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Old April 17, 2009, 07:06 AM   #1
butta9999
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Win Primers

Just wondering is there a shortage of Winchester primers in the US. I went to buy some reloading stuff the other day and they had none. Said they were back ordered. I heard that 3 months ago as well.

I have only used Win primers so im not that familiar with others. I was put onto Federal primers and CCI benchrest i think.


Does the primer have a huge impact on accuracy, have any of you reloaded the same bullet with only the primer being different. I mean same powder charge and type, same case specs, same bullet, same seating depth, etc etc.
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Old April 17, 2009, 07:17 AM   #2
charlie-6
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Never seen much different in any of the hand gun primers, some say some are harder than others i never see it in my 48 yrs. of reloading. i use more win. primers than the others.
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Old April 17, 2009, 07:27 AM   #3
hornady
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Same as charlie, have reloaded for 40 years some, seat better than others, but over the years for pistol. I have use several brands. and with the shortage on components, buy what you can find.
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Old April 17, 2009, 07:28 AM   #4
SL1
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It seems that ALL primers are hard to find these days. I usually use CCI, but can't find them around here right now. I was in my local sporting goods store when the UPS guy walked in with a package that contained 15,000 Winchester primers (5,000 each of 3 different sizes). I immediately recognized my luck and bought 1,000 SP primers for $39.99 plus 6% tax. They were ALL sold in 3 days, and it took that long because the store did not sell any for over a day until they did their inventory paperwork.

With regard to the effect of different brands on accuracy, they can have an effect at the accuracy level of match-grade rifle ammo, and maybe pistol target ammo as well. There was an article in Handloader that specifically explored that with match .308 ammo. The important factor seems to be how the primer ignites the PARTICULAR powder charge that you are using. So, to find out which primer works best FOR YOUR LOAD IN YOUR GUN, you really need to work-up accuracy loads with different primers in your own gun. And, the primer that gives the best accuracy with one powder in your gun may not be the primer that gives the best accuracy with another powder in the same gun with the same bullet.

So, you would theoretically need to do an impossibly huge amount of testing to find that absolutely best combination of primer, powder, bullet, OAL, etc. etc. for your gun. The good news is that the differences are so small between good combinations that nearly all of us won't really see a difference or care.

The take-away lesson is that you should try adjusting your charge weight again if a change in primers does make groups with your favorite load open-up noticeably. But, nobody can really tell you ahead of time that one primer or another is best for YOUR gun. (The exception would be that low-quality primers that lack uniformity could be bad in EVERYBODY'S guns. But most name-brand primers sold in this country are really pretty good with respect to uniformity.)

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Old April 17, 2009, 08:51 AM   #5
Al Norris
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Quote:
Originally Posted by butta9999
Just wondering is there a shortage of Winchester primers in the US. I went to buy some reloading stuff the other day and they had none. Said they were back ordered. I heard that 3 months ago as well.
If we are going to dicuss the above statement, there is an already open and stickied thread about the current shortage at the top of the handloading forum.

Since I'm tired of merging all the posts that are popping up, I'll just close this one as a duplicate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by butta9999
I have only used Win primers so im not that familiar with others. I was put onto Federal primers and CCI benchrest i think.

Does the primer have a huge impact on accuracy, have any of you reloaded the same bullet with only the primer being different. I mean same powder charge and type, same case specs, same bullet, same seating depth, etc etc.
If however, we are to discuss this part, then we can keep it open.

So let's keep the discussion, in this thread, away from the current shortage.

Fair enough?
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Old April 17, 2009, 09:01 AM   #6
kraigwy
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Changing primers, as well as changing any other component, requires starting over.

I recommend backing off on the powder charge and working up again until you get the accuracy you desire.

An example, in my Ruger #1 in 204, I started with the Accuracy Load listed in the Sierra Manual. I started with Fed SR Match primers, I got lousy groups, pressure signs and lower velocity the I thought I should get.

I didn noting but change to CCI SR standard primers, NO PRESURE SIGNS, MORE VELOCITY, and better ACCURACY.

Switching pistol primers is not that big of a problem watching for pressure changes, unless you can shoot pistols a heck of a lot better then I can. I'm just not that good with a pistol that I can see accuracy changes.
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Old April 17, 2009, 10:26 AM   #7
Mike Irwin
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Please post all primer-related-shortage discussions in the sticky at the top of the page.
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