Wolf Small Rifle Primers

[rlandry6]

What is the consensus on these for use in an AR. I have about 25K of these sitting on the shelf, a holdover from the primer scare days and we could stock up on these pretty cheap. The box designates .223 Rem but indicates nothing about AR. Are these suitable?I can always use them for my bolt gun .233 but it would be nice to use them in the ARs also. Just wondering, given the possibilities of a slam fire in the ARs with softer primers. Since I have so many of these on hand, I would rather use them instead of having to go out and buy CCI or Remington.
If it turns out that those are not suitable, what is the prefered go to small rifle primer?
I've got tons of Winchester, Wolf, and Federal small pistol primers

[golfindia]

I'm envious.....

My supply of Wolf primers is now dwindling. Those 223 primers work better and are more consistent than just about anything else. I've shot tens of thousands of them in ARs.

All of the US made regular SR primers are much softer than Wolf. CCI450s are a close match to Wolf, but at ridiculous price.

I used to buy Wolfs from Wideners for $16 per thousand....... It's going to suck when I have to switch to something else.

[Dr.Phil]

Save those primers for when your primer pockets get loose.
They are just slightly larger than domestic ones.

Everything that I have heard is that Wolf primers are quality.
Use them at will.

[Whole Bunches]

Note: These are my opinions based upon my research and usage. Your results may vary, depending upon your lot of powder and the ambient temperature.

First we have to figure out exactly what the factory part number is of the primers you have. Wolf and Tula branded primers (the same primers from the same Russian factory, Murom Plant) sometimes had different nomenclature marked on the outside the boxes of 100 and 1000 primers even if they were the exact same primers. I suspect they were marking the boxes with what they figured would look good to the American public, enticing them to buy. I've also observed that different USA vendors, selling the same primers will list differing nomenclature for them. Another observation was that the same primer part number could have differing coloring (gold or silver) depending upon the lot number...I saw no performance difference between the colors of the same primer part number.

Do you still have the white cardboard boxes that contained 5 1000 primer boxes (bricks)? If yes, good. Look on the side. There will be the primer factory part number something like KVB223, KVB223EM, KVB223, or maybe KVB556M. What is the primer part number? That your boxes are marked .223, I am hoping they are KVB223M.

KVB223 = a "standard" small rifle primer, soft cup, close to Remington 6 1/2. Unless you are using mild, low pressure Blackout loads these are not good for the Blackout. If tried in .223/5.56 they can/will have problems igniting ball powers (W748, H335, WC844, WC846, etc) and can have pierced primers with full pressure loads. I got mine from other reloaders experiencing ignition problems with ball powders, wanting to get rid of them. I use them in my 30 carbine and mild 108gr frangible bullet Blackout loads. Typically the boxes of 100 or 1000 are marked small rifle. I'm down to about 4000 left.

KVB223EM = a lead free, advertised as Magnum on their boxes, small rifle primer. I have no idea of what is "Magnum" about them. Poor accuracy in the Blackout for me with erratic velocities. Failures to ignite ball powders in the .223/5.56 especially if the outside time is below 70 degrees, but they ignite IMR4895 in .223/5.56 just fine regardless of temp at least here in Florida. I bought all Midway had when they were discontinuing them...what a mistake. I finally found I could use them with IMR4895 and mild 50gr frangible loads in the .223/5.56 for close range steel shooting or in my open bolt 9mm Sterling SMG with pistol powders. Just last week I finally loaded up the rest of them...finished one of my reloading goals: to use them all up.

KVB223M = a magnum (boxes of 100 and 1000 sometimes marked "Magnum" or ".223Rem", have seen both types of box markings) hard cup, small rifle primer. Some sellers said they were magnum; some said standard priming mix but with a harder cup. All I know is that I've never had powder ignition problems (in the AR) or pierced primers. They are my GO-TO primers for the Blackout in AR's. Wonderful accuracy; wish they were still imported. I have slightly under 30,000 left. I am hoping that is the primer you have, cause I consider them great for the AR Blackout. Now their downside: In my Handi Rifle, Remington M700, Micro7, and Ruger American Ranch, all in 300 Blackout, I was having around 3-4% failures to fire with them due to the harder cup. For all those non-AR rifles, I switched to CCI 400 with no further failures to fire. Using the CCI 400 vs KVB223M and same powder and bullet combinations, I got the same accuracy and velocity, but the impact point at 100yd was off 1-3 clicks so all those rifles had to be re-zeroed. Not sure what I'll use in the AR Blackouts when I run out of KVB223M.

KVB556M = I have no experience with these primers. Advertised as a hard cup magnum primer. I don't know how they could be better than KVB223M.

PS. Please post what you've figured out you have. Due to the .223 marking, I feel and hope for you they are KVB223M. I can't say enough good about them. I've used around 20,000 of them through my AR Blackouts in my monitoring of bbl wear testing.

[rlandry6]

Non of the boxes I have show any of those designations. The only other thing besides Rem223 is the designation "NCSR".

[golfindia]

NCSR are different than the 223 version.

http://wolfammo.com/reload.aspx

I've never tried the NCSR.

[rlandry6]

The box says NCSR 223Rem. No designation pertaining to AR. The chart that you linked me to only shows one small rifle primer.

[Whole Bunches]

The box says NCSR 223Rem. No designation pertaining to AR. The chart that you linked me to only shows one small rifle primer.

I assume by your not mentioning it that you do not have the white boxes that contained 5 bricks of primers inside. The white box is what has the Murom primer part numbers. That is the only way to tell for sure, as I've seen different markings on the 100 and 1000 primer containers. I just opened up a sealed 5 brick box of KVB223M. Inside the 1000 primer bricks, the 100 primer boxes have NCSR - .223Rem marked on the back, and mine have Lot No. 10-09 also marked. On the front, the 100 primers boxes are marked WOLF PERFORMANCE PRIMERS SMALL RIFLE - .223Rem PRIMERS Standard Non-Corrosive 100 Primers. My KVB223 primer boxes are not marked with ".223Rem".

You probably have KVB223M.

[golfindia]

The box says NCSR 223Rem. No designation pertaining to AR. The chart that you linked me to only shows one small rifle primer.

Those are good to go in ARs....

[392heminut]

I bought 10K of the Wolf 223 primers and have gone through the first 5K and now working on the second 5K. I wish I had bought more of them, they have worked great in all my AR's.