Remington 6 1/2 small rifle primers

They're made for 22 Hornet and other low pressure chamberings. I've made the same mistake in buying them, and wound up using them for soft cast lead 9x19 loads.

From our friends at Remington:

Warning:
Remington does not recommend this primer for use in the 17 Remington, 222 Remington, 223 Remington, 204 Ruger, 17 Remington Fireball. Use the 7-1/2 Small Rifle Bench Rest primer in these cartridges.

This 6-1/2 Small Rifle primer is primarily designed for use in the 22 Hornet.

Click to expand...

Which uses more words to say what rbernie said. Unfortunately they are not a good choice. Pretty common mistake which has burned many hand loaders.

Ron

Yup.... I made the same mistake back during the primer scarcity years....

The concern is that the firing pin will pierce the primer. If the primer pierces, hot combustion gasses can cause pitting of the bolt face.

That said, I've loaded .223 with them and posted pics of the primers. Of the twenty or so I tested, I had one primer that looked like it had just pierced. My bolt face showed no indications of damage.

I don't load any other small rifle, so I'm keeping them on the back shelf for a rainy day. Or I may just decide to slightly download some lower pressure plinkers.

I use them for subsonic 300 BLK as I have a lot to get rid of. Yep, they were on sale once. You can use just about anything with 300 BLK subs even small pistol primers. In tens of thousands loaded Ive never pierced a primer.

I bought a bunch when Midway had them on sale. I will be able to use them for 30 carbine.

Toprudder said:

I bought a bunch when Midway had them on sale. I will be able to use them for 30 carbine.

Click to expand...

Midway is currently running out Winchester Primers. If you purchase $150 in Winchester primers they drop the $20 HAZMAT.

Midway Winchester Primer Promo. Not saying this is a great deal. Just tossing it out there. Primers have been creeping up in cost.

Ron

I bought 5000 Rem 7 1/2 primers years ago. According to my research at the time, they pack the most punch of any SR primer.

Yup.... I made the same mistake back during the primer scarcity years....

Yep, you and a lot of others..
Back then I (several times) traded 2 for 1 for other Small Rifle primers.

I'm just now down to my last K of these Remington 6 1/2's. They work GREAT for 9MM, .357 Mag, .40 S&W, and Small primer 10MM and .45acp.
These 6 1/2's are made for Hi-Pressure pistol loads-IMO ONLY...Bill..

The Rem 6 1/2 may be ok under 40,000 PSI. Note that some starting loads in 223 Rem are under this. See Hodgdon data.

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/index.cfm?page=CC

Looks like the 22 Hornet max is 49,000 psi ? http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/specifications/Velocity_Pressure_CfR.pdf

OP, I have also ended up with a few K of the 6 1/2 primers. I've loaded a bunch in pistol rounds. 9MM and 38 Spcl. They worked very well.

They work well in the .357 Magnum. I can't for the life of me figure out why Remington still makes a primer that can be used in so few cartridges???