35 Whelen
Member
I load lots of .30 Carbine and honestly, use whatever primer fits the pocket and that I happen to have the most of on the bench at the moment. SP, SPM, SR, SRM, it doesn't really matter to me. In loading for and shooting a dozen different carbines I've seen little difference in velocities, but I've never really done a somewhat formal test.
So, on another forum, the subject of loading the .30 Carbine came up and since I didn't have much to do last weekend, I decided to see if there was any meaningful differences when switching primers. So without further ado-
Rifle- Garden variety post war rebuild Quality Hardware M1 Carbine 8/43 production with an 18" Rockola barrel.
Components-
Case- LC 71
Powder- 14.8 gr. Ramshot Enforcer (AA4100)
Bullet- Armscor 110 gr. FMJ
Cartridge o.a.l.- 1.660"
Fiocchi SPP- _____1952 fps, 11 fps ES
CCI500 SPP- _____1964 fps, 20 fps ES
CCI550 SPMP - ___1993 fps, 12 fps ES
Rem 6 1/2 SRP- ___1992 fps,18 fps ES
CCI400 SRP- ____1984 fps, 56 fps ES
CCI450 SRMP- ___1978 fps, 53 fps ES
Wolf SRMP- _____1971 fps, 58 fps ES
As one can see, there's no appreciable difference in velocity between the primers. I think this would tell us that the pressure differences are also very small with no particular primer standing out as adding to or reducing pressure. (As a side note, the Fiocchi SP has been my go-to for .38 Special practice loads and it yielded lower velocities than other primers in that cartridge too)
If you're a math nerd, the average velocity of all the different primers was 1976 fps and the extreme spread between the slowest and fastest was only 41 fps. Going from memory, the extreme spread between the lowest and highest individual rounds was about 65 fps.
Components-
Case- LC 72
Powder- 15.0 gr. of W296 (H110)
Bullet- Armscor 110 gr. FMJ
Cartridge o.a.l.- 1.660"
Fiocchi SPP- _____1934 fps, 69 fps ES
CCI500 SPP- _____1960 fps, 69 fps ES
CCI550 SPMP - ___1973 fps, 62 fps ES
Rem 6 1/2 SRP- ___1976 fps, 39 fps ES
CCI400 SRP- _____1993 fps, 23 fps ES
CCI450 SRMP- ___1967 fps, 41 fps ES
Wolf SRMP- _____2004 fps, 54 fps ES
Again, there's no appreciable difference in velocity between the primers. One thing that caught my attention was the CCI450's which are SRM primers. With both powders these primers gave lower velocities than their standard counterparts, the CCI400. My CCI450's were quite a bit older than the CCI400, I'd say probably '80's vintage, so I wonder if this is why the velocity with them was lower. For some reason the Wolf SRM's really kicked it in the butt and gave the highest velocities, averaging over 2000 fps. The Fiocchi SPP's again yielded the lowest velocity.
For you math nerds the average velocity of all the primers with W296 powder was 1972 fps with and extreme spread of 70 fps.
It's interesting that the extreme spreads were overall lower with Ramshot Enforcer powder. I really like this powder and will probably use it exclusively from now on. Also I failed to mention that none of these charges with either powder were weighed, they were all thrown directly from an RCBS Uniflow. I checked several charges during the process and every time, they were spot-on.
I think this might apply with the .357 Magnum since the two cartridges use roughly the same amount of powder.
Hope some of you enjoy this!
35W
So, on another forum, the subject of loading the .30 Carbine came up and since I didn't have much to do last weekend, I decided to see if there was any meaningful differences when switching primers. So without further ado-
Rifle- Garden variety post war rebuild Quality Hardware M1 Carbine 8/43 production with an 18" Rockola barrel.
Components-
Case- LC 71
Powder- 14.8 gr. Ramshot Enforcer (AA4100)
Bullet- Armscor 110 gr. FMJ
Cartridge o.a.l.- 1.660"
Fiocchi SPP- _____1952 fps, 11 fps ES
CCI500 SPP- _____1964 fps, 20 fps ES
CCI550 SPMP - ___1993 fps, 12 fps ES
Rem 6 1/2 SRP- ___1992 fps,18 fps ES
CCI400 SRP- ____1984 fps, 56 fps ES
CCI450 SRMP- ___1978 fps, 53 fps ES
Wolf SRMP- _____1971 fps, 58 fps ES
As one can see, there's no appreciable difference in velocity between the primers. I think this would tell us that the pressure differences are also very small with no particular primer standing out as adding to or reducing pressure. (As a side note, the Fiocchi SP has been my go-to for .38 Special practice loads and it yielded lower velocities than other primers in that cartridge too)
If you're a math nerd, the average velocity of all the different primers was 1976 fps and the extreme spread between the slowest and fastest was only 41 fps. Going from memory, the extreme spread between the lowest and highest individual rounds was about 65 fps.
Components-
Case- LC 72
Powder- 15.0 gr. of W296 (H110)
Bullet- Armscor 110 gr. FMJ
Cartridge o.a.l.- 1.660"
Fiocchi SPP- _____1934 fps, 69 fps ES
CCI500 SPP- _____1960 fps, 69 fps ES
CCI550 SPMP - ___1973 fps, 62 fps ES
Rem 6 1/2 SRP- ___1976 fps, 39 fps ES
CCI400 SRP- _____1993 fps, 23 fps ES
CCI450 SRMP- ___1967 fps, 41 fps ES
Wolf SRMP- _____2004 fps, 54 fps ES
Again, there's no appreciable difference in velocity between the primers. One thing that caught my attention was the CCI450's which are SRM primers. With both powders these primers gave lower velocities than their standard counterparts, the CCI400. My CCI450's were quite a bit older than the CCI400, I'd say probably '80's vintage, so I wonder if this is why the velocity with them was lower. For some reason the Wolf SRM's really kicked it in the butt and gave the highest velocities, averaging over 2000 fps. The Fiocchi SPP's again yielded the lowest velocity.
For you math nerds the average velocity of all the primers with W296 powder was 1972 fps with and extreme spread of 70 fps.
It's interesting that the extreme spreads were overall lower with Ramshot Enforcer powder. I really like this powder and will probably use it exclusively from now on. Also I failed to mention that none of these charges with either powder were weighed, they were all thrown directly from an RCBS Uniflow. I checked several charges during the process and every time, they were spot-on.
I think this might apply with the .357 Magnum since the two cartridges use roughly the same amount of powder.
Hope some of you enjoy this!
35W
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