Trust Your Nose!

[FredC]

I just looked at my oldest primer installation tool a Pacific "310" set that belonged to my father. It does have a concave punch designed for domed primers. Every primer installation tool since then has been for flat topped primers. I still have an empty box from the sixties that may have had domed primers, but I did not save a single one. I am supposing that some where in the late sixties or early seventies a change was made by all manufactures to flat topped primers. Not sure if they were compatible with the wrong punch or using the wrong punch damaged primers.

[madsenshooter]

CCi #34 or any magnum primer might light the powder better. #34s are Nato primers and most Nato countries are loading with ball powders now a days. I had problems with ball powders (760 and 2700) not burning completely in my Garand, they'd fall into the chamber on ejection and dent up subsequent cases. Magnum or #34 primers cleared that right up.

[butlersrangers]

Good point 'Madsenshooter' about using magnum primers with ball powders.

My Winchester large rifle primers are marked "regular and magnum" primers. They are intended to ignite W-W ball powders.
(I will stick with Winchester primers, since I have them in quantity and they have never given me a problem).

I should not have used non-magnum RWS primers with WW-748 powder.
However, the second of my recent two 'squib' rounds involved a cast-bullet round loaded with Hogdon #2400.

At this point, I believe deteriorating RWS primers was the cause of my 'squib' rounds.