SmallCaliberCentral

My local store only has CCI 450s but I wanted to know if it was worth tracking down some Remington 7 1/2s or some br4s. Thanks.

Fed205M...good luck finding them.

Ya, I am finding a lot of reloading stuff is hit and miss. Have you tried other primers and 205 was the best for you? Thanks.

I use WSR's in my 204 & FireBall. They seem to work just fine for me. I am running the 39gr BK's a little warm at just under 3900fps & they seem to be holding up rather well.

My vote goes for the CCI BR4's. They haven't let me down yet. You might have some challenges finding them though. If you do buy as many as you can afford.

I am getting groups averaging in the .4s with CCI 450s. I was just wanting to know if it was worth the effort to track down different primers. Thanks. My gun does not like the 39sbks with more than around 3680-3700fps.

The load and powder I was using showed an improvement when I switched from Rem 7 1/2's to BR4's. I still don't know if it was the load components or me on that particular day. It could have been very easily me. I haven't shot since but hopefully I'll get around to it on Saturday and maybe I'll know a little more-at least for what works for me. I can get BR4's and 7 1/2's locally but not 205M's. Dave

greystone wrote:The load and powder I was using showed an improvement when I switched from Rem 7 1/2's to BR4's. I still don't know if it was the load components or me on that particular day. It could have been very easily me. I haven't shot since but hopefully I'll get around to it on Saturday and maybe I'll know a little more-at least for what works for me. I can get BR4's and 7 1/2's locally but not 205M's. Dave

Thanks. Let me know what happens. I guess I will have to hunt some other primers down just to find out for myself.

I'm shooting Fed Match in one .204 and Winchester in the other. Both work quite well.

My load testing with different primers has include the Fed Gold Match Grade small rifle primers, Remington 7½, and the CCI BR-4 primers. I have used several hundred of the Fed GM primers, thousands and thousands and thousands of the Rem 7½ primers, and 200 of the CCI BR-4 primers. The Rem 7½ have consistently given me the tightest groups with my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger, a Lilja barreled .17 Rem, and a Pac-Nor barreled .17 Rem. The CCI BR-4 primers gave me a wee bit more velocity than the other two primers using the same bullet and powder weight charge. The velocity difference was only 22 fps from the slowest average velocity for the 205GMs at 3,798 fps up to 3,805 fps for the Rem 7½, and 3,820 fps for the CCI BR-4s. Five-shot group sizes were:

GM 205s = .466"
Rem 7½ = .420"
BR-4s = .640"

This was a very limited number of shots, so these numbers are not very reliable, but I'm sticking with my Rem 7½ primers. Up here, they are quite a bit less expensive than the other two primers.

Overall favorite primers are 205M and CCI-450.
Its always nice to have extras around. You never really know which one will work best with a particular load until you try them.
I've always thought if I worked a load with a particular primer that was as good as it was gonna get. In the last year of playing with two 6BR's I've proved that theory wrong.

The load I intend to shoot in the 204m challenge was first shot with Fed 205's (no M)
An old lot of CCI-450's improved that load but I only had a few. Ran to the gunshop and bought another 1000 of the 450's. The magic was gone.
Went back to the second best choice in the primer shootoff which was Fed 205M.
The last time I shot it the 205M's were doing fine. I found some old (red + white packaging) 450's in another gunshop but haven't tried them yet in the 204.

I also bought a new lot of 1000 BR-4's. In all my primer testing in various calibers they consistently come out last. It might not be fair but I'll say I'm not having great luck with CCI's since they changed the color of the box.

I just finished putting some rounds together. All the brass came out of the same 100 round bag and each one has been shot exactly the same number of times. The flash holes and primer pockets have been uniformed using Sinclair tools. The cases are trimmed to the same length. The bullets are all 35 grain Bergers and have all come out of the same box and all seated identically. All the powder charges were individually weighed. The only variable is the primers-half are 7 1/2's and the other half is BR-4's. I use a Lee hand primer and I noticed that the Remington primers seated with considerable less effort. Anyhow I plan on shooting early tomorrow morning to test this stuff and see what primer acually does work the best with this load in my rifle. I hope the Remingtons come out on top-mainly because they're cheaper and I have alot more of them Anyhow my trigger finger is itching a little bit and I'm gonna have fun with this little test Dave

Just a couple of weeks ago, I shot some loads thru a .221 Fireball. Same loads, two different primers, the Federal 205M and the Remington 7 1/2s. That rifle strongly favors the 205Ms, just like all my other rifles. I have NOT found the 7 1/2 to be "benchrest" quality, not in the least little bit, in ANY cartridge.
My boss, who shoots benchrest a lot, also favors 205Ms by a wide margin, in his PPCs.

All that being said, I still use some 7 1/2s now and then, usually whenever I'm working with the hotter loads, because they have a harder primer cup. In particular, that Fireball has an oversized firing pin hole, and will blank primers with softer cups. If it didn't shoot so well, even with the Remington primers, I'd do something about it.

I'm trying to wean myself off the highdollar Federal primers, but their performance seems to be worth the extra coin.

Well the weather didn't cooperate here in my part of Minnesota for my little primer test which I was really looking forward to doing All day soaker yesterday and thunderstorms and wind now. Since alot of you speak so highly of the 205M I think I'm going to throw some of them into the mix. I want to wean myself away from the BR4's. They were $4.99 at my local dealer yesterday. Dave

greystone wrote:Well the weather didn't cooperate here in my part of Minnesota for my little primer test which I was really looking forward to doing All day soaker yesterday and thunderstorms and wind now. Since alot of you speak so highly of the 205M I think I'm going to throw some of them into the mix. I want to wean myself away from the BR4's. They were $4.99 at my local dealer yesterday. Dave

That is too bad. I am anxious to see the results.