Federal 205M Primers...Through The Years

[critter_bill]

I got a late start in reloading and then later precision loading in my mid-30s. Like many, I started off with factory rifles in .223 Rem and .308 Win. I fed them Win 748 and H335 powder in Winchester cases with Winchester or CCI 450 primers.

Later, I discovered the 6BR and 6PPC and moved on to custom rifles, better brass, bullets, powder, and match primers. Although I do use CCI BR2, CCI BR4, and CCI 450 in some calibers, my go to primer for the PPC is the Federal 205M.

I bought 20K from Powder Valley a few years back and still have quite a few left but there is one brick left from the 2000s that I have been sitting on for that one special barrel if it ever comes along.

Last week, a now 83 year old former shooting buddy from years ago called saying he was selling his rifles and reloading supplies and I agreed to have a look. I bought a mix of primers to pass on to my current shooting buds but kept the 1,600 1990s vintage Federal 205M primers for myself.

Now I guess I will have to hang on to 1,000 of them for another special barrel.

 

[dgeesaman]

I’m even later to the party - is there a notion the older GMM primers are better somehow?

 

[critter_bill]

Honestly, they are because "I think" that they are. I shot smaller groups while shooting them but then I was 20 to 30 years younger too. It's easy to look for excuses for failing eye sight and trigger control but I really posted this because I thought it was neat to have a brick from three decades. Here's hoping that the "new" ones are just as good or better because I have 14,000 of them to shoot.

 

[F224]

Like you guys, I have 5,000 Federal Match primes still on the shelf from the late 1990's.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I got an assload of those 3 types of boxes. I been using those and winchesters for a long time

 

[jpx2rk]

I hope you find that special barrel soon so all things will come together like you want.