Magnum Primers in place of Regular

[LexLooter]

Have a box of magnum rifle primers. I don't load magnums. Mostly just do various 30-06 for my Garands and 03's.

Anyone with personal experience using Magnum rifle primers in 30-06 (or similar)? Tried seeing if anyone wanted to trade them but my other thought is maybe just choot em.

 

[repete]

Unless your at or close to the max charge for that particular bullet I'd use them, if you are at the max then back off a couple tenths for safety sake. Whatever you I bet you'll very little if any difference in poi.

 

[Varmint]

I use CCI 200 and 250...it depends on the powder

 

[LexLooter]

Unless your at or close to the max charge for that particular bullet I'd use them, if you are at the max then back off a couple tenths for safety sake. Whatever you I bet you'll very little if any difference in poi.

Thats what I figured. I never go close to max load on these old pigs so I figured I'd be in the clear.

 

[Tisto]

As a general rule, you can use magnum primers in place of regular primers but you must adjust the powder charge. The usual adjustment is 5% of the powder charge. If your ESTABLISHED SAFE load consists of 50 gr of powder, reduce that charge by at least 2.5 gr and work up your loads from there. This is NOT a recommended practise, but many match shooters use magnum primers in place of standard primers and this is one of the methods they use.

Search other data sources for loads using magnum primers. If you cannot find any, I suggest starting at 5% below the starting load in your book and working up from there.

 

[Varmint]

CCI #34 military large rifle primers are magnum primers

 

[Acer-m14]

seen this the other day from FB group Sage's back up .. ( reloading supplier group )

We see frequent Internet Angst over primer selection:
"The "recipe" calls for Acme primers but all I have is Brand X, what do I do?"
"I accidentally bought magnum primers instead of standard, what do I do?"
The usual response is:
"Reduce your load by 10% and "work up.""
So I thought I would check it out, as applies to bulk pistol ammo.
My current IDPA ESP 9mm load is a 135 gr BBI Hi-Tek coated RN and 3.8 gr HP38. For this test I sorted out all Winchester brass and weighed all powder.
Shot over a ProChrono Digital 12 ft away with a Springfield 1911A1 9mm, factory 5" barrel. Average of five rounds.
Winchester Small Pistol Standard - 1019 fps
CCI Small Pistol Standard ---------- 1020 fps
Federal Small Pistol Standard ------ 1021 fps
Remington Small Pistol Standard -- 1044 fps
CCI Small Pistol Magnum ----------- 1022 fps
Federal Small Rifle Standard -------- 1023 fps
Winchester Small Rifle Standard ---- 1026 fps
CCI BR4 Small Rifle Match ---------- 1019 fps

Now isn't that interesting? Seven out of eight primers, rifle and magnum included, within 7 fps. And the oddball noticeably faster, is the plain Rem 1 1/2 small pistol standard, not one of the accepted "hotter" rifle or magnum. And then only by 23 fps from the average of the other 7; about 2%.
Of course you might get different results in different calibers or with different powders. But a large pistol magnum gave a whopping 11 fps gain over standard in .45 ACP loaded with Bullseye.
I've quit worrying about it. Actually I never did worry much about it, I loaded a lot of 9mm with Fed SR during Obama Panic I. But it is nice to know that other brands, even rifle and magnum will a. fire, and b. not affect velocity.
Jim Watson

@meketrefe your input ..

 

[Robin]

Very interesting Acer, thanks!!!!
Robin

 

[LexLooter]

Thanks guys. I found a lot on Facebook and other websites but nothing as thorough as the responses here.

Typically I wouldn't bother but seems were in a "use what you got" kind of state right now.

 

[Tisto]

Ok, since this discussion seems to be going in all different directions at once, I have decided to perform a test. Since I have never done anything like this, I cannot predict the results beyond my assumptions.
Since PRIMERS are the item in question, here is My proposal :
To test the actual differences between LARGE sized standard and magnum primers, both RIFLE and PISTOL varieties, I have chosen to use the .45 Colt cartridge. I will load plastic bullets inside sized brass with no powder. The only propulsion the bullet will receive will be from the primer. I will then fire it through a Winchester model 94 carbine and record the velocity using a LAB RADAR chronograph. This test will take place inside my basement where there can be no effects from wind or temperature. Groups of 10 rounds will be fired and recorded. The actual results will be published here.

The same test may be performed for SMALL sized PISTOL and RIFLE primers again using plastic bullets in a .38 case and fired from a revolver.

Since the revolver does not seal the chamber to the barrel, a certain amount of pressure will escape. Therefore, I believe the carbine test will be a more indicative test.

 

[Varmint]

I have been reloading for over 40 years... I have at least 30 reloading manuals from just about all of the bullet manufacturers and they all recommend magnum primers for the slower burning powders and most of the spherical powders. He was referring to large rifle magnum primers.

 

[Tisto]

DISCLAIMER :

Since primers themselves really add nothing to the amount of propulsion in an actual cartridge, my devised test above should not be taken in any way as actual data for the substitution of one primer for another.

The job of a primer is to ignite the powder inside a cartridge. The flame temperature, duration of the ignition source and kernal size of the flame produced are what change the burn characteristics inside the cartridge. The ignition of the powder, it's subsequent burning and gasseous expansion thus propelling a projectile through the barrel happen in mere milliseconds. Since I do not have any method or the instruments necessary to measure the actual differences between various primers, the test I proposed should serve as only a curiosity.

It has been well established that the use of a standard primer in place of a magnum primer can produce a hang-fire. This is a VERY DANGEROUS situation. Magnum primers are designed to push the kernal of igniting flame deep into the cartridge so as to ignite the powder more uniformly. Using a magnum in place of a standard should have a less dangerous effect, although pressures inside the case are expected to rise a certain amount.

I am not a scientist. I do not have a Doctorate from MIT or CalTech in ballistics. All of my knowledge regarding balliatics has come from many years of reloading and reading about it.

Please post your expectations for the results of my test as well as any suggestions to make my test better in any way. This test will not likely occur until late this evening after the rain begins.

 

[Varmint]

I guess I was trying to say exactly what you said...standard primers may cause hang fires. There was no disrespect intended by me.

 

[Tisto]

I guess I was trying to say exactly what you said...standard primers may cause hang fires. There was no disrespect intended by me.

None was even perceived, much less taken. All good !

 

[dsdmmat]

Went through this in the 90s during the first primer famine. Called Sierra Bullets and talked to their load developers. They said to start your load at the bottom of the published data and work your way back up. I used small rifle magnum primers in my 38 Super competition loads. I have been using magnum primers in everything since then. They are easier to get because people don’t want to buy them and do the work. I als started using APS strips in the last primer famine after Sandy Hook. Nobody wanted to put in the work so the store sold me all of their stock of CCI APS primers.

 

[meketrefe]

Magnum primers have little or no effect on short cartriges with fast powders. The advantage of a larger and more powerful ignition column is with longer cartriges and slower powders like a 350gr 444 marlin for example.
I would not use more expensive primers in standard loads but otherwise what you did seems like the right steps.
People pull 10% , 5% safety BS margin from their arse w/o knowing what one might be actually loading and how.
Like always test your loads, check results and functions, write down your notes and forget about the online guesses and secret recipes. Even writers in the reloading books and so called experts blogs are full of mistakes so one gets opinions vs facts with explanations.
I would move on. 9mm is well known and quite easy to reload.

 

[Varmint]

I love you guys oops and the ladies