Blue Dot vs 4895 in my Krag

[madsenshooter]

I needed to vacate some brass in order to get some empties for another reloading project and wound up with a head to head comparison of Blue Dot and Bartlett's last batch of new 4895. The loads were: 20gr Blue Dot, Rem 9 1/2M primer, Eagan MX3-30AR vs 34gr 4895, CCI200 primer, and the same boolit. Also tagging along was 20gr Blue Dot, Fed 155 Magnum Pistol Primers. The aiming point on the target was the black square at the bottom, range about 85 yards. The Blue Dot group is the top one, the 4895 below, and then the rounds with the magnum pistol primer were piled on top of that group. Only difference with the magnum pistol primers was several of them pierced. The 20gr of Blue Dot under the Eagan had been a disappointment when using CCI200 primers, but the 9 1/2M made the load work better. Judging by the smoke, a hotter primer might make it better yet. The highest one in the Blue Dot group, the one up the corner was my fault, slipped a little off my back porch rail rest! Velocity of both loads should be in the neighborhood of 2000fps with the Blue Dot load being a touch faster. Another grain or so of 4895 might have made equal pressure and velocity, and perhaps gotten an equal group. When I was playing with the Eagan at the 16gr level with Blue Dot, one of the fellows said to put some powder under it! Photo 1 top is overall before the pistol primers, next the 5 Blue Dot, bottom hole is part of the 4895 group, which is 3rd pic, 6 shots, one is hiding on the bottom black line, and the final pic is the pistol primer rounds piled on top of the 9 1/2M BD loads. 12 or 13 rounds total.

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

Gee, I wouldn't use any pistol primers in rifle cartridges, even with reduced loads.

Pistol primers are made using much thinner metal than rifle primers, and rifle firing pins hit the primers a lot harder than pistols. Not surprising you got primers pierced; what's surprising is that ALL of the pistol primers didn't pierce. Hope it didn't mess up your firing pin. Might want to check it with a magnifying glass and see if it suffered any gas cutting.

[StarMetal]

That piercing was more a function of too strong a firing pin spring. It depends which rifle you use pistol primers in whether they get pierced or not. It's perfectly safe for mild cast loads, but really dangerous with high pressure jacketed loads and I believe most the users of such here on the forum are well aware of that.

Joe

[madsenshooter]

Actually there are those that promote their use here on this site. I've found it isn't so much a function of the firing pin spring pressure by using different weight springs, it's the fact that they aren't as tall as rifle primers and thus seat deeper in the primer pocket, just deep enough that they don't have enough stretch to expand back to the boltface with a firing pin sticking in the middle of them! The primers aren't really pierced, they're torn open as the primer expands to the rear and the firing pin remains stationary. It's bad ju-ju in my book, but read here that it was common practice. I just decided to shoot them rather than tear them down. I'll bet if I made a proper washer to bring them up to height there wouldn't be any piercing, well maybe with the Wolff striker spring I have.

[tactikel]

I've used large pistol magnum primers when I couldnt get LR primer for 5 months.They worked just fine in my .30-06 with light loads (16 gr 2400 or 13 gr unique) with heavier loads I would be hesitant to use them. In fact my most accurate load was the unique 13 gr load with LP mag primers and the Lee 160 gr boolit -I got 0.5" 5 shot groups at 50 yards! This is from a '03-A3 2 groove (and I wear trifocals). :-D

[madsenshooter]

I've also had some good results in my Krag with the Lee, but I think I warped the mold burning the cutting lube out of it. Some of the first bullets I cast, the few that turned out good, didn't have much of a seam, but the mold halves don't seem to line up the same now and the bullets are quite out of round with a pretty pronounced seam. Groups with some of the earlier cast bullets were comparable to the Blue Dot Eagan groups I have pictured. Firing pin protrusion might play a part in whether or not the pistol primers pierce.