question about stepped on brass

question(s) do you guys reload ALL the .45 ACP you get, small and large primers?

i will be reloading 9MM, which you know that has small

is it worth reloading the smaller primer .45 ACP..??


my RSO says he tosses away any small primer .45 ACP he sweeps. as it ain't worth his time to separate, etc.

also, when i do go and buy a press,and get the 45 dies, would it be true, that i'd need to also get a smaller de-primer for the .45?

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I prefer the SP brass for my 45 ACP revolvers, the moon clips keep them sorted and the SP are easier to ignite than LP, so I can get a better DA trigger pull with SP.

If he tosses any SP brass, he’s already sorted it.

The decapping pin will be the same for SP and LP.

I’ll be honest and admit to thinking different sized pockets in the same caliber was a bad idea for reloaders but we can only play the cards we are delt.

I had sorted many tens of thousands of them, when I first started picking them up around 2003, by hand and was pretty good at getting them all out. Still hated the problems with the ones I missed.

So I came up with these.

While loading.



Stand alone automated device.

Large primer/small primer!

As of late I have been loading and testing a lot of 45acp cast lead loads and now find myself down to just 600 Large Pistol Primers and there are none to be found anywhere for any price.

So I just spent part of the day yesterday sorting and cleaning two ice cream buckets of assorted 45 brass. I also just received about 500pcs of small primer brass from our range collector from the range I have been working at. Now total I figure I have close to 1k small primer cases that I hope will last me until primers become available again. BTW I have 7k+ small primers on the self.

Saved all my SPP brass separately until I get enough to make a run of lost brass ammo. I had a pile of it already loaded about 8 years ago and a friend bought himself a 45. No ammo to be had or dies anywhere even though he already was a reloader. I gave him around 1200 small primer brass and loaned him a spare set of 45 dies until he could find a set. That with some Red Dot and small rifle primers he allready had got him on the way to shooting it. Just had to wait for some soft ball bullets from MB to arrive and he was GTG.

mdi said:

If the dents or crushed sections have rounded "soft" corners then they can be used. If they have sharp creases, then I toss 'em as that area has weakened. But 9mm and 45 ACP brass is plentiful and if purchased, cheap so if in doubt, throw it out.

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This is pretty much my method too. If its dented or bent I'll use it. If its mashed flat with a sharp crease my experience shows that it will split at the crease. I keep a polished center punch and a 50 caliber machine-gun bullet on my bench for straightening out bent cases. The punch works well on rifle cases and the bullet works well on large caliber handgun brass. Shoulder and body dents will fireform out.

buddyd157 said:

maybe a hand held de-primer/primer for the small primer loads, and when i get my Dillon, just order up the large deprimer/primer, rather than a set of dies.?

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Any deprimer will do both large and small primers. Don't know about the Dillon but on my Hornady single stage it takes about ten seconds to switch the large primer cup for the small one. But I have two primer arms and don't have to screw/unscrew the cups each time.

chris

Basically going to be repeating what others have said.

If it fits in the sizing die, I'll give it a chance to be fixed by the die.

I separate and save the small primer brass. @jmorris made a good point about using the SP for revolver use. I'm saving them for my 45 ACP Encore barrel. Just keep saving them until you have enough to load a batch of just SP loads.

ballman6711 said:

Any deprimer will do both large and small primers. Don't know about the Dillon but on my Hornady single stage it takes about ten seconds to switch the large primer cup for the small one. But I have two primer arms and don't have to screw/unscrew the cups each time.

chris

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Depending on the depriming tool, some will not do under 25 cal. The RCBS one I have with the spring loaded pin is one that will not do 224, The Hornady will do the 22 cals.

Blue68f100 said:

Depending on the depriming tool, some will not do under 25 cal. The RCBS one I have with the spring loaded pin is one that will not do 224, The Hornady will do the 22 cals.

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Can you explain that a bit more since I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

chris

The spring loaded head is too large in dia so it want enter a 224" (22 cal) case. Most all mark mfg the range in which they will work. My RCBS is limited to 26 cal and up. My Hornady does not have any problem with 22 cal. I prefer the RCBS when ever I can use it. The spring loaded tip keeps any spent primer from sticking. Just can't use in on 22 cal.

Learn something new everyday!

Thanks!

chris

No big deal! I wanted to know, for myself, what all the hoop-la was about for small primed 45 ACP. I bought 100 small primed 45 ACP cases and tested myself. Long story short; not enough difference tom matter. I inspect every case I find and it's no big deal to look at the primer and toss the small primed brass into a different pile, to be reloaded separately from the large primed cases (just for priming tooling purposes).

mdi said:

I wanted to know, for myself, what all the hoop-la was about for small primed 45 ACP. .

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For myself it all came down to available primers at hand. With all the 45acp cast load development I've been doing I now find myself down to just 600+ Large Pistol Primers yet I have 7k+ Small Pistol Primers on the shelf. At this rate and time who's to say when there will be any primers back on the shelves!

buddyd157 said:

i swept up the floor to get up as much of my brass as possible. the guy next to me had 9 MM and .45 ACP as well.

(i just checked all my fresh boxes of ammo that i took) and found that all of my .45 ACP has the large primers

i must have swept up some of the other guys .45 ACP, which those primers are smaller

but now, i have to go thru like 300 more or so, of brass, as in the past, i swept up all i could see.

question(s) do you guys reload ALL the .45 ACP you get, small and large primers?

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With mixed 45 range brass I went to depriming / sizing before loading. I set my LnL AP up with the large primer assembly and as I size I push the handle back like I'm seating a primer, with the large primer seater you can feel a small primer pocket as the ram travel is stopped by the large seater hitting the small primer pocket. The small primer pocket brass I pull off the press and throw in a bag to use if I ever run out of large primer brass.