I have a couple of boxes of old stock Federal 209 primers in the red box. These are not the current Federal 209A primers available now. I normally use Winchester 209 primers but they are a bit hard to find now days. Does anyone here know if they are interchangeable with the Winchester primers? I would like to use them up on my skeet loads or trap practice loads but I don't want to raise pressures. My 12 ga. 3/4 oz. skeet loads are from Hodgdon and run 10,600 psi so I don't want to push the pressure up much.

The old Fed 209 primers are pretty similar in ballistic performance to the current Win 209. But, unless you give us a full component list of the load you are wanting to make, it's hard to check any old load data we might have access to, to get closer to a real answer. And because your existing load is a fairly warm one, I agree with your cautious approach.

So, you got more details?

good luck, garrisonjoe

A buddy of mine gave me about 800 of them a few years ago. I used them interchangeably with Winchester 209 load data for hot 700x, 800x, and Longshot hunting loads, and never had an issue.

My load is:

12 ga. Gun Club hull
17.0 grs. 700X powder
CB0175-12 wad
3/4 oz. of #9 shot
W209 primer

Hodgdon lists this load on their websight at 10,600 psi

I like my loads to be under 10,000 psi but over 9,000 psi but I am still ok with this load as is, I just don't want to be over the 11,500 psi max.

Treat those Federal 209 primers with no A as a WW209.

I just picked up 3000 of them from an estate sale for $15. Good information Curley!

My thanks to all whom have posted and to Curley for the information about the Federal Red Box primers. I think I will load them just like they are a W209 and move on. Again thanks to all posters I really do appreciate you!

mtgrs737