Choosing Powder/Primers for Reloading

[dak0ta]

Hi,

I just ordered a RCBS kit. I have dies/bullets/cases, now just the powders and primers need to be bought.

I kind of want to streamline my powders/primers for the most calibers.

Calibers I want to reload for are .308/7.62 NATO (M14), 8mm Mauser, 6.5x55 Swedish, .30-30, and .45 ACP.

Is there a powder that will suit all the .30 cal rifles? And one for the pistol cal?

Also, which brand makes good primers? The M14 should use harder primers in case of slam-fire, which ones are best to use? How about for the pistol?

Thanks

 

[fallout mike]

I can answer the pistol part. Many people like unique for .45acp. I've never been able to tell the difference in primers for it.

 

[zxcvbob]

H4895 or IMR4895 (they are close but not the same) or Varget. And Bullseye for pistol.

There's lots of other choices too. The bigger question is what can you get?

 

[NWcityguy2]

Varget, 4064 and 4895 will work for 308, 30-30, 8mm Mauser and in a slightly reduced capacity the 6.5x55mm as well. If you plan on not exceeding published load data (or have a surplus 6.5x55mm) I doubt you will gain that much by going with a slower powder in 6.5x55mm. Also consider Accurate 2495 and 4064 and they are very close in performance to IMR 4895 and 4064 respectively.

For 45acp I am converting over from fast pistol powders like Bullseye, Accurate #2 or W231 in favor of fast shotgun powders like WST, Ramshot Competition and Hodgdon Clays. They have lower charge weights and lower felt recoil. All work good but that has become my new preference. Accurate #5 delivers a lot of velocity with a lot of powder and recoil.

All brands make good primers, there is no low end or high end in that sense. CCI Nato primers are very popular with M14 shooters and if your other rifles will set them off you could just buy those and those alone. If not regular large rifle are all that are needed for 8mm, 30-30 and 6.5x55mm. For 45acp any brand of large pistol primer will work. I've been burning through thousands of Wolf/Tula with great results and used almost 10k Winchester before and like those as well. Wolf/Tula are hard to seat so if you are going to use your press instead of a hand primer you might want to go with a different brand. They are a chore on my Redding Boss to say the least.

You will have better chance of finding local suppliers of Powder and Primers right now than online. Buying online in bulk is great once you know what you want but almost everything is sold out right now anyway.

 

[rcmodel]

Primers is primers.
Buy whatever you can find now.

Unique or W231 will do a decent job of loading any handgun caliber to decent performance levels.
Bullseye was the orginial military .45 ACP powder used for many many years.

Varget, 4064, 4895, or BLc(2) will load most bottleneck rifle calibers pretty decent.

But right now today.

Anything you can find on a shelf will be about all you can get.

In the middle of a famine?
Beggars can't be to picky what they beg to eat!

rc

 

[dak0ta]

Man, sucks to be joining so late in the game.

Regarding crimping, should I only crimp the .30-30 due to it being fed via a tubular magazine?

 

[kingmt]

Of you guys would put in your location someone close to you might be welling to help.

 

[rcmodel]

Yes.

Crimping is only required for tube magazines, revolvers, and very hard kicking elephant guns.

Proper case neck tension is sufficient to hold bullets in place with most rifle calibers and auto pistol calibers.

rc