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primers, news to me !

I always figured that LR Mag primers were suitable for cartridges like the 7 mm mag but, while shooting the breeze with a friend He mentioned that he called several companies, Sierra, Federal, Hornady with some question and was told by all of them that charges over 80 grains required Mag primers and anything less than 80 didn't. Think I will try stnd. primers in my 7 mag. and see what difference it makes.
 
I use WLR for my 7mm magnum and 300 WSM. The 7mag shoots H4831SC and the 300 uses H4350. I get better SD with WLR than the magnum primer. I see people mention cold weather... that's a bunch of BS unless you're using small rifle primers.
 
OP,,think about it,,,,"anything less than 80 gr!!!!" ,,,,,I dont have anything that uses that much powder ....60 gr is my personal threshold,,,just saying,,,Roger
 
If used for hunting in colder weather I like the magnum primer. I have a rule where if the powder is slower then 4350 or bigger then 62 grains or cold weathher I like a magnum. Matt
My practice is much the same as Matt's. I got better accuracy from my 270 Win with magnum primers.
 
I use WLR for my 7mm magnum and 300 WSM. The 7mag shoots H4831SC and the 300 uses H4350. I get better SD with WLR than the magnum primer. I see people mention cold weather... that's a bunch of BS unless you're using small rifle primers.
Just because the SD or ES is better doesn't mean it will shoot better especially at long distance. The only way to know is shoot at distance. Watch your velocity falloff when it gets cold with regular primers with big loads or slow powders. I even saw hangfires when it gets really cold. Matt
 
Just because the SD or ES is better doesn't mean it will shoot better especially at long distance. The only way to know is shoot at distance. Watch your velocity falloff when it gets cold with regular primers with big loads or slow powders. I even saw hangfires when it gets really cold. Matt

Velocities drop off in cold weather mainly due to rifle powder. The primer has a marginal effect on velocity. Using the Hodgdon extreme powders or other temp insensitive powders alleviates the issue you're talking about. If it makes you feel better use a magnum primer. I get more accuracy out of using large rifle primers than magnum primers with my 7 mag and 300 WSM in ALL weather conditions. I never had a hang fire with a large rifle primer and I've shot in conditions around 0 degrees already. As I stated before, the only time I've seen issues with primer hang fires in cold weather is with SMALL rifle primers. Good luck.
 
I thought that a lot of it had to do with the powder in question. Slow ball powders require a "hotter" primer while stick powders generally ignite fine with a gentle primer. This being due to the retardant coating applied to ball powders to get them to burn progressively, rather than digressively.
 
I had a running conversation with a CCI rep once regarding LR primers in the .257 Weatherby w/ 63gr. of IMR4831. My neighbor purchased the LR instead of Magnum by mistake but we decided to try them anyway. Glad we did, best accuracy at 400 yds. than he had seen to that point with this rifle. CCI was adamant that the 'book' called for a Magnum primer and that was the end of the conversation.
 
I hardly ever use a Mag primer. And I look to see what the book says to use... All my load data books say "denotes use of Magnum Primer" and an astrick at the page bottom.
 
Testing is the only way to find out what works best. Let me give you an example. A friend had a Mk I .22 Cheetah. that was based on small primer .308 brass that Remington made to be formed to different calibers. Our winters are not all that cold (Citrus is grown commercially.) but with the ball powder that he used, in the winter, with regular small rifle primers he would get a slight delay of firing when the trigger was pulled. Switching to small rifle magnum cured the problem. Primer manufacturers are just that.They test and report what they find, BUT their test do not cover all possible situations, and that is why you should do your own testing. I have seen a recent story where a manufacturer specified a range of seating depths, but they cannot know what the depth of primer pockets is particularly if a cutter has been used. upload_2017-4-3_8-18-20.png
 
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Way back in the late 80's the NRA did a test on .308 LC Match Ammo.
The test use how to reload to match 852 ammo.
The bottom line on Primers was , it took CCI 250 mag primers to get the job done.

Today wolf and Tula LR mag primers work well in .308 Palma loads !
 
I use WLR for my 7mm magnum and 300 WSM. The 7mag shoots H4831SC and the 300 uses H4350. I get better SD with WLR than the magnum primer. I see people mention cold weather... that's a bunch of BS unless you're using small rifle primers.
The new brass colored WLR is a " Sears Poncho"
 
that's a bunch of BS unless you're using small rifle primers
Don't know how relevant this is but...I shoot an informal match once a month (when I can) with a bunch of old duffers who ought to know better. Last winter we held a match when the temperature was -17*. That's not a typo! -17*! Most of us were shooting 30 BR and all of us were using small rifle primers (FED 205M) to ignite our loads. We all shoot 85 to 95 rounds per match and if IRC there were 9 maniacs on the line that day. So that's somewhere between 700 to 800 rounds fired. This particular match took about 3-1/2 hours to complete because we got a couple of trucks stuck in the snow when changing targets. Plenty of time for our ammo to get really cold. I do not recall a single mis-fire that day although one guy froze his cheek to the stock. I think that experience convinced him to try shooting free recoil but I'm not sure.
Any way this has been just one experience with using small rifle primers in cold weather. I have many more--I'm also a coyote hunter. dedogs
 
A degree symbol (°) can be added to text by holding down the Alt key and typing on the number pad (not the numbers above the letters) 248.

True enough, unless you're using an Apple 'puter. With those it's (shift+option+*) to key up a °. Cellphones (at least not the iPhones I've used) don't have that character available on their keypads, but 'copy/paste' works °°°!!
 
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Primers are like spouses. You try to get the best match. When it is too cold, they may not do their best. When it is too hot, they sometimes over heat and need a rest. When things are normal, you do the best that you can and hope for the best from them. Sometimes you get a great score. Some days, when things are going really well, you may get several great scores. Other days, the littlest thing can happen and you can forget about any score at all. If you are one of the lucky ones, the match you make works in the best of times, the worst of times, and more often than not, you score more than your friends. Choose your primer wisely. :D
 

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