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

My 270 prefers them, accuracy wise, with H4831 and 150gr Speers and 140 AB's..

I use them in my magnum rifles and my old 06..

Use them in 7 mag 7 STW 300 Win mag and 338 Win mag.

I use Fed 215's with H4831 and slower powders and case bigger than the '06

I use CCI 250's with ball powders (most notably W-748, H-414, and BLC-2) in .308 to '06 cartridges

Do you see any difference, Fed 215 vs. CCI 250?

DF

For some rounds i do. Both of my 7mm rounds shoot better with the CCI 250 than they do with the Federal primer. Not enough to worry about but they do shoot a little tighter group

Yes. I can find CCI250's. I have not seen a Fed215M on a shelf in over 8 years.

Ha!

That is a major difference.

DF

The CCI stuff has always been good for me.

I keep cci 250 and Federal Gold Medal mag match here. I use them in the magnums and the 280 AI at times.

My rule of thumb is 80gr of powder and above I'll go with a mag primer, except in Weatherby calibers I use F 215s exclusively.

Dirtfarmer,

I did when using RL 26. So far RL 26 seems to prefer Fed 215's over CCI 250 and Rem. 9 1/2mag. I chronographed the Rem. vs Fed. but didn't get a chance with the CCI. 70 to 75 fps difference in those 2 primers.

Use Federal 215M for everything. Not needed all the time but I load many calibers using ball powder, some large belted cases and it gets cold outside. The main reason is logistics. I buy in bulk and it simplifies the number of reloading components on my shelf. I have standardized on several components to adhere to the KISS principle.

Not all magnum primers are the same, by a long shot.

CCI 250 is the mildest

Fed 215 would be next

Win mag is very hot, and/or has very different ignition characteristics than the 215

We reload at the rifle range and have seen very distinct differences in group sizes with these various primers.

A friend years ago took pictures of primers going off and they were printed in Precision Shooting Magazine, it is nothing short of amazing how different primers are.

The cci 250 looked like a large ball of flame

Fed 215 looked like a larger ball of flame

Win mag looked like a huge ball of flame with incandescent particles flying everywhere, which neither of the other two primers had. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on your load, your barrel will speak loud and clean on what it loves.

We have seen groups shrink from 1" to 3/8" just by changing primers.

If we have learned anything by loading at the rifle range all these years is "Don't assume anything". I can say that R#25 seems to love a Winchester magnum primer. Other than that, you don't know till you know.

Actually CCI 250's are hotter than Federal 215's. When Federal introduced 215's they were the hottest LR primer then available to handloaders, but CCI changed the priming compound in their magnum primers (including 450's) in the early 1990's to an even hotter one.

People have been taking photos of primer flames for over a century, but the size of the flame doesn't have anything to do with it's temperature, which is more important. And exactly how a specific primer will work with a specific powder also varies.

Primer manufacturers sometimes change primer formulas, either a little or a lot, without making the changes public. Years ago I was informed by an older gun writer that there wasn't any difference between CCI 400 "standard" SR primers and 450 "magnum" primers except for the thickness of the cup: The 450's had thicker cups to withstand the pressures of newer cartridges, like the .223 Remington. Prior to the introduction of the .223, no American cartridge using SR primers developed more than what's now rated as 50,000 PSI, and thinner cups worked fine in rounds from the .22 Hornet to .222 Remington. W

What the older gun writer was true, but only with early 450's. Several years later, however, 450's were given a hotter compound, primarily to be more effective with newer spherical powders. And the compound was changed again in the early 1990's, to the same hot compound used in CCI 250's.

For about the first 10 years I reloaded CCI 250 primers almost exclusively. I say almost exclusively because I tried a LR CCI primer once and I was disappointed greatly. Then I got infected by a bug that I need to try various brands of primers in my reloads, and that infection has carried on to this day.

There's not many firm and fast rules on which primer will work best. Only time at the range will identify the best choice.

Now I have 8-10 different LR and LRM primers on the bench, and enjoy trying different primers in my handloads. About the only tried and tested rule is when I powder up with H380 I use a magnum primer. If I would be to shoot any other ball powder, I'd be testing Magnum primers too. When I'm trying to get the lowest ES - it's fairly common to find a LR primer (in Match grade) will compete for or be the best. I've got some LR primers that have not been consistent velocities with any powder I've tried too.

It's a rabbit hole - but my bench will always have CCI 250's available. Just don't get caught thinking large capacity cartridges require a Magnum primer. Some small capacity cartridges won't tighten up for me unless I'm shooting a Magnum primer, and some large capacity cartridges won't bring the ES down unless I'm using a LR primer.

If I was to suggest 4 - that will get you through most load development - CCI 250, CCI BR2, Fed 210M, and Fed 215M. Not that the Winchester or Remington primers are not good, but those 4 usually find the performance I'm looking for, and I don't get to trying the Winchester or Remington primers too much. I probably won't buy CCI 200's again. I've got 1000 of them that will probably be on my estate sale. I'll probably go through another 5000 CCI BR2's before the same sale.

Used them in a 270 WSM. Still have a bunch, and they're just sitting there, as I no longer have any use for them.

Burr,

The head technical guy at one of the major powder companies recently told me they primarily use Winchester large rifle primers, both standard and magnum, because they produce the most consistent results. In small-rifle primers they prefer CCI's.

MD, were they referring to the consistency from primer to primer, or consistency from lot to lot?

I use WLRM for large rifles and CCI400 for .223.

Most of the powders I use are ball, anyway.





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