under license by two subsidiaries of the Herstal Group: Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Belgium and the Browning Arms Company of Ogden, Utah.

What?
I do not need to google anything. I have all kinds of things around here labeled Match, barrels, firearms, primers, bullets, etc... I more or less said I will not look to Winchester for match grade anything, same goes for Hornady and Nosler.

 

[Garrett E Booth]

Can we please keep this about the product in question. Winchester's NEW copper plated match grade large rifle primers. WMGLR


We don't give a BEEP about your issues or experiences with other/older products.



That being said, please continue. Thank you

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Ive shot a swimming pool worth of em in a ppc which is probably more pressure than any other cartridge used. And walking around loading areas i see the same. Dont hesitate to try them. Better yet nobody needs to use them just leave em on the shelf

 

[rwj]

Can we please keep this about the product in question. Winchester's NEW copper plated match grade large rifle primers. WMGLR


We don't give a BEEP about your issues or experiences with other/older products.



That being said, please continue. Thank you

Ahhh... the conversation ended over a year ago...

 

[Baer45]

I had been using the new W MATCH PRIMERS with no problems. I figured if they were good enough for Black Hills they were good enough for me....

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I had been using the new W MATCH PRIMERS with no problems. I figured if they were good enough for Black Hills they were good enough for me....

Thats where they can get the most for the best price

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

The large leak and the smalls pierce

Thanks for this info, glad I only have a small amount of these (both sizes). They are my backup plan if I run out of CCI & Fed. I will remember not to push the pressures.

 

[358WCF]

I still have WLRs from 2 lots when they were nickle plated & 4 lots after they changed to brass & have yet to see one of these pinhole at the radius. I do run some things on the warm side. There are still some 8 1/2-120s on the shelf that work fine. I've had the infamous pinhole leakage with 2 lots of Federal 210s. The guy at Federal was less than helpful. Too bad so sad is what he said. They were from the mid 80s he said. There's no expiration date on the package & were stored in climate controlled rooms thruout their life I said. We wont help you he said. I probably shouldn't repeat what I said.

There's an older thread at 24HCF about the pinholing Winchester primers complete with known offending lot #s. It's apparently a lot by lot problem from a quite a while back that's been fixed since. Oh... & Winchester compensated the owners who contacted them to fix the bolt faces which is more than (expletive deleted) Federal would do.

Anyway, getting back on topic... I have some of the copper colored red box WMGLR primers & so far they work fine as do the WMGLP. Just getting into the 1st brick of the LR, so no back to back comparisons or torture tests yet. No complaints either. It seems they disappeared long before the blue box WLR & WLRMs sold out anyway, so it may be a dead issue at this point. I really like the WGMLP in 45ACP so far. Wish I had gotten more of them.

 

[Baer45]

Thats where they can get the most for the best price

Actually, I am not sure about that. The point is they work well with whatever powder blends BH uses. I’m not going to get into an argument about primers,

 

[cfreeman]

Thanks for this info, glad I only have a small amount of these (both sizes). They are my backup plan if I run out of CCI & Fed. I will remember not to push the pressures.

At least that's my experience. I started shooting Across the Course in 2006 or so and the small rifle primers in a service rifle would pierce with a standard load - 24 grains of Varget with a 77 SMK or 80 SMK. Unfortunately at the time, the available literature said that Winchesters were what to use. Not every single one would do it, but if you get enough in an AR, the firing pin hole gets wider and the firing pin will get sharp and then every one would pierce. Replaced bolt and firing pin and the same thing happened again. Not every one, but all the sudden they would start doing it and then it was down hill from there. Switched to Rem 7 1/2s and the problem instantly disappeared. In 2017, I picked up some IMI Match brass for an AR-10 that I built and figured since the primer pockets were really tight that maybe the WINLRs I had would work. Nope. They leak with weak assed AR-10 loads and ridiculously tight primer pockets. You start trying to get 1000 yard velocity out of stuff and they'll blow out on the edge. Swtiched to CCI200s and the problem vanished. I wouldn't trust them in a rifle I cared about with anything but powder puff loads. I've been using the remainder in anemic 200 yard low recoil, light bullet M1 and M1A loads. Probably going to use the smalls I have in M1 Carbine loads. That being said, I got some of the copper colored Win Match LR primers on sale, and they seem to be comparable to Fed-210 Match primers as far as accuracy and velocity numbers in my 6xc. Don't know anything about the Win Match SR primers.

 

[jelenko]

At least that's my experience. I started shooting Across the Course in 2006 or so and the small rifle primers in a service rifle would pierce with a standard load - 24 grains of Varget with a 77 SMK or 80 SMK. Unfortunately at the time, the available literature said that Winchesters were what to use. Not every single one would do it, but if you get enough in an AR, the firing pin hole gets wider and the firing pin will get sharp and then every one would pierce. Replaced bolt and firing pin and the same thing happened again. Not every one, but all the sudden they would start doing it and then it was down hill from there. Switched to Rem 7 1/2s and the problem instantly disappeared. In 2017, I picked up some IMI Match brass for an AR-10 that I built and figured since the primer pockets were really tight that maybe the WINLRs I had would work. Nope. They leak with weak assed AR-10 loads and ridiculously tight primer pockets. You start trying to get 1000 yard velocity out of stuff and they'll blow out on the edge. Swtiched to CCI200s and the problem vanished. I wouldn't trust them in a rifle I cared about with anything but powder puff loads. I've been using the remainder in anemic 200 yard low recoil, light bullet M1 and M1A loads. Probably going to use the smalls I have in M1 Carbine loads. That being said, I got some of the copper colored Win Match LR primers on sale, and they seem to be comparable to Fed-210 Match primers as far as accuracy and velocity numbers in my 6xc. Don't know anything about the Win Match SR primers.

Do you have any experience with the new Match Grade primers from Winchester?

 

[cfreeman]

Do you have any experience with the new Match Grade primers from Winchester?

The Winchester Match large rifle primers seem to be comparable to Fed 210ms, at least in terms of accuracy and velocity numbers. They definitely have more resistance going in the primer pocket than the regular Win LR. Only shot them for a few strings in a 6xc. Haven’t tried them in anything else yet and don’t know anything about the win match small rifle primers.

 

[varget204]

And you won't have issue if your charges are no more than a just little above published maximums.

However for those that want/need to coax the most performance from their fav caliber and want also to stay using LR primers squeezing the last bit before sticky bolt or ejector marks appear then don't use Win LRP's.
There's at least a couple of guys that use my range with awful primer cratering on their bolt faces all of which was from Win LRP's.
Seen this only in 3 calibers and now a few years back only when pushed HARD for extended range performance, 6mm Rem, 270 Win and a NZ wildcat 7mm Practical that's based on a 7mm/300 Win Mag design.
Are their loads unsafe ? Not in my opinion. Are they hot, HELL YES !
Other brands of primers don't let go on the edge of the cup like Win LRP's that I have ever seen.

The guy that owns both the 6mm Rem and 7mm Practical is a meticulous and experienced handloader running top quality gear enabling impressive results. I tried to get him to enter in the 2019 LR world champs here in NZ but he is carrying a shoulder inquiry and can't compete.

I Have Had more Problems w/ CCI Primers, shotgun & rifle , Not Going Off, w/ a good firing pin strike, like I Said Zero problems,w/ Win SRP,LRP, in 204 ruger,6 creedmoor,, 6.5/284 Norma