Primer showdown: WOLF vs. CCI #41

[tomme boy]

The smaller the case, internal capacity plays a HUGE role. A 2-4gr difference on a 223 case is worse than a 2-4gr difference on a 308 case. 308 case it will not matter. But a 223 can push you over the limits easy if you are not using a combo that gives you a little fudge factor. Then you have cases that need annealing and you have neck tension all over the place.

Combine a less than ideal combo with cases that have neck tension issues, reduced capacity, and a hot primer and you get what you see with blown primers and swipes.

[tomme boy]

The other thing is, have you checked the throat to see how bad it is? Carbon buildup can do exactly this too.

[markm]

After breaking my golden rule of No Varget for .223 (to make ammo for the Tikka 23.75" barrel), I now want to see how the psycho CCI primers work with Varget (a slower powder) which you usually can't get enough into a .223 case to get high pressure.

Pretty much all the loads I tried had some compression when seating. I have to torture myself a little more and back a load off an try the CCI 41.

[markm]

These friggin CCI primers! Every time I take a week or two off of them, I get optimistic that they will work out somehow.

I loaded 5 rounds of Wolf and 5 of the 41s with LC brass (mixed headstamps/years). The load was 23.8 gr of Varget with the RMR 75 gr OTMs.

The charges were ran on the Chargemaster due to Vargets poor metering.

Wolf: 2800 fps with an SD of 17

CCI: 2877 fps with an SD of 51

77 friggin FPS gain with probably the worst SD I've ever loaded. These primers are complete shit.

[markm]

Going to make another attempt at running the CCI 41s. I have TAC down-loaded 1.3 grains from max published with 69gr RMRs. (23.0 grains, Max is 24.3 for 69 SMK on Hodgdon's website) I'll post the results this weekend.

[tomme boy]

Forgot, have you ever checked for a carbon ring?

[markm]

Forgot, have you ever checked for a carbon ring?

Explain more. Carbon ring where?

[HKGuns]

These friggin CCI primers! Every time I take a week or two off of them, I get optimistic that they will work out somehow.

I loaded 5 rounds of Wolf and 5 of the 41s with LC brass (mixed headstamps/years). The load was 23.8 gr of Varget with the RMR 75 gr OTMs.

The charges were ran on the Chargemaster due to Vargets poor metering.

Wolf: 2800 fps with an SD of 17

CCI: 2877 fps with an SD of 51

77 friggin FPS gain with probably the worst SD I've ever loaded. These primers are complete shit.

That is a pretty hot load, depending on case volume. Are you sure those mixed LC headstamps and resultant case volume differences aren't to blame for your high SD?

[czgunner]

This thread makes me sad. The vast majority of my primer stash is CCI. Albeit from 2008-2012.

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[1168]

This thread makes me sad. The vast majority of my primer stash is CCI. Albeit from 2008-2012.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Using CCI primers on a progressive, I get SDs as good as Mark is posting with Wolf primers with some loads. We’re using different powders, bullets, and loading for a different purposes, though.

I would definitely suggest re-working a load when switching to a newly produced lot of 41s, though. Unless you want to pull your hair out.