I am new to long range shooting and would like a little advice in reloading for it. I have always used the Federal Large Rifle Primers but now I am wondering if it is worth the extra money for the Federal Premium Gold Medal Large Rifle Match Primers. Does it make a difference? What do most shooters use? Thanks for the help.
Federal Primers
- Thread starter gilcarleton
- Start date
I saw no difference in the targets. I was told by a guy that visited Federal that both are the same and the higher paid more experienced guys put the mixture in the match primers. Therefore there theory is more consistent weight. I weigh mine see no difference in groups at 1000 yards. Matt
Years ago, when "Precision Shooting" was in business, before going bankrupt, they did an interview with one of the top group benchrest competitors in the country (still is) and they were going down his list of components that he used. When they came to primers, he said he was using Federal 205's and the P.S. writer was shocked that he was not using 205M's. The competitor then said that he had never found any difference in the performance of both.
butchlambert
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The match primers get an extra visual inspection, no difference in them. During a shortage a few years ago I used Winchester and could tell no difference in accuracy.
Joe R
Gold $$ Contributor
I know for a fact that the Federal 210M primers don't work well with Lapua brass. They are a little too lose, I've had more than a few come out. I find them on the bottom of the boxes and sometimes get powder in my action.
If you are planning on using Lapua brass look elsewhere. I switched to CCI BR-2 and they fit nice and tight, but I can't say that I've seen an improvement on targets.
Kindest regards,
Joe
If you are planning on using Lapua brass look elsewhere. I switched to CCI BR-2 and they fit nice and tight, but I can't say that I've seen an improvement on targets.
Kindest regards,
Joe
Joe R
Gold $$ Contributor
Hi Roger,
I had a loose primers with virgin Lapua brass. I use a hand primer so I can feel each one and I could seat the primers in the lapua brass with 2 fingers on about a 1/3 of them. Compared to the way the 210M fit in the Federal brass which I had to use my whole hand.
As I said everything is resolved now that I've switched to BR-2, they fit nice and snug. The only bad side to it is that I have 1,300 210M primers left over. But that's OK, I'm running a little experiment with Lake City brass, so I may find a use for them yet.
Kindest regards,
Joe
thekriebles
Gold $$ Contributor
tag
Joe R
Gold $$ Contributor
I Gil,
I'm a newbie to 1k also, so don't put much weight to my opinion. One thing I have learned in the past year is that consistency/repeatability and precision go hand in hand. You have to do a lot of things right and squeeze every bit of variance out of your materials and tools.
Having said that, I haven't used the plain Federal Large Rifle Primers, but if they don't give you consistent performance you should look for something that does. Here's an article by German Salazar that covers Large primers, it is worth reading http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2009/06/primers-large-rifle-primer-study.html.
Kindest regards,
Joe
Joe R said:
???
If you had that experience with new Lapua brass, you had a bad lot of brass or primers. I've never seen a problem with the combo and I use Federal match primers for all my competition shooting.
After 5-6 firings, things get a bit loose, but I don't blame that on the components.
-nosualc
I think we can agree that there's a little difference in the way some brands of primers feel when seated. Example - Rem 7-1/2s always seat a little easier than Fed 205s, CCI 450s, or Wolf SRMs in new Lapua 6BR or 6.5x47 brass for me. Is it because they're not plated, and the other brands are? Dunno, perhaps I should buy some of the newer unplated WSRs and compare those to some of the older plated WSRs I still have.
On the average, F210s usually require a bit more pressure to seat than plated WLRs, no matter what brand of brass I'm using. Wolf LRMs are even larger, and take more pressure to seat than a 210.
On the average, F210s usually require a bit more pressure to seat than plated WLRs, no matter what brand of brass I'm using. Wolf LRMs are even larger, and take more pressure to seat than a 210.
Judd
Gold $$ Contributor
Not all primers are same diameter: http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/primers-and-pressure-analysis/
I have referred to that table more than once, it's a handy table to reference.
I'm not going to argue about primer differences but say every barrel likes a combination, use a chrono and shoot your groups. The ES and SD numbers will tell you what to work on.
I have referred to that table more than once, it's a handy table to reference.
I'm not going to argue about primer differences but say every barrel likes a combination, use a chrono and shoot your groups. The ES and SD numbers will tell you what to work on.
FWIW, I loaded some 3X fired Win 308 brass yesterday with 5 different primers for some load testing. As far as felt primer seating pressure, I would rate them as follows: The Wolf LRM were tightest, followed by CCI & Federal, then Remington, and the "loosest" was plated WLR.
Joe, I think you need to get in touch with Lapua about your brass; in my own experience Lapua pockets are usually on the tight side.
Joe, I think you need to get in touch with Lapua about your brass; in my own experience Lapua pockets are usually on the tight side.
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