As the title says, anyone have experience good or bad using Lapua Palma Brass with 2000 MR in below freezing temps? Ive heard of problems with small rifle primers causing hangfires with this powder in cold temps. Anyone have first hand experience with this combination?
Lapua Palma and 2000 MR in Cold Weather
- Thread starter Norseman1950
- Start date
No direct info on Lapua palma brass with 2000 MR powder. However, i have used it in regular 308 brass and in 223 both with no problems well below freezing. I use PP2000MR for my hunting load in 308 (LRP) and my long range loads in 223 (SRP).
I don't know about 2000MR, but I've had pretty noticeably awful results with .308 Palma/SRP brass and Varget in cooler temps (<40F) at distance (300-1000yds) in F-TR competition.
Bear in mind, I'm not talking about hopping out of the truck and doing load development, etc. - my fingers are the limiting factor in the cold long before the ammo is, in that situation. In fact, I do my early season load dev in pretty much exactly those conditions every year in order to get ready for the SWN, with no complaints.
Specifically the times I've noted severe accuracy issues were where the gun and ammo were left overnight in the truck in cooler temps (Raton, NM in September) or where the ammo was left unprotected in the box on the line all day long in crappy weather.
Once the problem was identified, I started leaving the ammo on the dashboard with the heater going for a while, and keeping the next 22 rounds in my pants pockets next to the 'boys' (BRRRR!!!!) while I was down in the pits pulling targets, or up scoring / waiting to shoot. Other times I've put the whole ammo block in a small insulated lunch box with some hand warmers. Either way worked.
For .223, I'd expect the problem to be less of an issue, both because of the relative size of the powder column, and because of the large flash hole.
Bear in mind, I'm not talking about hopping out of the truck and doing load development, etc. - my fingers are the limiting factor in the cold long before the ammo is, in that situation. In fact, I do my early season load dev in pretty much exactly those conditions every year in order to get ready for the SWN, with no complaints.
Specifically the times I've noted severe accuracy issues were where the gun and ammo were left overnight in the truck in cooler temps (Raton, NM in September) or where the ammo was left unprotected in the box on the line all day long in crappy weather.
Once the problem was identified, I started leaving the ammo on the dashboard with the heater going for a while, and keeping the next 22 rounds in my pants pockets next to the 'boys' (BRRRR!!!!) while I was down in the pits pulling targets, or up scoring / waiting to shoot. Other times I've put the whole ammo block in a small insulated lunch box with some hand warmers. Either way worked.
For .223, I'd expect the problem to be less of an issue, both because of the relative size of the powder column, and because of the large flash hole.
I was thinking I might be able to mitigate it by using CCI 450 Small Rifle Magnum Primers but I have zero experience with this primer. What primers were you using?
Well Crap, thanks for the info. I've got a good consistent load using large rifle primers. I was hoping to be able to run a little harder with the small rifle primer but maybe this isn't going to work.
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