Hottest primer for rifle and for pistol???

[Dakota Widowmaker]

What is the hottest primer you should use for Black?!?!

I have heard the battle between Fed 215M vs. Win LRM

I have been shooting Win LRM for a while, but, was wondering if the Fed 215M is what its cracked up to be if I switch to FFFg for my 56-50 shooting.

I also drilled out my flash holes to all be the same at 3/32"

[Grapeshot]

Either is acceptable because it is not the degree of "Hotness" but the time of the burn.  Both Federal and Winchester Magnum primers have a longer burn time when ignited.  Which is best to get through a compressed charge of BP.

My reference is Pat & Spence Wolf's book on reloading the .45-70 for Original Trapdoor Rifles and Carbines.

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho the fire, primer fire that is.

Lodi, WI is home to Winnequah.  This is a fine and very old long range rifle range.  I've shot BPCR long range matches there, rrun by Ernie Stallman.  Ernie and his bride, Jerry own Badger Barrels.  These are the same barrels as supplied on new Browning High Wall long range rifles and several others.  What I'm trying to say is that there is learning to be had at Lodi.

One of the latest trends has been to use large PISTOL primers in the black powder ammo.  Not LP Magnum, but standard force LP primers.  For reasons I can't explain, when I tried it over the chronograph I got more consistent results as compared to large rifle or large rifle magnum primers.  You go figure.

So, I've been loading up my long range 45-70 ammo with CCI large pistol primers.  I've seen some very high scores from the 1000 yard line with this kind of ammo (not mine), so I'm convinced that they are on to something.

Bottom line, you will have to try more options, take notes and make decisions based on your results in your rifle.  Long range BPCR is a long process of continuing nit picky development for each shooter.  No one recipe fits all.

DD-DLoS

[Noz]

I'm brand new to BPCR. I bought a Sharps with 15 rounds of factory ammo. Fired those and reloaded with a 340 gr bullet(my lube) a wool lubed wad and 62 grs of GOEX FFg. The first 3 shot group I got onto paper measured .87 from ?85-95? yds.
Since I had never loaded for rifle I used my CCI 300 LP primers. Seemed to work quite well.

[J.D. Yellowhammer]

Many of the long range BPCR gurus put a paper patch (like newspaper) over a LP primer.  Then the powder/wad/bullet.  It effects how the powder is ignited.
Personally, I believe that up to a couple of hundred yards, most any primer is okay.  I use LR Fed. 210 and 210M (match, not magnum).  So far, they've worked just fine.  I think things like the primer and how it's loaded start to make a real difference when the range starts getting really long.  All the variables get magnified when the bullet has a long way to travel.

[sundance44`s]

I switched to CCI large pistol primmers in everything a few months ago ..I  was useing Winchester large pistol primmers ..With the CCI `s ..I now have cleaner fired cases ..noticable difference from the get go . Haven`t had a chance to crono any yet , but will soon . I thank Winchester for the price increase that caused me to go with the cheaper CCI`s .

[Dakota Widowmaker]

For pistol cases, I use almost exclusively Winchester Large Pistol primers. I have never needed to use rifle primers in them as (1) they don't fit and (2) WLP is hot enough to set off W296, which is a tough powder to ignite w/o good primers.

I too heard the story told of folks using pistol primers in a rifle case, but, I am worried about light strikes cause the primer will be seated well below flush.

One last thing I do is ream out the flash holes. If nothing else, this adds an additional level of consistency.

Lately I have been weighing my charges for 45-90, 38-55, and 56-50 as opposed to just using a volume measurement.

For pistol cases, I just use a scooper.