Comments on: Primers and Pressure Analysis by James Calhoon

By: James

James — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:04:58 +0000

I certainly found this article to be beneficial when I first read it and still good knowledge to have. I have one question though. In the small rifle portion he shows Fed 200. Might this be a typo? Far back as I’ve been able to trace the Fed 200 was and is a small pistol mag primer.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:59:23 +0000

Cool James used to shoot gophers at my Dads farm in Alberta near Calgary. He used to bring out his 22-250 and two ice cream pails full of bullets to shoot off in an afternoon.

By: John L

John L — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:08:55 +0000

Good article, matches my experience (albeit dated).

Unfortunately the reference book you recommend is no longer available “Ammunition Making” by George Frost. I searched on Palladium Press, the NRA store and a general search and found no source to purchase it.

By: SPClark

SPClark — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:10:10 +0000

Yeah, nice article but a little dated. Production specs on some products may have changed since 1995.

Many primers will show cratering before significant pressure is noted if the firing pin hole in the bolt is too large. Bushing the bolt is the cure for this but is difficult or impossible to achieve in gas guns generally.

I’ll try to measure cup thickness of some Wolf/Tula KVB-223 and KVB-223M spent primers later today just to add some current info. The M denotes a magnum cup with the came level of charge as the 223 primer BTW. Wolf/Tula’s 556 primer is a true small rifle magnum primer.

By: Terry Balding

Terry Balding — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:11:08 +0000

Great Article!

Any Wolf primer info?

By: Richard Tapps

Richard Tapps — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 06:08:18 +0000

I think that a more important specification would be the primer cup, material hardness! A thinner hard cup would potentially deform less than a thicker soft one… What is required is that with a given firing pin spring, the pin strikes with enough force to cause enough penetration that the cup strikes the anvil and causes the primer to fire. I would suggest the cup be as soft as possible without piercing or flattening for the given load. As always trial and error dictates which primer you use.

By: rich

rich — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:35:14 +0000

The book mentioned, “Ammunition Making”, by George Frost is extraordinary reading.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:19:31 +0000

Nice article. But in AR15s using CCI 400 primers, the primer always gets dumped before it pierces.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 17 May 2010 00:40:19 +0000

Great info, this guy used to shoot buckets of bullets at gophers all day long out at my dads farm in Airdrie Alberta Canada!

By: Eric Kennard

Eric Kennard — Sun, 16 May 2010 01:42:09 +0000

Great article. I am curious what the CCI BR2 Large primer cup thickness would measure?