Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles magnum primers, who uses them?

I know magnum primers tend to be used with spherical powders and/or in cold weather. Has anyone use magnum primers with stick powders and even spherical powder and gotten better groups? LGS has the CCI mags on sale and I never use mag primers but thought it would not hurt to try them.

Yes, when I have a long powder column in a mag case. 375 H&H, 9.3x74r, 7mm RMag. That's with H4831 and RL22, etc.

Yes. Matter of fact, I did it today in a 7-08 with Varget.

I use them in all my magnum calibers. 7mm, 300 Win, 270 Weatherby, 300 Weatherby, and 338.

I prefer mag primers in my 270 with a case full of 4831sc under a 130 gr Partition. They have proved to be consistent and a little more accurate than standard primers.
I also shoot 35 Whelens quite a bit, use standard primers in those loads as they proved to have a small edge accuracy wise.
My vote is to try them. You'll never know unless you do.

I've used the CCI 250 with great success in 308 Winchester with H4198 in reduced recoil style loads. They are working very well for me with IMR4895 in 308 Winchester loads, namely 41.5 grains in heavy Lake City brass under 168 grain bullets. Similar for 39 grains of 3031 in Hornady match brass.

Savage Long Range 25-06 I had would shoot 3/4-1" groups with 100 grain Ballistic Tips and IMR-4350. I tried a magnum primer with the 4350 and the 100 and groups shrunk to 1/2-5/8".

I am sure I will try some mag primers in the 280 I am toying with to see if it responds in the same manner.

My rule of thumb for magnum primers has always been to use them with spherical powders, IMR4350 and slower, and anything that uses more than 60 grains of any powder.

never use them not even in my 338-378 or 338-416 Rigby, never had a problem

I use them all the time

I use them. I think I have about 10,000 on hand. 5,000 wolf LRM and 5,000 Winchester LRM. But, I've only used them in my 7mm Rem Mag. Just don't use the big guns enough right now.

I use them in my 375 H&H but have never used them otherwise.

I use them in my 270 Weatherby and 300 Win mag

I use them in my 243 with H1000 and 105's

I always work my loads up with Mag primers first in hunting cartridges. It get cold here in Colorado and I never have to worry about temperature when hunting in the Mountains. The only exceptions are varmint rounds and loads for my M!'s and M14's. Federal 215M's and 70.6 grains of Ramshot Magnum behind a Barnes 127 grain LRX in my 264 WM really is a very flat shooting load.

Any time that a person moves amongst primers, it needs to be remembered that they can have a big impact on pressure.

I use them in my Winchester FW 7x57 mauser with great results.

I use mag primers in big round with powder charges > 70 gr..

I sometimes use mag priimers in med rounds when using ball powders.

The best way to tell is to try both and see what the gun says.

The acid test is at the range.

DF

^^^^
This!

If a load doesn't gel quickly for me I try a variety of primers, even mags in smaller capacities. About half of my loads for various rifles have mag primers for the best loads but then most of mine are larger capacity cartridges. I've turned tomato stakes into fine shooting guns with just a primer change. One with Remington mag primer, primers I had NEVER used before, and it's the only gun I have that uses them.

The guy who taught me the basics of reloading (at 80 years old, he still conducts reloading classes), recommends using primers types that are suggested by your reloading manuals. He also recommends (and teaches) that magnum primers can be used in place of large rifle primers by reducing maximum load by 5% and working up to avoid pressure problems. Most manuals I use suggest magnum primers be used when loading with ball powders.