Primer for lighting the AA# 9 speed WC 820

[TCLouis]

I have some old H110 Speed WC820 and it light fine with standard Winchester LP and SP primers.

I bought some of the AA# 9 speed powder and it fails to light with Winchester SP and LP primers about 1/2 the time and is erratic ignition when it does.

Some testing today with Winchester SR primer in the 357 and it worked great.

Will WLP and WSP Magnum primers reliably and consistently light this powder or should I go to LR and SR primers when it is used?

I am not sure, but it seem like LP primers work when i se it in 30-06 cast boolit loads.

It is these little nitnoid details are what make reloading FUN!

Short version
WC820 (H110/296 speed) any primer will light it
WC820 Fast (HS7 speed) any primer will light it
WC820 Medium (AA#9 speed) Can not get it to light summer or winter with standard Winchester SP or LP and MagTech LP in 357 or 44 Mag. lights right off with WSR in the 357Mag and groups well @ 50 with 358156.

[Fernando]

Stick with upper weight for caliber boolits with 820 it helps in my apps.

[Poygan]

The only time I have had loads fail to ignite is when I used 820 with standard primers, in at least two calibers. Switching to magnum primers solved the problem. Most likely I used CCI small pistol magnum and Winchester for the large pistol, IIRC.

[bhn22]

Since WC820 is a "light" rifle powder, never originally used in any handgun, I only use large magnum pistol primers, or magnum small pistol or regular small rifle primers. It does like the to be primers hot!

[nicholst55]

The Large Rifle primers won't fit into the primer pockets unless you ream them deeper. LR primers are about .010" taller than LP primers. I'd switch to a magnum pistol primer myself.

[Maven]

TCL, As you know I used quite a bit of WC 820/AA #9 in my rifles (.243W -> .45-70) with WLR primers or CCI #34's and never had an ignition problem, even when using as little as 14grs. (.243W + 87gr. GCCB). In my .357mag, I used either 10.3grs. or 11.0grs. (max.) with Rem. 1 1/2 primers without any problems at all. However, I did use Fed. LP mag. primers in my .44mag. with both the RCBS and Lyman Keith CB's as I had no experience with the load recommended by Shuz (17grs.) and wanted to err on the side of caution.

[fecmech]

I had a jug of 296 speed 820. Using 358429 I had no problems with Magtech and Federal SP primers and very good to excellent accuracy. That said, switching to CCI SR primers gave me slightly better accuracy and single digit SD's with 820. Winchester SP primers with 2400 and Blue Dot gave me 50-75 FPS less velocity in the .357 than Magtech, and Federal SP's in the same loads. At the time I had the Winchester SP's I did not have the 820 so I have no experience there.

[MT Gianni]

I have found that heavy for caliber bullets and a stout crimp make more difference than primer with 820. I consider minimum weight in 357 to be 160 gr and 250 in 44 & 45.

[uscra112]

Huh? I use AA#9 in a very light load (6.6 grains) in my .25-21 Stevens, and it lights every time with plain-ordinary small pistol primers, gives me far better SD over the Chrony than any other powder I've tried.

[bobthenailer]

Surplus 820 was orgionaly used for the 30 carbine , i have used over 25 lbs of 820 my self in handguns and know quite alot of people who have used alot of it in handguns as well using mag primers with no problems, except one shooter who was using std primers in a 44 mag when the temp gets around 35 or lower better use mag primers for reliable ignition .

[MT Gianni]

I have no problems with ignition with lr primers in 30-30 with 165+ gr loads and 15 gr WC820.

[Lloyd Smale]

in a handgun i dont fool with anything but cci 350s anymore. I also dont use it for downloading rifles anymore. 2400 works much better for that purpose.

[rexherring]

I started using AA#9 some years back for hunting loads in my .45BH and RCBS SWC 255's. I worked up my loads using mag pistol primers and they are some of the most accurate loads I've shot at full power type loads. Most of the deer hunting has been in cold weather here in North Dakota so that is one of the reasons I used them to work up my loads. I'm getting about 1300 fps and they almost flatten mule deer where they stand. Large pistol primers have worked well in my friends H&R handi.