Questions about CCI No. 41 Primers

[Eightball]

At the gun show last week, I picked up about 2k CCI No.41 Primers ("for 5.56 ammunition" was on the box, white and black). Small rifle primers, guy told me it was a contract overrun or somesuch. They were the cheapest good stuff he had, and I figure "hey, a small primer for 5.56 is a small primer for 5.56, there should be no problem" so I picked up a couple boxes. I asked him if, since they were small rifle primers, if they would also work well with .30 Carbine reloads, and he said yeah. I asked the other reloading vendor the same question, he agreed.


Since "No.41 primers" aren't listed in any of my reloading information booklets, I do have some lingering questions for y'all.

So my questions are these--are CCI No.41 Primers ("for 5.56 ammunition") good for loading .223 brass (most of it is RP UMC brass, actually), if it's going to be 55FMJ rounds running through an AR? Anything I should be worried about? Planning on using, IIRC, Winchester 731 Ball Powder to work the loads up to the same power as the UMC .223, since my rifle shoots that stuff pretty well.

And secondly, would there be any issues with using these same No.41s in some .30 Carbine running through an old Inland M1 Carbine? I don't have any powder or anything for it, but am collecting brass and am just trying to "think ahead," though I really haven't been focusing on .30 Carbine much these days.

Thanks!

 

[Jacka L Ope]

Snip from CCI website:

Q: What are CCI No. 34 and NO. 41 primers?
A: They are special rifle primers made to military sensitivity specs. They are one method to reduce the occurrence of slam-fires in gas-operated, military semi-auto rifles. See the Speer Reloading Manual for more details. No. 34 and No. 41 primers are MAGNUM primers.

http://www.cci-ammunition.com/education/faq.aspx#p3

Basically, the #34 is equivalent to the CCI 250 magnum primer and the #41 is equivalent to the CCI 450 magnum primer. I have no problem with them when duplicating the 55 gr M193 cartridge. Currently I'm using H322 but intend to switch to Varget. If you're using milsurp brass, don't forget to remove the military crimp from the primer pocket.

CCI Primer Usage Chart:
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/primers/primer_chart.htm

Don't have any experience with the M1 Carbine but I'm sure someone who does will be along shortly.

Cheers!

 

[nitesite]

If your load data book specifies CCI 450s, you are perfectly safe to substitute #41s.

Even if your load data doesn't mention the use of magnum SR primers, many powders work very well with them.

Particularly BL-(C)2

After talking with Dave at Hodgdon, I started using #41s with Varget in my .223 loads and things are good out of my 20" SS HB AR.

 

[Matt Dillon]

I use these in all my semi-automatic rifles as supposedly the primer cups are harder - designed to prevent slam-fires.