Printable View
I've been reloading my .223 AR with Win 748 and Federal small rifle primers. I've almost used all of my Federal small rifle primers up and will be using CCI No 41 primers soon. I plan on using a reduced starting charge, but my Hodgdon handbook only shows 26.3 gr and that is what I have been using with the federal small rifle powders. Does anyone have any experience with CCI no. 41s and Win 748? I plan on the standard 10% reduction for my starting load. Hopefully the action cycles!
these are my favorite primers but i rarely use ww748 , these are considered a magnum primer and there's some debate if they are as hot or hotter than the cci 450's so if your using standard small rifle primers with a max load the bigger drop back on charge is a good idea
sadly i cant be much more help , most the other manuals have listings with min. and max's listed , some also have ar loading data but that usually uses heavy bullets and you didnt specify the weight , i looked at hodgdon's site and could guess a 55 grainer but that guessing part could be wrong , worse many manuals use mag primers only in data (hodgdon's site doesnt state )
the 41's have a thicker cup and are less sensitive to the firing pin strike.
something to be AWARE of.
Thanks for all of the input. I might run a few trials with the 41s before I load a bunch of shells up. Since we were going to be by a Cabelas, we bought 5,000 of the CCI small rifle primers. At $19/1000 we decided to stock up!
The "mil" primers were introduced to prevent slam fires in Garands. (The LR ones.) The cup is a little bit thicker. So? I have been shooting Garands and M1A's for many years and I know of no one personally, nor have I ever heard a credible report of any slam fire happening in anything but an SKS or AK. That doesn't mean it's never happened, but I have yet to see, hear, or read about it. Not in any other mil style semi auto including AR's. Occasionally one encounters a firing pin that got by the QC inspector and protrudes too far, but when that happens, even the thicker primers will go off too. I see no real reason for the heavier primers for 99% of the reloaders out there and would not go out of my way to get or use them. Another solution in search of a problem.
Same way with match primers - if you understood how they're made, you wouldn't bother either, even with a custom match rifle. Over time it is understood that certain workers on the primer line (they are all filled by hand) do the job a bit more consistantly than others. So what they produce is packaged as match primers, good day or bad day, hung over, disgruntled, stoned, elated, depressed, blissful, suicidal, apathetic, etc. Is there a practical difference? I don't think so.
It might be that using either give the loader/shooter a little more confidence in his loads and maybe that little extra could show up on paper and that's really no bad thing, but a placebo by any other name.....
When, as you often do, have to pay more for either mil or match primers, I see it as nothing more than another scam to make a little more money off of the ignorant and unsuspecting. YMMV If they're on sale at a better price than the regular ones, go for 'em. They all go bang. ;)
oddly the only gun i have ever seen go full auto [on accident] was a 1st generation colt revolver, with black powder loads no less.
some guns just won't set off some of the harder cups.
years back i used to buy military surplus 9mm by the bucketfull my tokarev's loved them my bil absolutely hated me for it as his ruger would not shoot them.
and he had gotten used to shooting my reloads till i figured out the cost diff at that time.