Hopefully, some good news for those looking for them. Win 209s seem to be making their way to store shelves. I picked up a couple bricks a few weeks ago at a store for $80 each and the shop sent out a flyer announcing another sale with no limit. They also have Cheddites for sale too. Unfortunately, it is in person purchase only. If anyone is in southern Minnesota it may be worth it to stop in at Ahlmans in Morristown.

The store I work parttime at also had Win 209s show up though not quite as cheap at $90/brick. Our store had 4 sleeves come in with a "next ship" date for 2 weeks from now. I never placed any faith in the dates of future shipments but this is the first time I've seen a future date for primers since 2020.

ill wait for a better deal.........

I see Cheddites in a few places, and price is painful, but not lethal. How do they compare to the other 209's?

Cheddites work as well as any other primer in my experience. I've been using them since the mid-1990s. The original suggestion was to use Win 209 data except with a 1/2 grain decrease in powder. That has been refuted for the most part as it is too broad of a suggestion given the number of component choices. With the component shortages of the last few years, data using Cheddites is becoming available so I would suggest using that.

The biggest knock against Cheddites is they can be pierced and may cause accelerated wear of the lower firing pin in many Browning Citori shotguns as well as a few other makes and models. I have not seen nor heard of such wear in any semiauto, pump, SxS, many O/U, as well as the top barrel of my Browning Citori guns. There are some ways of lessening the potential of primer piercing but it does not seem to be a definitive solution in all guns.

The other issue against Cheddites was that they were slightly larger in diameter compared to the U.S. brands which enlarged the primer pockets enough that the American brands may not stay in. As I load all sorts of hulls this trait allows me to make use of many European hulls which often use Cheddite or other brands which are slightly larger in diameter. This difference in diameters may have changed in the last few years based on some readings but it is something to keep in mind as older primers may still be found.

Ballistics products has some good info on Chedites vs others. Click on the 5000 selection. Has psi and other comparison's. Over the years heard a lot of old timers dissing them, I have loaded THOUSANDS without an mis fire or primer loosing seat switching Win 209 & Ched. Recipes on the same hull. Do your research and use a proven recipe.


https://www.ballisticproducts.com/C...00-primers-per-order/productinfo/CH2095/

A word of caution regarding the data in the link. If one reads the fine print at the bottom of the comparison sheet they will see the advisory that states the comparison is for demonstration purposes for just that one single set of components and should not be used to determine the suitability of primer substitutions in different loads. Much the same as what I said above. With the relatively mild load BP used showing an increase in pressure of up to ~2600 psi, a different load could show a higher (or potentially lower) pressure change which could lead to malfunctions, accelerated wear, or even potential damage of the shotgun.

As there is no inkling of what load or loads is/are being considered, I'll stand by my suggestion to find suitable data using Cheddite primers and then base one's component choices off that. I have not always done so, and sometimes regress backwards, but that is the prudent stance when dealing with vastly more unknown than known data.

For the record, I've used tens of thousands of Cheddites over the last 35 years, most of those years I used 10,000+ per year. I current have three plus sleeves on hand so I don't have anything against them. When three people in the household were competitively shooting trap, skeet, and sporting clays as well as lessons/practice a lot of shells get used. In other words, I'm relatively familiar with Cheddite primers.

I've had some misfires over that time with them, as well as with other brands. I've also experienced loose primers in hulls after use with Cheddites as well as similar occurances when loading new and once fired Cheddite hulls. As I mentioned, the primer dimensions may have changed to more the U.S. standard at some point but it is something to still be aware of. I've also experienced the piercing of primers in the bottom barrel of several Browning Citori shotguns as many others have also noted in numerous places. It appears to be a feature of the design of both the bottom barrel and the primer which is why the issue does not seem to occur in the majority of other shotguns nor with most other makes of primers.