The first “magnum” primer, the Federal 215 was designed for this very purpose. Slower-burning powders are normally more difficult to ignite, and a bigger flame of longer duration helps, especially in cooler weather.

Really huge rifle cases such as the biggest Weatherbys, Remington Ultra Mags, and older British African cartridges require a lot of very slow-burning powder to operate at all. This is why some Hornet fans use small pistol primers, with much milder brisance than small rifle primers. Instead of a relatively gentle, slowly accelerating push, the bullet gets cruelly hit hard. 22 Hornet, a “hotter” primer might start to dislodge the bullet before the powder really gets going. These differences really can effect not just accuracy but pressure.įor instance, in a very small rifle cartridge such as the. This flame can also be manipulated to last a little longer, by adding tiny particles of other flammable material to the priming compound. Primer brisance mostly depends on the length of the flame that leaps out of the flash-hole after the firing pin whacks the primer cup. Primers come in different strengths, technically known as “brisance,” a word defined as “the shattering effect of a high explosive.” Pertinent information will be added to this section when more information becomes available. Hopefully this explains a bit more about, not only primers in general, but specific characteristics that can aid a reloader in choosing the optimum sparkplug.

Information from the Speer #14, Hornady #7, Nosler#6, and Lyman #49 reloading manuals, Alliant and Accurate Arms data.Īdditional Information from James Calhoon - 'Primers and Pressure' Varmint Hunter Magazine, October, 1995 Taken from the following and posted by Frisco PeteĬHOOSING THE RIGHT PRIMER - A PRIMER ON PRIMERSīased on an article by John Barsness - GUNS magazine pg.

While searching around for some info I stumbled on to this thread and its too good not to share.

Large riffle primers