BR4 vs Russian primers and Varget

[broncman]

Russian primers have been highly praised and I do have some loads that really like them. I read German Salazars article in the primers awhile back. Had been shooting the russian primers but could not get my varget load with 168 smks into the single digit sd's / ed.

I tried some BR4 primers and the average fps was about 30 fps faster. The extreme spread for ten shots was in the single digits!

Faster and tighter than the russians in this load. A little different from his recomendations of using the slowest primer.

I do enjoy his articles and sure he has forgotten more than I know, but there is no substitute for your own testing.

Ken

 

[normmatzen]

When I switched to a 6BRX last spring, there were no Wolf primers at my club store, so I bought some BR4's.
Shot most of the box of 1000 and wolf became avail so I got 2000 Wolf SRM primers.

Both chroney tests and 600/1000 yd groups could not tell a difference.

The big diff? BR4's cost over twice the Wolf's!!!

End of story far as I'm concerned.

 

[6BRinNZ]

I wouldn't interpret the article as a recommendation - If I was starting from scratch and had no other data then it is a good starting point i.e. it is a good guide line...I suspect that this is how the article is intended.

A final quote from the blog

Matching the primer to the load is critical for peak performance and never has the handloader had a more useful selection of primers than he has today.

 

[louielouie]

Perhaps small rifle primers are hotter (don't have anything that uses them) but I found that when it was warm (like shooting in AZ) Tula/Wolf/Russian LR primers were great but when the weather in the Pacific NorthWet was less than 60 degF (typical) I had better groups with something hotter like GM210M's.
FWIW, all the cases i use are over 54gr H2O capacity with a LR. :-\

 

[Scott Harris]

I've done a lot of testing BR-4 vs Wolf SRM: they are both great primers. As mentioned, big price difference between them: Wolf wins.

 

[broncman]

It was cold yesterday. Will see what warmer weather does. Price is not a consideration if load wont hold vertical. Drop a shot with a 47 berger bullet and then 2 more cents for that primer does not sound bad.

All I am saying is dont be afraid to try others. Russian primers will allways be in my cabinet, but so will cci, and federals.

 

[M14AMU]

High 'trigger time' solves lots of issues!

 

[normmatzen]

RMULHERN,

Right on!!

 

[Terry]

Russian primers have been highly praised and I do have some loads that really like them. I read German Salazars article in the primers awhile back. Had been shooting the russian primers but could not get my varget load with 168 smks into the single digit sd's / ed.

I tried some BR4 primers and the average fps was about 30 fps faster. The extreme spread for ten shots was in the single digits!

Faster and tighter than the russians in this load. A little different from his recomendations of using the slowest primer.

I do enjoy his articles and sure he has forgotten more than I know, but there is no substitute for your own testing.

Ken

Try loading with the Russian primers to the same velocity. Often it's a sweet spot at that or another velocity that makes the difference.
Each primer may require a different powder charge for the best results.