skeeljc
Gold $$ Contributor
I will put my money on wet primers.
DUD Remington 7.5 small rifle bench rest primers
- Thread starter Nic Swink
- Start date
Well I never wet cleaned the brass with the primers in
New to the site and new to reloading, although I bought all my equipment when the world thought that Hillary was going to win. I got a box of Remington 6 1/2 small rifle and a box of 7 1/2 small rifle bench rest primers. My question to you guys is what is the difference? Can both of them be used to reload 223? That was the reason I bought them in the first place. Any help on the difference is greatly appreciated.
skeeljc
Gold $$ Contributor
Unless you dry the brass in a case dryer or a convection oven I would leave it air dry for several days depending of your relative humidity. Air does not circulate well in a rifle case and moisture can remain in the case for days.
Ok. I’m gonna pull them apart later today to check out everything
skeeljc
Gold $$ Contributor
Pulling them down will not reveal much except to verify they contain powder. Not much you can learn from examining the primer. You could remove the bullet and powder and let the primed brass air dry for several days and then load them up and see if they will fire. I would save a few they way they are now to see if they will fire on a second try. Priming compound is wet when they put it in the primer cup initially. If it got wet it should dry out over time.
Ok thanks for the info I’m gonna do that
SSL
Gold $$ Contributor
Welcome to the site, first of all.
I have used the 7 1/2 primers in all of my small-rifle primer cartridges for years - .223, .17 Remington, 7BR and etc.. I sort of bought into the idea that if it said "benchrest" it just had to be better. Over the last few years I have experimented with 'standard' small rifle primers and have seen absolutely no difference in accuracy for my uses (100 to 400 yards). I have even shot groups with both type primers used in the same group with no change from my usual group size. Now I can only speak for my experiences. There may be people that will tell tales about how much better they performed in their rifles and I won't dispute them, but I'm pretty convinced that the BR status of those primers is more a matter of promotional enthusiasm and a reason to raise the price a little than actual measurable precision. Marketing of any product can get a little optimistic. I seem to recall an article some years ago where Remington said that their 'BR' primers were selected from regular production runs for closer physical specifications and not part of any specialized run. I currently have a generous supply of the 7 1/2s on hand and will continue to use them, but I don't expect miracle performance from them.
And yes, both can be used in your .223.
DShortt
Gold $$ Contributor
I did not closely read the entire thread but I'd really check headspace closely especially since you're just getting into reloading.
I’m really not sure how to check head space I’m gonna have to read into it
mmcu
Gold $$ Contributor
Remington does not recommend the use of 6-1/2 primers in the 223. See the following:
Warning:
- Remington does not recommend this primer for use in the 17 Remington, 222 Remington, 223 Remington, 204 Ruger, 17 Remington Fireball. Use the 7-1/2 Small Rifle Bench Rest primer in these cartridges.
- This 6-1/2 Small Rifle primer is primarily designed for use in the 22 Hornet.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
You cant kill primers soaked under water or oil for months
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
^^^This. In addition, I'm getting the impression that this was also virgin brass. Between the shoulders being too far back (i.e. case moves forward in chamber upon firing pin contact), and the primers being pushed deeper by the firing pin, that's a lot of energy being absorbed that ideally should be going into the primer compound. Testing the exact same primers with a few of these cases that have now been fire-formed might be a useful experiment.
What they are talking about is how far you pushed the case shoulder back shorter than the chamber headspace during sizing. The shoulder setback during sizing is called "head clearance" when the cartridge is chambered. And too much head clearance can affect if the firing pin will set the primer off.
The further you push the case shoulder back increases the head clearance or the "air space" between the rear of the case and the bolt face. And this affects if the firing pin is long enough to set the primer off. And add this to primers not seated properly and you have cartridges that fail to fire.
Don't take this the wrong way but you need to buy a few reloading manuals and read the front part of them that covers reloading. In the early 1970s I was lucky and got good advice from experienced reloaders long before the internet. And I also read and re-read all the manuals I had on reloading.
skeeljc
Gold $$ Contributor
I know you can kill shotgun primers with moisture. I don't know why rifle primers would be different.
How do I know. I loaded some wet Federal Top Gun hulls that had a fiber base wad. I shot some the next day and all fired fine. About a week later I shot some of the same batch and only half went off. The primers did not fire (even when tried twice). When I cut them apart the powder was matted into a clump. The primers did not fire. If they had they would have pushed the wad and shot into the barrel.
wkdickinson
Gold $$ Contributor
I've read this entire post with interest. When I look at the initial picture I see two things, 1) the primers appear to be too deep in the cases 2) the impression left by the firing pin appears to be more than adequate to ignite a primer. I can certainly understand if the primers are deep and the headspace is excessive how one can get light firing pin strikes, but I don't see that in any of the pictures, they all look plenty deep. My first thought was primers were too deep and/or weak firing pin spring. But again, both of those would result in light firing pin hits and I don't see that.
Shiny the primer didn’t pop..some Gun powder stuck to the walls
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