All my data seems to recommend Remington 71/2 primers. Any reason not to use another primer such as CCI or Federal?

Hi Reloader2,

there seems to be a pressure spike issue with the .17 Rem which can lead to primer piercing:
http://www.jamescalhoon.com/primers_and_pressure.html

According to this CCI 450, CCI BR4, Fed 205 or Rem 7 1/2 should work. Personally i have only expericience with the Rem 7 1/2.


Cheers
Roman

when remington brought out the 17 Mike Walker said that in all their tests the 7 1/2 primer gave by far the best results and recommended that in loading the cartridge only the remington 7 1/2 be used. Coming from Mike, this is to be taken as gospel.

Thanks for the information. This helps a lot in understanding the reasoning behind the Remington primer recommendation. I'd go with the Remington's but nobody around here carries them.

R~2
I have used both Federal and Remington primers with no problems from either one. I ended up using Remington because the load grouped better with them. However, I used Federal primers for all other rifles which I handload.

I made up my first loads this afternoon. I went with the CCI 450 primers. A load of 22.6 grains of IMR 4895 grouped three shots right at an inch center to center at 100 yards. That is about where this rifle has been grouping with some reloads that came with the rifle when I got it. I would suspect that if I use this gun for anything it will be for coyotes so I can live with this type of accuracy.