Unloaded & Reloaded Privi Partisan .308Win

Oly

Well-Known Member
Just thought I would post this info. I have been using Prvi PPU with great results in .223Rem for some time, but only mediocre results in .308Win - plus my latest batch of .223Rem wasn't half as good as the old (dark blue boxes) stuff. Hence, as I was thinking about getting back into reloading anyway - but had a lot of Prvi left in the cabinet - I thought I would unload a box of 20 .308Win to see what sort of variations in powder weights they were, then reload them with the same powder, but a more consistent quantity and consistent bullet depths. Hopefully the results will improve and I will do the same with .223 as well. PS: - I actually kept 4 as factory rounds to assess against the rest.

Not sure what the power is, but the first picture is a close up of the powder removed. The second picture shows the variations in bullet seating with the two middle rounds slightly higher than the outer two. The third picture shows the powder weight variations - from 37.9 grains to 38.5 grains with an average (which was what they were all reloaded to) of 38.2 grains - next to a re-reloaded Prvi round.

Going to do some done in .223Rem (once the bullet puller collet arrives!) then get down to the range to assess the difference.
 

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That is very commendable Oly, something I had meant to do, but not now as I reload.
Interesting that extruded powder is used rather than ball.
Also interesting to see the difference in seating depths from your picture, not encouraging.
Presumably you are aware powder is loaded by volume and not by weight, which may account for the differences in weight you measured.
There is a report or summary of the expansion of different bullets, one of which was Privi:
Bullet choice and Terminal effects. coriniumrange
The Privi does not expand very well.
 
I did the same experiment with PPU .308 168gn HPBTs. They were pretty good out of the box but better after i had refined them.. be interesting to see how you get on.
 
Forgot to add, they are 180 grain soft points and the 223's will be 55 grain soft points. Didn't measure sorry as i still haven't got all my gear yet...awaiting calipers!
 
Refining the powder charge to a consistent 38.2 gr's will obviously help. However, you will see the real benefit if you reseat the bullets to a consistent length.

Friend of mine in Germany tells me they buy up large amounts of Privi 30/06 with the 170gr Grom bullet which they rate as excellent for boar, They pull the bullets, dump the powder, recharge the case with their own powder (N150 I think) and reseat the bullet. He reckons it is cheaper and quicker than conventional reloading with brand name bullets etc.

Interesting exercise. I would like to see someone conduct the same checks with a more expensive brand of ammo.
 
Jack, that report, whilst interesting in itself, also highlights it's major downfall. Those were the bullets that "failed". What it didn't say was how many hadn't failed, how many had dropped beasts on the spot with a through and through. They say that a "failure" rate (define failure, some bullets are designed to expand more than others, others lean towards more weight retention, which one is a failure?) of 20% is acceptable, I don't think it is.

They say that hundreds of deer were shot. That information would be more useful in my opinion if it were quantified. How many deer? With which bullet? How many fell to shot and how many ran? What was tissue damage like with each round?

I use Prvi for headshooting park deer, and they do the job admirably. I've never seen one stop in the skull, but the damage is significant and death is instantaneous with a good head shot. That doesn't mean it's an ideal bullet for boiler room shots, the physiology and mechanism of death is very different, but the report you quoted doesn't hold enough information to say whether it is suitable or not either.

A proper, scientifically conducted experiment using good ballistic gel would tell us more. Any volunteers?

Unloading and then reloading the factory rounds sounds like an interesting experiment. I'll be interested to see if they group any differently.
 
Friend of mine in Germany tells me they buy up large amounts of Privi 30/06 with the 170gr Grom bullet which they rate as excellent for boar, They pull the bullets, dump the powder, recharge the case with their own powder (N150 I think) and reseat the bullet. He reckons it is cheaper and quicker than conventional reloading with brand name bullets etc..

Whilst I haven't done the sums - I reckon it may be cheaper in the UK too. Not only do I have a large quantity of ammunition I want to refine and then get through, but it is something which I think may be cheaper than conventional reloading too - although like I say, I haven't done the sums yet.
 
Whilst I haven't done the sums - I reckon it may be cheaper in the UK too. Not only do I have a large quantity of ammunition I want to refine and then get through, but it is something which I think may be cheaper than conventional reloading too - although like I say, I haven't done the sums yet.

Oly. This is an interesting thread, however (at least) two things concern me.

1. How do you plan to identify which primers have been used? I suspect the manufacturers will use a variety of primers depending on availability and cost, so you could have more than one type of primer to deal with.

2. How do you plan to measure and replicate the neck tension? Has this ammunition been crimped?

Regards JCS
 
Oly. This is an interesting thread, however (at least) two things concern me.

1. How do you plan to identify which primers have been used? I suspect the manufacturers will use a variety of primers depending on availability and cost, so you could have more than one type of primer to deal with.

2. How do you plan to measure and replicate the neck tension? Has this ammunition been crimped?

Regards JCS
Believe it or not Privi use there own primers
 
Matt_hooks
I would be very grateful if before you comment on an article on my website on a public forum you either read it properly or refrain from commenting at all.

The bullets retrieved were not failures as you stated, neither did I say "we shot hundreds of animals", neither did I say a 20% failure rate was acceptable.

Thankfully I do not have to shoot park deer "in the head" and therefore can conduct useful research which may be of benefit to someone else. As you must surely be aware, many bullets pass through animals shot in the more common area of heart/lung, so in order to retrieve even a small amount of shrapnell/bullets, a number of animals must be shot. Perhaps you could enlighten us with some of your vast experience before ridiculing useful information.

As a whole I find Privi ammunition to be unacceptable for one reason, that being the quality of the bullet, nothing more. As a professional stalker I prefer to leave nothing to chance although others may feel differently. When you have proper information, other than shooting tame deer in the head, I am sure we would be only too interested to know of your findings. Surely a more rapid and reliably expanding bullet would be beneficial in a park deer situation? Sadly ballistic gel tells us very little as the recent Norma/Oliver Preston videos proved.

Much of the information was largely irrelevant as many animals reacted normally (not like your drop on the spot shots - but genuine real life shot animals) and in many cases there was nothing to retrieve. When you graduate to wild deer and shoot plenty of them you will be able to give a more realistic opinion on your own findings.

I still have your early emails by the way!

HME
 
I use PP .308 HPBT 168 Gr and from an accuracy stand point, they are amazing. I was using them for hunting up until August, when two rounds failed to expand properly. I now use Blaser CDP 168 Gr and fortunately for me they have the same POI as the PP (at 5 times the prices of Privi, that is great for me as I can train for cheap!) I bought 2.5k ffrom the same batch and use random boxes when going to the range: accuracy is stunning, by my standards, perhaps par for the course for more discerning shooters.

However with PP in .222, I am struggling to get a decent group in my Rem 700 BDL................As they say across the pond "Go figure" Good luck with the experiment.
 
Oly. This is an interesting thread, however (at least) two things concern me.

1. How do you plan to identify which primers have been used? I suspect the manufacturers will use a variety of primers depending on availability and cost, so you could have more than one type of primer to deal with.

2. How do you plan to measure and replicate the neck tension? Has this ammunition been crimped?

Regards JCS

Please remember that I'm only doing this to improve accuracy/consistency of ammunition that I have already bought and hence are from the same batch. Any new batches of ammunition bought for subsequent refinement would have to be checked for zero. If they are not perfectly the same I'm not bothered, I'm just after consistency of batches.
 
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HME - I thought this was a very diplomatic response, i wouldn't be happy either - but i don't think that the other contributor meant anything malicious by his comments, i think it is a simple misunderstanding.

I admire the fact you have given up your time and efforts to carry out your research and to publish your findings so we may all strife towards a better understanding of these little known about topics.

When all is said and done there will be some people stalking who don't have huge budgets and will go for these cheap alternatives.
Personally I am like you, i don't like to leave things to chance and I'm a big believer of "it's cheap for a reason" and "no such thing as a free lunch" etc etc, so I would never buy these.
Even so, some people will become quite defensive about a product that gets bad press if it works ok for them.

I read your article with interest and commend the effort you put into it.
 
Axe
Many thanks for your comments. I'm glad you found the article useful. That was what I intended from factual data.

Regards

HME
 
Just looked at that link and concures my thoughts about Privi stuff = it SH*T!!!

People seem to want to use cheap ammo. Most people who use cheap ammo don't fire much of it. I use 600+ bullets a year and always choose a decent Norma/ Lapua/ Winchester type. All cost £35+ a box.

Probably gone off track but just wanted to vent my dismay at PP ammo!
 
Matt_hooks
I would be very grateful if before you comment on an article on my website on a public forum you either read it properly or refrain from commenting at all.

The bullets retrieved were not failures as you stated, neither did I say "we shot hundreds of animals", neither did I say a 20% failure rate was acceptable.

Thankfully I do not have to shoot park deer "in the head" and therefore can conduct useful research which may be of benefit to someone else. As you must surely be aware, many bullets pass through animals shot in the more common area of heart/lung, so in order to retrieve even a small amount of shrapnell/bullets, a number of animals must be shot. Perhaps you could enlighten us with some of your vast experience before ridiculing useful information.

As a whole I find Privi ammunition to be unacceptable for one reason, that being the quality of the bullet, nothing more. As a professional stalker I prefer to leave nothing to chance although others may feel differently. When you have proper information, other than shooting tame deer in the head, I am sure we would be only too interested to know of your findings. Surely a more rapid and reliably expanding bullet would be beneficial in a park deer situation? Sadly ballistic gel tells us very little as the recent Norma/Oliver Preston videos proved.

Much of the information was largely irrelevant as many animals reacted normally (not like your drop on the spot shots - but genuine real life shot animals) and in many cases there was nothing to retrieve. When you graduate to wild deer and shoot plenty of them you will be able to give a more realistic opinion on your own findings.

I still have your early emails by the way!

HME
HME, I think Mat Hooks response was to "Jacks" Post and link, and not to yours!!
 
Kev

I am the Corinium range and I wrote the article for my blog!

Happy Christmas to all.

HME
 
it is an interesting article (by which caveat I mean I am not writing to criticise!) and whilst real world field results are important it is impossible to put a quantitative result on bullet expansion without using a fixed ballistic media at a fixed range with a relatively large number of rounds.

what ballistic media doesnt account for is the way a bullet CAN respond to glancy a rib, passing through without hitting any bone, hitting a target that moves just at impact etc etc

Privvi does well for a lot of people (not me as it grouped like a 12 bore!)
Sounds like a good idea to try and remove as many inconsistencies as possible

I tried to see if altering OAL on some RWS ammo made any difference......it didnt
 
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