Different .45 acp brass question?

[LightningMan]

Hello to the forum, I'm posting a question here for a friend of mine. He has recently started reloading .45 acp and some of the brass he has collected over time is of mixed brands. No problem with that but he came across some brass that he could not seat a primer into, as the pocket was to small. He showed it to me and I said it looked like it took a small primer, sure enough I tried a small primer and it fit perfectly. So does anyone know why? The head stamp reads "WIN NT 45 AUTO" And for what reason would a ammunition maker go against the norm? Thanks in advance for your replys. LM

 

[rcmodel]

NT, (non-toxic) or "Clean-Range", or "lead-free" ammo uses a small primer, along with a very large flash hole to reduce primer pocket pressure.

The lead-free priming mix is much more powerful then normal primer compound, and the large primers were causing damage to the breach-face from peening in some guns.

You can reload them using Sm Pistol primers, but the effort of sorting & keeping them separate might be more trouble then it is worth unless you have a lot of them.

rc

 

[rondog]

NT is Non-toxic. Winchester, Federal, Speer, and I think CCI all have .45's with small primers.

A lot of guys don't like 'em, primarily because they'll bring a progressive press to a screeching halt while you're cranking out ammo. Usually resulting in ugly language and gnashing of teeth.

If you separate them out and load them separately with small primers, they'll shoot just fine. I'm building up a stash of them to use as plinking ammo in places where I can't, or don't want to, pick up my brass.