Match Primers for Accuracy or Not?

[Buck Wilde]

I Googled for quite a while trying to get an answer to a question, but I couldn't get definitive information, so here I am, asking a crowd that ought to be able to help. Pardon me if this has been asked 10,000 times. I did search.

I have a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. It is a sub-MOA gun, as far as I can tell from pretty limited experience, with factory match ammo. I would like to reload with it. It seems to like both 140- and 147-grain ELD-M just fine.

I think this gun is capable of better than 1/2-MOA at 100 yards, and I would like it to stay that way.

The question: does it actually matter whether I use match primers? I have a bunch of rifle primers, but I don't think any are match grade. I haven't gone through them all yet.

 

[stello1001]

I don't really think it matters much. I'm sure there are differences in primers. That's why there's many different types. However, many people shoot tiny groups with non BR primers. If your rifle has a good barrel, and your components are good quality, you should be able to get really good results.

 

[Buck Wilde]

Thanks. The only recipe I have at the moment is for Hodgdon H4350. It calls for Federal 210M match primers. It's sad, but I haven't kept an inventory. I bought a lot of primers when things went nuts in the pandemic. I will have to dig through them to see what I have.

As I recall, I got the powder and primers so I could make cartridges for hunting, but then the world went insane, and I just sat on them. I also bought 700 hunting bullets and some brass, and it's all just sitting around. Maybe I couldn't get ELD-M, so I thought I should just give hunting rounds a go and see if they were accurate enough for practice at 100 yards. I don't recall for sure.

I have made plenty of pistol rounds, but this will be my first try with rifles.

 

[Doom]

It would be hard (meaning shooting a large number of rounds) to prove that one primer is superior to another. The first requirement would be to develop a load for each type and then shoot a lot of groups and compare. Even with doing that you would only prove it for the lots in question.

It used to be the price difference wasn't a lot so many used the Match as opposed to the regular. I was one and but during the 2013 component crisis I switched to regular and military (#34) primers and quite honestly couldn't see an obvious difference. Whether that means there is no difference or not I don't know because I couldn't shoot any difference.

 

[jetjock07]

With everything equal, match primers may give you a slight edge in SD and ES. Biggest thing I saw when I started loading for my 65 was going from LRP brass to SRP and using CCI 450’s. My Sd’s and Es drastically shrunk.

 

[straightshooter1]

I Googled for quite a while trying to get an answer to a question, but I couldn't get definitive information, so here I am, asking a crowd that ought to be able to help. Pardon me if this has been asked 10,000 times. I did search.

I have a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. It is a sub-MOA gun, as far as I can tell from pretty limited experience, with factory match ammo. I would like to reload with it. It seems to like both 140- and 147-grain ELD-M just fine.

I think this gun is capable of better than 1/2-MOA at 100 yards, and I would like it to stay that way.

The question: does it actually matter whether I use match primers? I have a bunch of rifle primers, but I don't think any are match grade. I haven't gone through them all yet.

The difference between match primers and non-match primers is QC (quality control). The manufacturer puts their more experienced (higher paid) people on producing match grad primers and QC for them tend to be tighter. That's why they cost more. The actual components they're assembled with are not any different than the non-match components. Because of this increased QC, the match grade primers are going to be more consistent than the others and unless you're competing at a high level, you're not likely to actually see any difference between them. . . especially in typical hunting rifles.

Because match grade primers have become so high priced and apparently you have way more than you need, maybe you can some of them and try and find someone willing to trade for other components you might need at a comparable price???