Last summer I obtained a couple thousand CCI 250 Magnum rifle primers at a very good price. I also had a couple thousand CCI BR2 bench rest primers and a few hundred CCI # 200 standard large rifle primers. Naturally this led to the brilliant decision to test these to see if there really is a difference between them. So I started off with the SUPER PICKLE chambered in 240 NMC with a 29” Krieger bbl with about 800 rounds on it. Temperature was 58 deg and sunny with light wind. For those unfamiliar the SUPER PICKLE is my scoped Mid Range rifle Remington action in a pickle green McMillan prone stock.  I shot Molly coated Berger 108’s with 40.0 go of N160 which has always been a good load for 600 yds. The bullets had a light jam at about .010.  Five shots were fired with each load from sand bag rest at 100 yes with a 16X scope.  We all know that a 5 shot test is far from conclusive in any kind of test but this start is encouraging. It’s encouraging because the # 250 primers are about 60% the cost of the BR2 and they are definitely a little tighter to seat. Thus if you have brass with loose primer pockets the # 250 will help with that. Keep in mind I’m old and shaky so the below scores are not particularly impressive.  However they are right in there with scores I have been shooting the last 2-3 years. At the 2 day regional last October I shot the 250 primers both days with 36.5 go of N550 and the Berger 108. My first score was a 196 and the next six 20 shot matches were all 198 & 199 with one 200 clean.  Based on this I think the CCI # 250 is definitely worth trying in any of the 240, 260 or 7MM-08 type rounds. Also keep in mind these loads were safe in my rifle and your mileage may vary. Now on to the Palma rifle test which is below:

BULLET        LOAD            PRIMER         CASE       AVERAGE    SPREAD     SD         notes

Based on good results with the CCI primer test in a 240 NMC Mid Range Prone rifle I pressed on with a similar test in my Barnard Palma rifle. This rifle has a 13 twist Krieger bbl 29” long and had 762 rounds on it at the time of the test. A 16X scope was also used on this test at 100 yards off sand bags.  This test was 6 shots each primer type and once again the # 250 had the lowest spread but not particularly a good elevation spread at 7/8”. Also of interest is that the velocities in both cartridges and all 3 primers were essentially the same. So after all this I am planning to stick with Wolf large rifle primers or Federal 205 in the 308 Palma case but use the # CCI 250 in the 240.

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