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Old March 2, 2007, 08:00 PM   #1
jkmola
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Primers - Class A, B, or C?

I was reading an article on primers and that there are three different classes of primers. The author stated that each class differed in things like intensity, length of burn, etc. He even gave a couple of examples for each class. BUT, he did not spell out the characteristics which defined each class. Has anybody else heard anything like this before, or have any knowledge of it? Here's the link:

http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm....g-primers.html
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Old March 2, 2007, 08:55 PM   #2
skeeter1
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That's a new one on me

Small pistol primers, large, small rifle, large, standard and magnums, shotshell primers. But class A, B, C? Never heard of them, and I've been reloading for ~30 years. Maybe I missed something along the line.
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Old March 2, 2007, 09:54 PM   #3
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I would write to him and ask for definitions. If he is an industry "insider" he may be using language that is common in the industrym but unknown to the general public. Or, he may just be full of Krap.
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Old March 2, 2007, 11:38 PM   #4
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I never heard of that classification, either. I know a few years ago the benchresters were all in a tizzy to hoard a batch of RWS small rifle primers that had turned out to be especially timid. Apparently they found letting the powder be responsible for all the pressure was most accurate under BR conditions. Would these be A- primers?

The author made a glaring error, so if he's an industry insider, he isn't a very completely informed one. A primer is not normally what starts a bullet moving, unless you forget to put powder in the case. Some work at HP White labs years ago showed that bullets don't normally start going until case pressure is up around 10,000 PSI. No primer can get you there without powder. Sure, if you leave powder out and give the pressures time to equilibrate toward static conditions, the primer's pressure will dislodge the bullet and maybe even stick it in the bore. Sub-10,000 PSI target loads still shoot, too, of course. But when there is a full compliment of powder present, there isn't time for that to come about.

It did occur to me the military might have such a classification system? Be worth a look, anyway.
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Old March 4, 2007, 01:00 PM   #5
TEDDY
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primers

I went to that site it seems as its commercial site.what they said was more about manufacturers products listed different brands as being more or less powerful. by 6% + or -.most of us know brands are slightly differant.nothing changing,we also know primers in military cart are harder so they dont go off in autos when breach closes.
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Old March 7, 2007, 11:48 AM   #6
CHAINSAW
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Some years back I read an article about a bullet company that spent much time and money in researching which primers were the "hottest", and they ranked them from "coldest" to the "hottest" for lack of better words. Brisance I believe is what they call this but that is another subject.

In the test WLRM and Federal 215 were right near or at the top in the large rifle category. They were about to publish the results and then they decided to test again with new lot numbers of primers. This time the whole order changed and believe it or not CCI standard #200 primers were the "hottest".

The study was never published and the project abandoned. The lesson learned is that different lot #'s of primers and powders have somewhat different characteristics each and every time a run is made of them.

If you like a particular component and you can find more of the same lot number, Buy Them!
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Old March 11, 2007, 06:52 PM   #7
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Quote:
Class A Large Rifle: Federal 210, Remington 9 1/2 primers will generate about 6% less pressure than class b primers and are well suited for faster igniting rifle powders like IMR 3031.

Class B Large Rifle: CCI 200 primers are well suited for medium range burning rifle powders like IMR 4320.

Class C Large Rifle: CCI 250, Federal 215 primers will generate about 6% more pressure than class b primers and are well suited for slower burning rifle powders like IMR 4350

He is just classifying the primers this way, nothing official
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Old March 11, 2007, 09:46 PM   #8
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I think cheygriz hit it on the head! He's full o' Krap!

Here's his about us on the main page;

Quote:
Gunners Den - About This Site.
Welcome to www.gunnersden.com Gunners Den, Gunners Den is a internet directory and guide devoted to sportsman everywhere who get online trying to find good information and web-sites on guns, gunsmithing, reloading, shooting and hunting on the internet. The links and web-sites in our directories will lead you to some of the best places on the internet concerning this sport, the information in our guides is quite accurate as the articles are written by a 30 year veteran master gunsmith, Kim Lockhart.

Our goal is to help people find good information on guns and the shooting sports and understand as well more about their guns, what they do, and why they do it. Gunners Den is structured and linked in such a way as to help navigate with minimal effort so as for all the people that are short on time you will be able to find the information your looking for, fast and easy.
This Kim Lockhart is supposedly a long range riflesmith. As such he probably knows a thing or 2 about guns and reloading. BUT that don't make him any more of an expert than anybody else.

Be carefull what you believe on the internet or anywhere else for that matter. A check on the background may reveal it's no more than one individual's opinion.
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Old March 12, 2007, 07:43 AM   #9
jkmola
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Thanks, guys. I guess what I was kinda wondering was if a load was showing signs of pressure before you think that it should, would a different "class" of primer (milder one?) lessen the signs and enable a tad bit more powder? In other words, do certain primers allow for more powder with the same pressure? Not that this has happened, I just ran across that article and it got me to thinking.
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