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Old February 18, 2013, 10:52 PM   #1
Robert37803
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WSR primers in my AR

I have been searching the web most of the evening looking for information on Winchester Small Rifle Primers. I got a case of 5,000 for $75 from a guy at work that was having a moving sale. I want to use them to reload for my high power competition rifle. It is an A2 style White Oak Upper with 1/7 twist. Not looking to start a new primer thread, but are they ok to use for my needs?
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Old February 18, 2013, 11:33 PM   #2
chris in va
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Unless it says otherwise on the box, i don't see why not.

Can't recall the brand but someone bought a brick for their AR only to discover they are meant for some old light pressure cartridge. Remington perhaps.
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Old February 19, 2013, 12:23 AM   #3
Marco Califo
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Floating firing pin can cause slamfires

For this reason many use primers with a harder cup. I use CCI #41 which are what are used for all US military 5.56. I don't know about Win SRP, but when I was using CCI SR (maybe 400 or 450), I blew holes in the primers with some "warmer" loads.
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Old February 19, 2013, 02:26 AM   #4
Dback22
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I have had no problem running WSR primers in many ar rifles. Don't know what powder you are going to use but WSR and H335 have not let me down, and I have also used them with Varget with no problems.
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Old February 19, 2013, 03:11 AM   #5
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You made out like a bandit.
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Old February 19, 2013, 06:08 AM   #6
Robert37803
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Yes highbrow i did make out pretty good. The guys wife didn't want them in the u-haul.
I am aware of the firing pin issue. I have been reloading for the M1 for a cpl of years. I will be using RL15 working up loads for SMK 69,77,80g bullets. I do not own another rifle that I can use these primers in.
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Old February 19, 2013, 06:41 AM   #7
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While you may get away with it Winchester does not release their MILSPEC primer to the public. They put them in their commercial ammo but for some reason don't release them. Winchester marketing is rather funny about things and unless there is public demand for something they tend to keep things in house. I put this on another forum a couple years back and asked people to write them and ask for them but apparently not enough did so.

If you say off the max loads you may avoid piercing the primer.

It is critical in loading that your primers be seated about .003" Min under the case head.

When you drop the bolt group on a round and extract the round you will see an indent on the primer. In the business it is referred to as a "tic" and up to a certain depth the primer will not fire.

When the ARs were first produced they had a striker that was much heavier and there were "tic offs" using standard small rifle primers. To correct this the MILSPEC primers with heavy cups were fabricated and the striker weight reduced an estimated 50%.

Many folks have ruined striker noses and bolt faces running standard small rifle primers and then there are those that have got away with it.

If you stay with 55 gr bullets and off the high end you may be fine but then again being a shooter I understand where you are trying to go. The Sierra 52 gr. HP will do nice things in your AR for the 100 yard matches and 200 yard matches.

You could shoot the 52s at 100 and 200 and get the MILSPECs for 300 and 600.

Remington BR primers are also heavy and the Wolf brand is available fabricated for the 223. I have 5M of them but have not loaded any as yet so I can't really tell you how they do but guys tell me they are fine. I am still working my way through the last of 10M of the Remingtons.

As a side note you might add Mobil 1 Synthetic Motor oil 0W20 or 0W30 to the gas ports on bolt and other lube areas. Mobil 1 will keep the carbon soft internally and make it much easier to clean.

The Army MTU has been using Mobil 1 for years. It is also good for M1As and Garands in the gas system to keep them from carboning up.
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Old February 19, 2013, 08:13 AM   #8
Robert37803
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Thanks Hummer. I have a couple of bricks of CCI #41 primers that I will use for my ARs. At $75 for 5,000 I couldn't pass them up. I guess I need to be on the lookout for a bolt gun I can use them in. Thanks also for the mobile one information.
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Old February 19, 2013, 10:51 AM   #9
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What color are they? If they're the old nickel plated primers you're golden.

I've shot plenty of the Winchester brass primers without problem too. The nickel ones are just thought to be tougher.
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Old February 19, 2013, 05:40 PM   #10
Robert37803
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These are the brass colored new type. I have half a thought of taking these to the gun show in town this weekend, and selling them for $20 a brick so I can buy more of the CCI 41 or the Remington 7-1/2 primers.
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Old February 19, 2013, 07:42 PM   #11
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I've fired probably 40K rnds using WSR primers thru my 11 yr old XM15A2 AR & finally had a firing pin spall on the end. I attribute the spall due to dry firing over the years. I've fired 10K WSR primers thru another varmint AR of mine with no problems. In all this I've had less than 50 primers not fail to light. I bought 1K Wolf SRP a year or so ago & they all went bang. Wolf primers were cheaper than WSR primers.
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Old February 21, 2013, 02:08 AM   #12
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You seriously put 40,000 rounds through your AR? How many barrel changes?
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Old February 21, 2013, 06:40 AM   #13
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IMHO those primers should work fine for you. I used a box when the lgs was out of CCI 400's. I loaded max loads of 25.0 gr of H335 with 55 gr bullets with no problems or high pressure signs. My primer of choice is CCI #400, I have used CCI #41 and seen no difference other than the 41's were slightly harder to seat.
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Old February 21, 2013, 02:29 PM   #14
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I shot at least 10,000 of the older nickel plated WSR and they worked fine. Then in 2000 Winchester came out with the brass finish primers. I called and Winchester told me they had made these primers more sensitive.

Loads that never bothered the old nickel plated WSR pierced terribly with the brass finish WSR. Soon I had a handful of dished AR15 firing pins. I am using a couple of them as punches. I cut the loads, and cut the loads, and about 1.5 grains down the primers stopped piercing. Since I wanted more velocity than I could get out of these brass WSR, I just loaded close range ammunition with the brass primers and used my CCi #41’s at long range. I am close to the last of the brass WSR; I loaded up the last with FMJ’s for rock busting and used reduced loads.

The primers go bang, they are accurate, but you cannot push bullets as fast as you can with CCI #41’s.

Even though I had a standing slamfire with a brass WSR I am not as worried about AR15 slamfires as I am with Garands/M1a’s. I have never heard of an out of battery slamfire with an AR15 action and I believe it is because the firing pin in an AR15 only extends during cam down, when the lugs are in engagement, thus slamfires will always be in battery. For Garands/M1a’s/Mini 14’s/M1 carbines, the firing pin is only retracted on cam down, and there are many accounts of these weapons slamfiring both in battery and out of battery with sensitive primers.
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Old February 21, 2013, 10:43 PM   #15
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chris in va,
Yes. I have shot about 40K rounds thru my XM15A2 AR (Bushmaster) with no barrel changes yet. It has a chromemoly 1-9 twist heavy barrel with a wild chamber. Still shooting the stock 10-round mag also (have many others). I detail clean the gun after each shooting session and load my rounds on the low end. I figure there's no sense beating up the gun.
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