Primers question(s)

[TxStorm]

Yes sir, it's me again with yet another question, this time about primers. I've noticed in data listings they used a specific brass and a specific primer. Are any of the primer brands interchangable within reason? i.e. Say Rem 8 1/2 LR's are called for in the recipe but I want to use Win8 1/12 LR's instead? There have been a few loads I was interested in trying out because of the bullet/brass combo but didn't want to buy another 1k Rem primers when most of the loads I will be starting out with call for Win's.
For all intents, I wish to load about 9 rds usingthe min amount, 9 middle lineand 9fairly shy of max. Then fine tune it from there if any looking promising. So if I monitor the process closely when firing the low/medium's looking for warning signs, like pressure,I should be okay, right? Yes, I know, I should find local help but in a small town of 4.5-5k population, I think I'll be the "local guy" soon. [&o]
Sorry to trouble ya'll again, but all I can find is the basic warnings based on "this was used so you should ,too." kind of things.

[Briman]

If you try a new component and are already near a maximum load, you should back off a grain or two of powder and work your way back up.

I wish to load about 9 rds usingthe min amount, 9 middle lineand 9fairly shy of max. Then fine tune it from there if any looking promising. So if I monitor the process closely when firing the low/medium's looking for warning signs, like pressure,I should be okay, right?

Before you load anything, go to the front of the reloading manuals and reread the 100 pages or so on reloading procedures and theory 3 or 4 times!


For using reloading data, start a few grains shy of the maximum load and work upward in 1/2 gr increments.* If you use a middle load, it will likely be ok, but if you jump from that to a maximum listed load, you could be far into high pressure territory without any warnings signs that you might see with gradually loadign up to a max.

*many people say to start with a minimum load, but IMHO if a minimum load ina book shows a velocity that's 400 fps less than the maximum load, you're just wasting powder and bullets.


To answer your question on Primers, I use Federal 210M primers for bolt guns using IMR powders, WLR primers in military autoloaders using IMR powders (ARs, AKs, SKSs, M1s, and M1as, along with a host of others have free floating firing pins and could potentially slamfire if you use a 'soft' primer like Federal), You really don't need to use magnum primers unless you are reloading a cartridge with ball powders which are difficult to ignite, or a very large case that has a lot of powder to ignite#

#I'm not 100% sure on that one either, I don't reload anythign bigger than 30-06, and only use magnum primers in my autoloaders with ball powder.