Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer: Lapua 6.5 Creedmoor Brass SMALL RIFLE PRIMER?

Guess Small Rifle Magnum primers will be popular

I've always wondered if/how much of a factor oil/grease/grime inside of a trigger/bolt played in cold weather mis-fires.
Is the firing pin able to hit the primer as fast and hard at zero as it does at 50? Or did semi frozen gunk bind it up?

I get that heat energy from powder and primers is diminished in cold weather vs. hot, but if a primer is hit hard enough to go, it should start the powder. If the powder starts, it should push the bullet on down the barrel.

I realize some combinations will do better than others (primer hotness, which is a sketchy subject to begin with, and stick vs. ball powder), especially where POI in cold vs. warm is concerned.

That said, in TN I don't think I've ever hunted below 15deg. Pretty rare we get below that, and if it does, I'm probably staying in bed.

I'm only chiming in because I'm lusting after a Tikka CTR Creed and I've been pondering brass......

Unless someone is saying they experienced a hang-fire situation or a squib load due to the cold, it isn't the primer that was the problem. Either the primer went off or it didn't--they don't really have a halfway point caused by cold.

If the primer did truly ignite, then a small flash hole is not going to hold back the ignition of the powder to the extent that the powder would not ignite at all.

Something else happened in those scenarios that are not due to a small flash hole.

6.5x47 17 pound 1000 yard bench gun.
140g Berger LRBT VV540 and Tula small rifle magnum primers.
15+ degrees F.
Hang fires.
Click and then a bang.
Very uncomfortable feeling.
Above 50 degrees no problem with Tula..
I have shot the 6.5 SLR based on 308 lapua palma case( bigger than a -47 case) down into the 40s usuing CCI 450 Mag primers with no issues.
Test before before you trust..

dave

I've even encountered hangfires with Large Rifle Magnum primers and some spherical powders at zero Fahrenheit. But I was testing loads, not hunting, which I tend to do with any handload (or factory ammo) that might be used in very cold weather.