Went to the local store for some 210 primers and all they had available was 210M. Do you think I'll see much difference in performance if I use them in place of regular 210 primers?

I doubt you'll seeANY difference except when you pay at the checkout counter.


Some years ago (like 20 or so years) there was a story in a national magazine about the making of CCI Match primers. According to the article, the primer cups, primer mixture, even the guy doing the placing of the mixture in the cups were all the same as for regular primers.

The difference was in the QC process. To improve quality, reportedly the number of "inspectors" working on the production line was doubled when primers which would be labled "benchrest" were made.

I have been told since, by people in a position to know, that the same is true at Federal.

You might.In a 308 I tested regular 210's against 210M's and did gain accuracy.I've never tested the CCI 200's against the BR2's,so I can't say anything about those.I do know that I've read that 210M's usually will have a lil' more FPS spread than BR2's.You might try the guys over at www.accurateshooter.com and see what they say.

Based on chronograph readings on a couple of diff. carts., I do find the 210M or BR2 to give you smaller vel. deviation. Accuracy in some rounds is also a bit better, your rifle will tell you for sure.

The only comment I would add is that if anyone tests one primer against any other primer, do a LOT of testing before making up your mind about which shoots better with your gun and your loads. Not just 5 groups or 10 groups with each, but double that or more, at both the shortest and longest ranges you will normally be shooting. And don't discount any "called out" shots. Keep ALL groups for your averaging, and count ALL your shots in the groups.

The reason I say this is that testing primers is a lot like testing drugs...the "placebo" effect plays a really significant role. Placebo effect is where what one expects to find is what he usually will find...at least in the short run. So, if one primer is a "Match" primer, and the other is an "ordinary" primer, it is usually expected that the match stuff will shoot better. And for most testers it will...at least until the psychological "Placebo effect" wears off. And that pretty much applies to every tester, which is why "blind" and "double blind" tests came into being.


To divert a little, a group of my associates who, among them, have held about a dozen U.S. national benchrest championships and perhaps as many as 25 U.S. national benchrest records, found over the long haul that in their .30-BR rifles, the plain old Winchester Small Rifle primer actually outperformed anything else on the market for at least 8 years.

Of course, that was in THEIR guns, with their loads, all using the same brand of barrels, and set-up by the same gunsmith with pretty much the same reamer, etc. With some other guns or loads the answer might be quite different.

I had same issue with Fed primers but used anyway and I couldn't see any difference in accuracy although the different primers had different impact points so had to readjust my scope to compensate.