Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles When should you use a CCI450 vs a CCI400 in a 5.56 load?

Ball powders? If not that, when?

Im assuming because of the recent post about the 400's having a soft cup and the bs about them being a low pressure primer. All I use is 400's and BR4's. Likely nothing is going to change that.

No need to go off half cocked there bsa. The discussion concerned Remington 6-1/2 primers having a soft cup and being meant for low pressure cartridges like the .22 Hornet, 30 Carbine, etc., and it wasn't BS.

DW - I've used both 400's and 450's for AR loads with no pierced primers. I would try both and see what works best for you. I have used Rem 6-1/2 primers in an AR back during the primer shortages and had several pierced primers.

From Midsouth Shooters site Rem 6-1/2 page:
Rem 6-1/2 warning

DESCRIPTION
6 1/2 Small Rifle Primer (1000 Count)
by REMINGTON COMPONENTS

This primer is primarily for use in 22 Hornet. Please consult your reloading manual for load data.
Warning* Not recommended for high pressure loads! Do not use in .223 Remington loads. Please consider using the Remington 7 1/2 Bench Rest Small Rifle Primer. Click Here to view the item.

400’s thousands shot not a problem

F the CCI's use Rem 71/2's or Fed GM205MAR's

I use whatever shoots the best.. I usually use WSR and rem 7 1/2, but use 400 when I can find them and 450’s.

I was wringing out a .223 load in an RAR Predator this week finishing with a primer accuracy test. Of Rem 7-1/2, Fed 205M, and CCI 450 the 7-1/2 was a little better than the 205M and the 450 wasn't near as good as the other two.
For accuracy in the .223/5.56 it's tough to beat the Rem 7-1/2. It's a favorite of the High Power crowd.

You must not have read the 24hr CFnews recently.........WSR's cause slam fires in AR-15's !!!!!!!!!!
never happened to me but many here claim it is so.

Ball powders work best with hot primers, so yes, use CCI 450's with hard to ignite ball powers.

Stick powders prefer a cooler primer, such as the CCI 400.


CCI primer cups are all on the hard side, so both are fine in AR's.

Oh yeah I read it and been warned. That info most have is for wsr is old old news. I shot plenty of wsr primers, no issues so far.

I have used more CCI-400s for AR loads than any other primer, but now generally use a either a CCI-450 or Remington 7 1/2. The latter two are usually recommended over the CCI-400 for use in ARs, but I've seen slightly better accuracy with the 400s.

Ball and stick powders. CCI BR4, CCI 450, CCI M41, Rem 7.5s. OLD SILVER WWSR.

The only ones we ever used. Never paid attention to what powder etc.. just depends on what made the best groups.

Yet in the end we were down to almost nothing but M41s. And Rem 7.5s with RL15 cause it didn't like the M41s so much...

Federals give slam fires

I ALWAYS use 450s over 400s because the 400s are soft. However, I'm not trying to get the last fps out of my loads so it probably doesn't matter.

The 400's may be softer than the 450's, but relative to other primers, they are still on the hard side.

Like you, I'm not trying to get the last few fps, but great groups, so I use a lot of both.

According to the manufacturer's industry if it's through an AR cci 41's. I have personally shot through an AR 400's and never had an issue but I usually use 450's

I got some Federals for $25 out the door yesterday at Sportsman"s. I like CCI 400's but at $25 I could not pass them up. I have some CCI 450's and only use them for large loads of ball powder like Winchester 748 and CFE. The 400's I load to .223 specs. I have never pierced anyone's primer at .223 levels.

kwg

The 400's have a thinner cup material than the 450's and BR4's which are the same. I have a rem 700 223 that will pierce the primer using 400's with any kind of stout load, but it's got a sloppy firing pin fit and really needs to be sent to gre-tan to have it bushed. Primer manufacturers make dedicated AR primers, 41's in CCI's case, that have a little different anvil setup to make them less sensitive. The free floating firing pin slams forward when it cycles and can ignite a sensitive primer. Any more in an AR I just use AR primers, I figure why mess with it. Everything else with a small primer I use 450's, again I figure why screw around with something that might cause problems. I have a stash of 400's that I use in pistols, the CCI-400 is the exact same primer as their CCI-550 small magnum pistol primer, just packaged in a different box.

Seriously?

According to a conversation with CCI rep from a guy on another forum. It is the internet though,