[Bull Jones]

I've posted this on a couple of other forums, so forgive me if it seems familiar.

I shoot a Ruger NEW Vaquero, .45 Colt, 4 5/8". I love this gun! I love it so much that I've fired off my entire supply of ammo.

Problem right now is that I'm out of my usual primers, the CCI Lg Pistol. I also can't find any locally, or any other LP primers. However, I do have around a thousand CCI Magnum primers around.

My usual suspects in the powder department are Unique (8.5 grains), Trail Boss (5.8 grains), and IMR-4227 (18 grains). These are under my usual 250 gr. bullets or the Penn 270 gr. with the 4227. I never load jacketed bullets, but do occasionally use the copper plated ones.

Question: How should I go about changing my loads, or do I need to change at all, to accommodate the magnum primers?

Advice will, of course, be taken, and then carefully weighed vs. others and my own experience before any powder falls. Like I said, I love this gun!

[Grumulkin]

When I tried magnum vs regular primers in a 44 Remington Magnum, I had to decrease the load by 1 or 2 grains when using H110 and got worse accuracy with the magnum primers.

When loading for a 357 Herrett, I tried both large rifle and large rifle magnum primers. I didn't have to make any load adjustment and the magnum primers gave better accuracy when using IMR 4227.

If your experience parallels mine with the 44 mag., you'll probably find the magnum primers don't give as good accuracy as the regular ones. Whether or not you'll have to adjust charges, will depend on the powder used and the size of the cartridge case. If I were going to try this in a 45 Colt, I'd probably take what I found to be a safe load with regular primers, decrease that by 1 to 1.5 grains and work up the load again.

[flashhole]

The problem with switching to the magnum primers is they may dislodge the bullet at the same time the powder is igniting. You may get a different pressure from what you are used to and with the small amounts of powder you are loading it will be trial and error to determine how to "fix" the situation by switching to the magnum primer. If you use a powder that provides a high case fill factor (95-100%) you may not notice anything.

[RustyFN]

You can buy LP primers on the web. I have found that the cheaper price will more than make up for the hazmat fee. I buy Magtech primers from Grafs for $16 per 1,000.
Rusty

[Sunray]

"...can't find any locally..." There's a lot of that going on, everywhere, lately. most people are blaming the war.
If you change any one component you have to work up the load again.

[redneck2]

I know you said no other LP primers were available. If you could find some, I'd try Winchester. That's what I use and they're good for regular and mag loads. Around here, some other primers are hard to get but everyone seems to have WW's.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about lower loads and working up in 45LC if the loads you've listed are standard 45LC. A 45LC Ruger will take 44 mag pressures. You've got a lot of room between normal 45LC and the ones a Ruger will take.