steve allen
New member
I have found out the hard way that when it comes to reloading rifle cartridges for cold weather hunting that not all components are created equal.
My worst experience was loading for a .22/250 using H414 with Winchester primers. These are both excellent components, but the combination of these 2 and temperatures colder than about +10 degrees was a disaster looking for a place to occur. Typically the groups would range between 2.5-3" in diameter at 100 yards. The worst part of it was that the rifle would shoot fine in warm weather, and it would shoot just enough good groups in cold weather to make me think it was me and not the components.
Finally, on the advice of a friend, I bought some Remington and Federal primers to try; everything else remained the same. It was like a new rifle. The groups went from the basic 3" down to 1/2" or better instantly with both the Remington and the Federal primers. After doing some reading I found that Winchester primers are apparently the coolest burning primers available, and the slower burning ball powders (e.g. Blc-2, H414, etc.) are the hardest to get uniformly consistent ignition and require a hot primer. Thus, I had unknowingly shot myself right square in the foot by combining a series of components destined to perform miserably on a regular basis in cold weather.
Have any of you guys had similar reloading surprises in either cold weather or hot weather country?
My worst experience was loading for a .22/250 using H414 with Winchester primers. These are both excellent components, but the combination of these 2 and temperatures colder than about +10 degrees was a disaster looking for a place to occur. Typically the groups would range between 2.5-3" in diameter at 100 yards. The worst part of it was that the rifle would shoot fine in warm weather, and it would shoot just enough good groups in cold weather to make me think it was me and not the components.
Finally, on the advice of a friend, I bought some Remington and Federal primers to try; everything else remained the same. It was like a new rifle. The groups went from the basic 3" down to 1/2" or better instantly with both the Remington and the Federal primers. After doing some reading I found that Winchester primers are apparently the coolest burning primers available, and the slower burning ball powders (e.g. Blc-2, H414, etc.) are the hardest to get uniformly consistent ignition and require a hot primer. Thus, I had unknowingly shot myself right square in the foot by combining a series of components destined to perform miserably on a regular basis in cold weather.
Have any of you guys had similar reloading surprises in either cold weather or hot weather country?