Fed. 210 vs GM210M - your experience

[Go West Old Man]

What’s your experience in using and comparing regular Federal 210 primers versus the Gold Medal Match GM210M primers with your same load powder charge, brass, & bullet? Only change you made was between these two primers? Just curious about the differences you may or may not have experienced.

I’m using the regular 210’s with satisfactory results but have a small stash of GM210M’s that sooner or later I’ll want to use up.

 

[WMag338]

Following along. Interested as well. I only shoot the match grade 210’s for my own peace of mind.

 

[eoperator]

Not an exact comparison but a couple years ago I ran out of 215m's all I could find was regular 215's. The 300wm load I was using them for had an es in the low 20's with 215m's switching to 215's cut my es down into the lower teens.

In the research i have done the only difference between match and regular is the more experienced employees assemble the match primers. So odds of getting consistency is better with match but not guaranteed.

 

[nhyrum]

In the research i have done the only difference between match and regular is the more experienced employees assemble the match primers. So odds of getting consistency is better with match but not guaranteed.

That is what I have heard, from CCI directly


Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[B23]

What’s your experience in using and comparing regular Federal 210M primers versus the Gold Medal Match GM210M primers with your same load powder charge, brass, & bullet? Only change you made was between these two primers? Just curious about the differences you may or may not have experienced.

I’m using the regular 210M’s with satisfactory results but have a small stash of GM210M’s that sooner or later I’ll want to use up.

What am I missing here? I'm only aware of Fed 210 and 210M. I'm not aware of two different versions of "210M" primers.

Do you maybe mean you're using regular Fed 210's, no "M" after the 210 and you have a small stash of 210M's, which is the "Match grade" version of Fed 210's that you want to use at some point, is that what you meant to say?

Do you maybe have some older boxes of Federal large rifle 210M primers and some newer more current labeled ones that say GM210M and you're thinking they're different from one another? If that's it, worry not because they are one and the same.


I've predominately used Fed primers over the years and more of their M's then their regular non match primers but even when I've switched back and forth I can't really say that I've noticed any appreciable difference.

 

[Go West Old Man]

What am I missing here? I'm only aware of Fed 210 and 210M. I'm not aware of two different versions of "210M" primers.

Do you maybe mean you're using regular Fed 210's, no "M" after the 210 and you have a small stash of 210M's, which is the "Match grade" version of Fed 210's that you want to use at some point, is that what you meant to say?

Fixed it.

 

[B23]

Fixed it.

No worries just wasn't quite sure, at the time, what you were asking but now it's clear.

As others have already mentioned the specs of both the 210 & 210M are supposed to be exactly the same and the only difference is the match primers are supposedly made by more experienced employees which could mean a variety of things. The fact that both are compositionally the same, with regard to swapping one for the other, is the most important and depending on the day and who made either one could cause more variance then one having a "M" on the box. I've seen some guys that swear by Federals M primers while others have said they got better results, mostly with regard to ES, with non M primers. To muddy the water even further, I've had my very best ES using CCI BR's yet I still predominantly use Fed M's.

 

[ID_Matt]

Not an exact comparison but a couple years ago I ran out of 215m's all I could find was regular 215's. The 300wm load I was using them for had an es in the low 20's with 215m's switching to 215's cut my es down into the lower teens.

In the research i have done the only difference between match and regular is the more experienced employees assemble the match primers. So odds of getting consistency is better with match but not guaranteed.

That is what I have heard, from CCI directly


Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

My grandpa worked for CCI many years ago and that is exactly how he described it.

 

[Vern400]

I have 210, 210M and 210M gold medal.
They are the same except for the precision is supposed to be better in each grade step.

A person would have to have an excellent load to start with, and use a good chronograph. Then theoretically he or she could measure reductions in extreme spread, and standard deviation of velocity. David Tubb might see a difference with my stock.

I got my stock after the Obama shortages, which was a relative hayday of product quality. There was enough stock where I could actually pick matching lot numbers of powder and primers if you can imagine that in 2023 happening. But it once did.

 

[rifletuner]

The majority of my ammo loading is shooting matches at various distances out to 1000 meters. I have used a lot of both standard and match versions of Federal primers in small rifle, large rifle & LR magnum. I think its highly unlikely that you would notice any difference between a standard primer and the match grade primer.

I tend to run 205M, 210M, 215M if I can get them, but if I can only get the 205, etc versions, then I run them without a second thought.

 

[muzz]

What’s wrong with Winchester, cci, Remington, primers? Why is everyone so hyped on the federal primers.?

 

[Rich M]

Im old. Never heard of a GM whatever. Federal used to be the hottest thing around.

 

[Vern400]

What’s wrong with Winchester, cci, Remington, primers? Why is everyone so hyped on the federal primers.?

Unless shooting for extreme precision or competition it doesn't matter. I have found for me, Remington primers (no. 7 1/2?) work better than federal 210s with 4064 powder in my gun. Sometimes it will happen that a particular powder won't "like" a certain primer. It's worth a quick change of primer before scrapping the load. I've seen a primer change do "magic" tightening up groups. Only a few times though.
I keep a box or 2 of most every primer for testing loads, but only use the ones that shoot best.

I'll load crap primers with Trail Boss powder and play with subsonic loads. It's a hoot hearing the bullets hit.

I just use what I got that works best. But you got a point some folks get hyped up