Small Or Large Rifle Primers In .308?

[peeplwtchr]

Hi All-

I'm likely going to start loading .308, and during my preliminary research, I see the some .308 cases have small primer pockets as opposed to large. I'll be buying new brass, not sure what brand yet (Recommendations always welcome).

What is the most widely used pocket size in .308? What are the benefits/drawbacks to either primer used in .308?

Thanks!

 

[Blue68f100]

LR is the most common but also the hardest primers to find right now. SR will hold up better than the LR, more firings before the pockets get loose. Right now choose on what primers you have and can get. In my area LR has been non existent for 2+ yrs now.

 

[AJC1]

Srp 308 brass is made for competitive shooting and the the lower brazilance of the smaller primer disturbs the internal powder columb less and give more stable consistent ignition for lower sd/es numbers needed for good groups at long range. If your just starting, likely you will see no difference. Alphas, Patterson, laupua. And bws all make premium brass. For some reason nossler thinks their brass is gold. If your just starting I would buy 5 boxes of Norma target 175s and make the brass a batch and load.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Since the majority of .308 ammo today uses a LRP that's what I would buy. Today, it is less likely you will find SRP that LRP if you find any at all. I would go with the original but then again, I'm old and set in my ways!

 

[1KPerDay]

I wasn't even aware they made SRP brass for .308.

 

[Hugger-4641]

SR magnum primers have been and still are on shelves around here. LR is still non existent. If I needed any .308 brass, I'd probably get small primer.

 

[lightman]

Large primer brass is by far more common. Small primer brass has earned its place but I have never loaded it. My choice of brand depends on the intended purpose. For competition I use Lapua. I even use it in my custom hunting rifles. I would not choose it if I were loading for a semi-auto. Most people are served pretty well by FC, PMC, RP, Win, and others. I know one person that buys a large quantity (500) of Winchester, detail preps all of them and competes using the most consistent 100. Seems like a lot of work!

 

[peeplwtchr]

Large primer brass is by far more common. Small primer brass has earned its place but I have never loaded it. My choice of brand depends on the intended purpose. For competition I use Lapua. I even use it in my custom hunting rifles. I would not choose it if I were loading for a semi-auto. Most people are served pretty well by FC, PMC, RP, Win, and others. I know one person that buys a large quantity (500) of Winchester, detail preps all of them and competes using the most consistent 100. Seems like a lot of work!

Okay thanks, this will be bolt action.

 

[N555]

Small rifle primers in a 308 sized case with ballpowder will give hang fires unless you are loading full or compressed loads.

 

[JFrank]

Okay thanks, this will be bolt action.

Check out post number two by Kevin Thomas (Lapua rep )
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/large-primer-vs-small-primer.3797013/

 

[billybob44]

I wasn't even aware they made SRP brass for .308.

Same here=I have not seen SMALL Primed .308 Winchester cases??

 

[Charlie98]

Same here=I have not seen SMALL Primed .308 Winchester cases??

As AJC mentioned, they are meant for competition.

Small rifle primers in a 308 sized case with ballpowder will give hang fires unless you are loading full or compressed loads.

This is my thought, too. Consideration needs to be given to what powder you might be using; if it's likely to be ball powder, I'd just stick with LR's.

 

[TEXASJD]

Lapua LRP brass, Norma is good too

 

[AJC1]

If you do decide to pay for lapua Palma mind your decaping pin.

 

[Nature Boy]

Lapua’s small primer brass is designated as “308 Palma”. It originated with competitors shooting in Palma matches where the rules limit them to bullets weighing no more than 155gn

In order to get the desired performance the shooters would have to run their loads on the hot side. This resulted in short brass life with standard 308, specifically enlarged primer pockets.

Lapua countered this by making 308 with small primer pockets which greatly increased the number of cycles competitors could get out of their brass

I use it exclusively in my F/TR loads. With standard 308 I would only get 3 loads before primers pockets got too big. With Palma brass I get 7-8 cycles

 

[Varminterror]

I used Lapua Palma cases to form all of my 308 family cartridge cases for over 15yrs. The principle was pretty simple for me - buying Lapua brass ensures a top quality product with reduced variability, and once the pain threshold of paying for Lapua brass is crossed, SR primed Palma brass lasts (slightly) longer than LRP. I’m not shooting much of any 308 family cartridge any more, but I still prefer SR primed brass over LR primed when I have the option, with the ONLY exception being Hornady brass for 6 creed, for which I simply don’t cross the price threshold for Lapua brass considering the volume of these I shoot.

Does the typical reloader benefit from that difference? Eh, I do think so - because Lapua brass does last a lot longer than most other brands AND has higher quality to boot, and Palma brass lasts even longer still.

 

[N555]

If you do decide to pay for lapua Palma mind your decaping pin.

I just drill mine out.

 

[mdi]

Not being a bench rest shooter competing in Creedmore events I have never seen a small primed 308 case. I have reloaded some "once fired, mixed headstamp brass" and a lot of 7.62x51 LC for my Ruger bolt gun and none have had small primer pockets. So from a purely theoretical standpoint; if small primed 308/7.62 brass were as easy to obtain as "standard" brass at a similar price I might try some as I have found small rifle primers more often...

 

[Charlie98]

Not being a bench rest shooter competing in Creedmore events I have never seen a small primed 308 case.

It's very unlikely you'd ever find a spent SR .308 case on the ground... those that shoot them recover their brass like they were made of gold, understandably.

 

[AJC1]

I just drill mine out.

Because your on depth testing showed that gave better results????

 

[JFrank]

Because your on depth testing showed that gave better results????

I thought he’s referring to drilling the flash holes ?

 

[AJC1]

I thought he’s referring to drilling the flash holes ?

Yes he is. He is modifying a small flash hole design and I'm curious if it's just a thing he does or something he tested. It would make sense that Lapua case engineers had a good idea what they were doing, and changing that would only be done to improve a case that's a dollar fifty each. Shifting decaping pins is easy and cheap.

 

[EricBu]

Hi All-

I'm likely going to start loading .308, and during my preliminary research, I see the some .308 cases have small primer pockets as opposed to large. I'll be buying new brass, not sure what brand yet (Recommendations always welcome).

What is the most widely used pocket size in .308? What are the benefits/drawbacks to either primer used in .308?

Thanks!

If you're going to push them hard, small primer is the way to go. You'll get a lot more loads out of them. Plus sr primers are easier to find. Most range brass you find will be lr though. Any time I buy new .308, it's always small primer.

 

[Jerry M]

My understanding is that small rifle primers in 308 started with the bench rest crowd who wanted the mildest ignition possible for accuracy. Many reformed the brass into other cartridges. That morthed into loading cases with extremely hot loads for speed in long range competition.
If you are a new reloaded, loading for a hunting rifle, I suggest you get brass with large primer pockets. Many shooters of SR primed brass had to bush their firing pin channel to avoid blowing primers at high pressure.

 

[N555]

Because your on depth testing showed that gave better results????

No because I only plant to use one size decapping pin.
And years ago I did all kinds of crazy things to flash holes and only the most extreme disfigurements start to show any difference at 300 yards. I would get flyers that were low, but all the crazy flash holes alone made their own half way decent groups.