Any shotgun primer works to ignite BH209, if the breech plug has the correct geometry. More important than the heat is the length of the primer. The primer will make a good seal in the breech plug if it is held tightly. The heat of regular shotgun primer is plenty good enough to ignite BH in sub-zero weather. Since the W209 primer is usually the longest primer, it is the primer that manufacturers have to adjust their head space to.

Myself, when i can adjust head space, i always make it to fit STS primer. Reason being, it seems to be the primer with the most uniform length, and it is the shortest common primer. The heat of any normal shotgun primer will ignite BH209 100% of the time in any of my rifle. Two winters testing ignition of BH209 in sub-zero weather has proven to me that magnum primers are not necessary.

The only powder i use is BH209. In September i gave away a full carton of 1000 Federal 209A primer. Reason being, i knew i would never use them. In my rifle they are not needed, because the breech plug are designed to ignite BH.

The rifle in my house that utilize the W209 primer are the TC, and the Knight. The manufacturer of these rifle, design their head space around the W209 primer. Their breech plug design works with BH. The CVA rifle here all have a modified, or a home made breech plug for better ignition of BH209. The CVA rifle in this house, use STS primer. STS primer have ignited BH 100% of the time in my CVA rifles, in sub-zero temperatures. It is a myth that magnum primer are needed to reliably ignite BH. This malarky was probably spread, because many were having issues successfully igniting BH, because they were using breech plug with design not suited for BH. It is my experience that breech plug designed to use BH, don't require magnum primer.

It is my opinion that many believe a magnum primer is necessary,because they have had issues igniting BH, because they were using rifle with breech plug not designed to use BH. It is my guess that the new plug that CVA is now selling stamped for BH, does not require a magnum primer to reliably ignite BH. Any standard shotgun primer will be 100% reliable using this new plug in CVA rifle.

The CVA breech plug stamped BH209 is designed to reliably ignite BH. It has a 1/8" flame channel, and a 0.029" flash hole. Dimensionally, it is nearly an exact copy of the old Omega/Encore breech plug. Hopefully, this new CVA plug will put to rest, once and for all, the myth that one needs a 0.035" flash hole, a 5/32" flame channel, and a magnum primer to ignite BH 100% of the time.