Can someone tell me the "real" difference between 205 & 205m primers.....

S

scott mims

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Can someone tell me the "real" difference between 205 & 205m primers.....

other than the cost :)
always wondered if they are made on a different machine/more people involved to "inspect" them/ ect........
 
My understanding is that its the same primer, but 205M gets more/better inspection (though I have no insight into the actual process). There is no guarantee that the 205M will shoot any better than a 205. I pretty much always use the 205M with a 6PPC, but that’s more about the “feel good” factor than anything else.
 
I frankly doubt the inspectors to find defects on other than the macro level. We, benchrest people, are worried about the micro differences of the 1% or much smaller range that will make a .01" difference in groups. A (or 5) guys looking at a sea of primers flowing past them simply aren't going to pick up differences on that level.
 
Way back yonder there was a primer shortage. Prices soared and tempers flared. My buddy Mark and I found 4000 205s at a shop in Jasper Alabama while headed to Fayette for a match. We both thought there was no discernable difference. We did return to 205M primers as quickly as they became available but I don't know why. Perhaps the wind blew on us somewhere just before the shortage ended. As they say...."any port in a storm"....
 
I have used 205m's for years but a couple years back I bought 5000 of the straight 205's at an attractive price. I had my best year of shooting the year I used them I have had in many years. It is my understanding the m's are subjected to more inspections than the plain 205's , all I know is they work fine.
 
Years ago, I called Federal and asked, and they said that within a given lot 205s are probably just as consistent, but that for the 205Ms they hold tighter tolerances for lot to lot variation. This was a long time ago, so things may have changed. This was back, not too long after they had to go to the larger packages. Does anyone else remember why that change was made? (Yes, I do.)
 
No, there was an accident where a forklift driver missed his mark when he was trying to pick up a pallet of primers at the factory, piercing the side of a large box with a fork. Because the primers were in the old style packaging, that had them touching each other, I guess that a significant explosion took place, and the feds, probably OSHA made them redesign the package. They only made Federal redo theirs, since they were the ones that had the accident. This goes back around 20 years, and my memory is imperfect, but I believe that I got this answer on the same phone call as the information about the differences between 205s and 205Ms.
 
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I have been told by several source that 205 and 205m come off the same machine, and start out as the same primers. I been told the diference is in cup height, at the end of the line there is a bar, if the primer fits under that bar it is a 205m, if it doesn't them it is a 205.
 
Dan H said:
Very interesting, I heard 10.5 inspectors = ten men and one boy. I know this to be true because I heard it from the boy hisself.:D
Click to expand...

Hi Dan.
Read the rumor right here on BC.
If it's on the internet. Must be true.
It's Gospel if it came from BC.
Just ask billgore.
 
I use the Federal 20M's - why? dunno, probably because everybody else does, and if we are honest with ourselves that just might be a common reason. How would the average guy test them anyway? I have been shooting benchrest since 1975 and over that time have used primers from all the major manufacturers, and to be honest I can't really see much difference.
Way back in 1978 we had a big problem with CCI BR4's blowing out (pin holing) on the shoulder of the cup and marking the bolt face. This is a manufacturing problem and would be almost impossible to detect until fired. So- we switched to Federal and in around 1980 had the same problem. Federal actually came to the party, replaced the bad batches, and paid for the repairs to bolt faces here in Australia. We also had a couple of batches of Rem 7.5's that did the same thing.

At one time we had some Russian made primers down here (I think they were called Wolf brand). I tried them in my rail gun and HV and they worked just as good as anything else.

A mate of mine worked in a laboratory and did some testing of primers. He had equipment that could measure the consistency of the flash (brissiance) for what that was worth and the most consistent were the old Federal primers in the greeny grey pack from the late 1970's.
 
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