Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Small vs Large primers for Creedmoor

Good info. I love the MS chrono, but it most definitely does affect my groups and POI. That's the only negative I have with it.

Man I’m glad MD can still with repeating that over and over...

I put up the issue on small primer (great for bench with smaller powder columns for accuracy) - not so good for really cold (actually horrible) hunting loads.
Either way I couldn’t keep up this all the chatter on it..

Since my Creedmoor is a 257 Roberts, I can’t speek for the 6.5, but I just tried small primers in the Roberts and they keep falling out...

You tried a few times eh?

Maybe if you “REALLY” cram them in thier they will expand enough to hold


BTW - one of the only times I disagreed with MD... is when he said to think of the Creed as an “improvement” for the 260 (my 257 Roberts)...
It’s an improvement for a competition gun, but my 260 is my 300 and under hunting rifle... so it’s not too much “improved there”

Post edit - for those that didn’t pick up on it - I had to try really really hard to find something to disagree with MD on with the improvements the Creed has (otherwise I wouldn’t be building a 6 creed right now)... i.e. - my arguement is kind of BS.. Energey is Energy (my comparison)... yank’n MD’s chain a bit...
Personally I did love hating the creed... but it does have a bunch of benefits one should not ignore just because it’s fun to do so.



I’ll have to see if those small primers are loose in my 260 as well....

He did say it worked for the 6.5...

Convinced me, the Lapua is going back. I wouldn't have ordered it if I'd realized it uses small primers, but after reading how they tout it on their website figured I'd ask the question.

Spotshooter,

Good to know--though I have not "abandoned" either the .260 or 6.5x55. In fact I keep killing stuff with both.

But unlike many Campfire members, my job is NOT to resent any new cartridges. Instead it's to evaluate them, to the best of my ability. And have owned four 6.5 Creedmoors, and extensively shot three others. Sorry, but my conclusion is that it is indeed an improved .260--or 6.5x55.

Whether or not that makes any difference to you is obviously irrelevant, both to my professional life and your personal life.

The thing I don't get is the anger toward the 6.5 Creedmoor. From what I've seen, even on the always-aggressive Internet, nobody is DEMANDING that anybody give up their .260's, 6.5x55's or anything else and buy a Creedmoor.

If that's happening to you, would appreciate knowing who did, and will ream them out myself!

Kirk,

I actually saw a few boxes of .257 Roberts ammo on the shelf of a local gun store today!

Apparently you don't know that my family (not just me) has been shooting the .257 Roberts since 1953. I believe you were born that year?

Three generations have taken pronghorns at over 400 yards, really big whitetail and mule deer bucks, and several cow elk with the .257. In fact I killed a pronghorn at 350 yards just a couple years ago with the family heirloom .257. It works! (Oh, and Eileen killed yet another cow elk a couple-three years ago, which dropped on impact.)

Good to hear, once again, both personally and on the Internet, that you know everything about the 6.5 Creedmoor, despite never having fired one.

I'd personally run everything SRP.

Longer primer pocket life is a bonus when using spendy brass.

Makes for easier change over on my 550's as well.

Would be easy to source some factory Hornady brass for those cold hunting trips.

I'm loading these for a friend who's just getting into hunting. I'm getting the brass and loading it as a gift, and he doesn't shoot enough to wear out a hundred Creedmoor cases in a hurry.

He's going to use it to hunt everything including late season elk, and I don't want to be responsible for any cold weather problems, he hasn't killed his first one yet.

smokepole,

One of the interesting things about the 6.5 Creedmoor (along with some other rounds) is that LR primer pockets don't over-expand if you stick to pressure-tested data. But somehow many 6.5 Creedmoor handloaders can't stand the thought of not trying to turn their rifle into a 6.5-06....

Thanks John, you are mistaken, I never said I knew everything about a 6.5 Creedmoor, but you are right I never fired one. If you remember at the New Years party, Dober, Ingwe and I all agreed that we don't own and never will own a 6.5 Creedmoor. I feel that I am in good company no matter which way I turn...

I was very impressed with your 3-person vote of ignorance!

At first I ignored, then scoffed at, and then rejected the 6.5CM. I read one article from the crew who developed it and sought out a few more to read. Understanding their reasoning for the new offering made sense. Finally when premium bullets became reality - I had to have one or two. So now I have a caribou and cow elk in the freezer and two empty cases to reload. The increasing recoil sensitivity is no longer an issue either. Life is simple and the handloading shelves are showing some bare spots.

FWIW I was chasing accuracy in my .22-250 #1 (the one in my avatar) a number of years ago, and decided to try the small primer trick. That meant starting with .308 Remington BR brass(then available), and laboriously sizing, tapering, and trimming the brass in several steps, until I had small primer .22-250's.

On good days with its best loads with large primers, the rifle could keep 5 in a ½" at 100 yards, but I could see no difference using small primers - certainly not nearly enough to justify the headaches of making the brass. Maybe a top shooter with a heavy benchrest gun could see a difference, but I doubt most people will.

We're having an informal match at the Campfire Hog Hunt. Pretty good chance that a 6½ CM will win this year. Or, if his owner can shoot it, a .220 Howell

I don't get it either, but it is amusing when folks who vow to never get one feel the need to post their opinions on a Creedmoor thread.

Dober owns a 6.5 Creedmoor, it is a Tikka Lite. We discuss it all the time.

I don’t think anyone feels like they are being coerced into buying one, but my guess is that a shiny, new, better-designed cartridge suddenly makes whatever they’ve been using seem “worse” or inferior.