Hi everyone. I am new to reloading and a new member to this board, and had a question about primers. I am loading .308's and have been using the federal match primers. I havent been able to get them anywere lately, and was wondering if I could switch to maybe just regular remington or winchester primers without changing too much from my load right off the start?

back your load down by 5-10% and work your way back up. even a change as simple as a primer can cause pressure differences that could be dangerous in a load that is already quite warm.

In my experience there’s not much difference between Federal GM210Ms and Remington 9 1/2s but there is a difference between these 2 primers and Winchester WLR. The WLRs are a little hotter (at least this lot of WLRs are).

As tasunkawitko points out, anytime you change a component of your load it’s a good habit to reduce your load a little and work your way back up.

I find it much easier to error on the side of caution than explain to the other shooters at the range why your gun is #@#@ed up.

Amen to MickinColo!! I use F210s for about everything I load, and substitute freely with R-P primers, then I've been reloading for over 40 years, and stopped using CCI primers half way thru that time.
LLS

OK, thanks guys!
I was more of wondering if I would have to go all the way back down to the minimum. Plus, being new, I follow the books as much as possible (which always say to NEVER substitute components), but its not always that easy to just go out and find a particular component, wether it be primers or anything else for that matter, especially lately. My load isnt really all that hot anyways, 2 full grains off of listed max. Do you have to mess with seating depth or anything too much?

quote:

Do you have to mess with seating depth or anything too much?

my istinctld be to only change one variable at a time. since you are only switching primsers now, i would start with that, work up to the best load you can get wit them, and then decide if you want to experiment with the seating depth after that. this way, you know exactly what any given change will do to your loads.

others' mileage may vary.

quote:

Originally posted by tasunkawitko:

quote:

Do you have to mess with seating depth or anything too much?

my istinctld be to only change one variable at a time. since you are only switching primsers now, i would start with that, work up to the best load you can get wit them, and then decide if you want to experiment with the seating depth after that. this way, you know exactly what any given change will do to your loads.

others' mileage may vary.

+1

Good info but I'll ask the question: How stout are your reloads? If you're not skirting the ragged edge of too hot, that is to say, if you've got a reasonable buffer between your load and max. No flat primers, no extractor engraving, no hard bolt lift, etc, I'd just load up say five or so and see how they do, rather than do an entirely new work up.
I know it goes against common sense but I've swapped standard primers for standard primers and couldn't tell much difference. Especially in the accuracy or velocity department or seemingly in the pressure department. Certainly not the dramatic effects some folks claim. But then, I can't tell any difference between standard and bench rest primers except in price. Maybe if I was a better shot...........?

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman: But then, I can't tell any difference between standard and bench rest primers except in price. Maybe if I was a better shot...........?