On the surface, using match primers seems to me to be a quick, cheap, and easy way to add an element of consistency to your loads. Are regular primers that much different than match primers? If so, how?

Thanks,
RSY

I don't know. Years ago, a savvy friend of mine, (the late Carey "Bear" Myron), was quite involved in accuracy shooting. He claimed to be familiar with CCI's primer making operation and he lived near their factory in the Northwest. His explaination was that there was some human ability involved in the making of consistent primers, specifically, the troweling of the primer mixture onto "cookie sheets". Consistency in the primers depended considerably on the troweling ability of the person to maintain the same thickness. According to my friend Bear, Monday through Friday they made regular primers, on Saturdays they brought in the most skilled personnel (at overtime pay rate) to make the bench rest primers.

This explanation was from the 1970's, so I don't know how applicable it is today.

RSY,
You might be interested in checking "FAQs" from the home page menu of this site. Saeed and his cohorts performed a very interesting primer test, that may answer your questions.
Regardless, I've found it best to try out a bunch of primers for yourself, and see what works best for you. I've done a small amount of primer testing with my .22 Hornet and .243 Winchester, and have found Federal 210M's best in my .243, and regular Federal small pistol primers best in my Hornet.
Regards, George.

YES!

I don't think they'll be the difference on a hunt for you. But if you want the most consistency from your loading, the Federal Match Primers have proven to me, time and again, they are just more consistent.

At this point, for the relatively low cost between standard and match, I load everything with the match grade primers. My preference is Federal. I understand the CCI products are also quite wonderful.

All I'm saying is thay are "more consistent", I am NOT saying they'll take your "MOA rifle down to shooting bug holes".

I have tried loads w/ std. & then switched to match. In most of the rifles/calibers I have tried the match primers, there has been a notable increase in consitancy. However, accuracy gains in hunting rounds is minimal, maybe worth 1/4"moa in my hunting rifles. I do use them whne puting up my hunting ammo as I'll take the slight gain in accuracy for the slight cost increase.

On the advice of a noted UK riflesmith, I use Federal Match primers exclusively in .22/250, .243, .303 and now .308. Can I tell the difference? I dunno. Do I ever have a problem? No. Do my loads behave consistently? Yes.
If the primers are made to a higher standard that's enough for me.

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tikka 3 barrels

The way I heard it, the Federal primers are made and lot-tested. Those lots with the best consistency are labelled "match".

Thus theyt are just standard components that were made right!

I use them exclusively in Federal. In WLR I just use the regular.

Don

Amother question comes to mind...since CCI and Federal are both part of Blount, are these the same primers, just in different boxes???

RSY

I have not done enough testing to be scientific about it, but I feel I have much better accuracy from match primers. I use the Fed GM215M for my 7mm rem mag.

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Monyhunter

RSY, the CCI and Federal primers are entirely different. Even the primer compounds are different. The CCI primers use the same form of styphnate as everyone else, where as Federal is the only one using a different chemical. FWIW, Dutch.

You have some excellent responses here, they all are good sense.

What it all boils down to is the fact that you just have to try different components to see if they make a difference in your gun.

I have two identical Remington 700VS rifles chambered for 22-250 Remington. One much prefers Federal 210 Match primers. The other one ALWAYS shoots best with a Winchester Large Rifle primer !!!

I have a Remington 700 Classic chambered for 7mm Weatherby Magnum. When I tested Fed 215 primers vs Fed 215M primers I was surprised!
The match primers gave a consistant improvement in groups size of more than 20%.

Having said that, I own a custom rifle chambered in 22-250 Ackley Improved that simply does not give a damn what primer I put in it, period!

Match primers are made with more care, whether or not your gun will appreciate the difference just has to be seen.

R Flowers

I doubt that in double-blind testing (where the testor doesn't know which component he's testing) that there would be a discernable difference between standard and match primers' performance.

Similarly, I've never found any advantage to magnum primers, even with extremely slow ball powders in large cases like 7 STW.

But keep right on buying the premium priced stuff -- the extra profit it generates for the manufacturer helps keep the price of the garden-variety stuff down for me.

I usually buy my primers in bricks of 1000 and the difference between match primers and regular ones is about $5. That's plenty cheap for an extra shot of confidence in my loads, even if it is only in my mind. $5 is nothing considering all the other money I spend trying to make a rifle shoot well.

FWIW, unlike stonecreek, I have found a difference between magnum and standard primers in my .375 H&H. With my RL-15 behind 260 gr. partitions I get 2675 avg using Federal 210 primers and the extreme spread of a 10 shot string runs from 2590 to 2760. Put the same exact load in the same cases ignited by Federal 215's and the velocity increases to 2740 and the spread runs from 2720 to 2760. Accuracy is improved also. This is the only rifle I have where I notice that dramatic a difference between primers. Some of my other rifles show no difference between mag and std, some show just a little bit, but in my .375 the difference is huge.

Bottomline, save your money. I shoot competitive benchrest and yes alot of shooters use match primers, particularly F205M and F210M. However, a few years back a noted Hall of Fame BR shooter toured the Federal primer making operations. What was pointed out to him is the difference between match and regular primers is that the match primer recieve a higher QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control). But upon observation what that amounted too is a person watching primers go across on a conveyor belt and check to see if all the primers contained anvils. Also, the primer mixture was the same for both primers.

Anyhow, if it makes you feel better to shoot something that has Match written on it go right ahead. However, the greater majority of seasoned BR shooters have concluded that the match primer shoots no better than the standard.

Please do not confuse match primers with Magnum primers. Magnums primers Ie Fed 215 were orignally designed to light the those big Weatherby elelphant cartridges.

Ciao

Mike

Along this line, here's an emergency question: the .454 Casull revolver cartridge case is made to use Small Rifle primers. A friend loaded Winchester Small Rifle primers, the Speer "Suggested" charge of WC820(which is AA#9), and a Sierra 240gr. JHC bullet. Crimp was excellent, each charge weighed by hand and checked carefully.

Two rounds fired okay. The third fizzled, lodging the jacketed bullet 1 1/2" up the barrel. I've carefully traced the variables and keep coming back to the primer, which is from the current unplated issue, about a year and a half old, properly stored and handled. There was no chance for oil contamination.

I've always had respect for Winchester primers (although I'm displeased greatly with their decision to stop plating them). Are there other .454 Casull users who've had problems of this sort??? (If you don't have a .454 Casull, wildassed guesses also are welcome ) Thanks.