Thoughts on standard primers in mag cases

[GunnyMack]

I recently bought a pound of Staball 6.5 to try in my 338WM. come to find out I don't have any LRM primers! Can't find LRM anywhere for sale.
So what are your thoughts about Magnum charges of ball powder and a standard LR- in this case Federal 210 match primer?
Just wondering if 60 odd grains will light consistently...

[Rockrat]

It might be somewhat erratic ignition. Ball powder in such a large case. Summertime might be fine, but cooler weather could be a different story.

[wvfarrier]

I have used Fed 210s in 300wsm and 300 prc...did not really notice any difference to be honest

[GunnyMack]

Cold temps were my first thoughts as well.
I dont forsee a hunt anytime soon where I would use my 338. Just doing some load development and get the gun sited in with a new scope.
I called Federal but no one answered the phone so I left a VM. Doubt I'll hear back...

Just out of curiosity, what powders/ charges were you using in your wsm & prc?

[ywaltzucanrknrl]

Speaking from experience, I wonder about this. I've never had an issue with ball powder. The only issue I ever had with ignition was with a 7BR with small rifle primers. Although Remington 7 1/2's would not ignite the load, Winchester small rifle primers would---both are supposedly "standard small rifle primers". Incidentally the powder was stick.

So, my son has a 338 Lapua AI. The charges he uses are around 100 grains of military WC870, a ball powder. He was having trouble with the ES and SD with all the magnum primers he tried. I mentioned he might try a standard primer---against all advice from gun writers and other commercial information. The ES and SD went down significantly. Also no issues with ignition. Also, a lot of these rounds were shot in the cold Wyoming winter. The chrono results were not very different with these loads from cold days to hot days, so ignition must be pretty consistent. The best results were with a R-P standard 9 1/2.

So, I'm not sure the issue isn't more specific to certain combinations or maybe just certain powders in certain instances than it is to say a certain heavy powder charge of ball powder. Maybe it's bullet tension, bullet weight or inferior powder coupled with other factors.

I shoot a lot of charges of ball powder over 50 grains with standard rifle primers. I've had no issues in cold weather.

FWIW, the bullet in the 7BR rounds did not even come out of the case, so there was no issue with a stuck bullet in the bore.

I read a lot that it is "recommended" if the charge of ball powder is over 50 grains to use a magnum primer, but my experience tells me to load them up and try them---test them and I might be surprised.

[GunnyMack]

Interesting, I wonder if the Magnum primer pushes the powder column forward before ignition? Seems ive heard that theory before...
I'm going to load up 1 bullet weight with increasing charges from min to max.
This Staball 6.5 at max charges shows over 60k psi so ill keep the throttle back a little, poor ol 98 Mauser doesn't need that much stress . Besides I've found this rifle likes lower end loads as far as accuracy.

Thanks for the input!