Federal 45acp Brass & primers

[km101]

Can you enlighten us as to which crazy primer situation you're referring?

The situation where one box of ammo on the shelf has large primers and another will have small primers and I have to open the box to see which it is.
A clerk in wallyworld objected to my opening a box of ammo, so I only shoot reloads now, or purchase other brands when I need .45acp.

 

[9mmepiphany]

The situation where one box of ammo on the shelf has large primers and another will have small primers and I have to open the box to see which it is.

I have to admit that I've never run into boxes of both SPP and LPP Federal .45ACP next to each other on a shelf

Not really that "crazy" of a situation as pretty much all Federal .45ACP is now manufactured with SPP, as is most Blazer...every now and then I'll run into a LPP Blazer case which I'll have to cull out...I'm starting to see more Speer .45ACP cases with SPP also

 

[Texasgrillchef]

I have to admit that I've never run into boxes of both SPP and LPP Federal .45ACP next to each other on a shelf

Not really that "crazy" of a situation as pretty much all Federal .45ACP is now manufactured with SPP, as is most Blazer...every now and then I'll run into a LPP Blazer case which I'll have to cull out...I'm starting to see more Speer .45ACP cases with SPP also

That’s really interesting. Was at the gun range today and picked up 300 pieces of 45 acp brass. Almost all Blazer. Not a single Blazer SP all were LP. And what few Federal I did pick up, again we’re about a 50/50 split between SP and LPC.

Sadly because the way I sweep up, and I don’t look at the brass till I get home. I would not be able to say which lane fired which brass. I do pretty much know that when I was there, I was the only one firing the 45acp rounds, so all this brass was prior to when I got there.

After shooting, I decided to stop by my local Academy Sporting goods store for various items. I decided to take a look at a few boxes of Blazer and Federal, interestingly, what I noted was all Blazer I checked, 6 boxes, were all LP, yet on Federal all the 230 grain (FMJ) was LP, and all the 200 grain (FMJ) were SP. I checked 6 boxes each. However on federal all the 200 grain boxes were 50 rounds each. And all the 230 grain ones were 100 round boxes. They were out of the 50 round boxes.

Which leads me to wonder, is one primer better then the other for 45acp? Several have allready posted that they don’t think there is. Which if their isn’t, why doesn’t everyone just agree on a standard?

What size was the original 45acp when it was first developed?

 

[LiveLife]

What size was the original 45acp when it was first developed?

LP primer.

why doesn’t everyone just agree on a standard?

Ammunition manufacturers have their reasons. I have a feeling we will keep finding SP 45ACP brass.

is one primer better then the other for 45acp?

LP primer can produce higher velocities than SP primer, depending on powder and charge.

Which is better? I think that may depend on whether you are loading at max or at lower "target" load range.

Most of us do not load 45ACP to max and I tend to shoot mostly lighter "target" loads. For my 200 gr SWC load with 4.8 gr - 5.0 gr W231/HP-38, I can't say I can tell the difference between SP and LP primers. Even for really light 200 gr SWC with 4.0 gr Red Dot/Promo, I don't know if I can tell the difference.

 

[Texasgrillchef]

LP primer.


Ammunition manufacturers have their reasons. I have a feeling we will keep finding SP 45ACP brass.


LP primer can produce higher velocities than SP primer, depending on powder and charge.

Which is better? I think that may depend on whether you are loading at max or at lower "target" load range.

Most of us do not load 45ACP to max and I tend to shoot mostly lighter "target" loads. For my 200 gr SWC load with 4.8 gr - 5.0 gr W231/HP-38, I can't say I can tell the difference between SP and LP primers. Even for really light 200 gr SWC with 4.0 gr Red Dot/Promo, I don't know if I can tell the difference.

Probably for the shooting i do with my 45acp it wont make a hill of beans different. The amount of brass i collect in SP for the 45acp is so small its not worth keeping and goes to the recycler plant.

I was just curious is all. I just wonder what the cost benefit to Federal, Blazer and anyone else to use both types in the same caliber. I would understand better using brass thats all one or the other but both doesn't seem cost effective and productive to me unless theirs some sort of benefit. Obviously not something anyone here knows for sure! And obviously not something Federal or anyone else desires to share.

 

[LiveLife]

IIRC, some member posted before that keeping the primer size the same for 38SPL/380Auto/9mm/40S&W/45ACP in a large production operation could be more cost effective than switching back and forth between SP/LP primers.

 

[Texasgrillchef]

IIRC, some member posted before that keeping the primer size the same for 38SPL/380Auto/9mm/40S&W/45ACP in a large production operation could be more cost effective than switching back and forth between SP/LP primers. I could be wrong.

Now that of course makes perfect sense.... if all their 45acp brass was SP. but it isnt. They also have LP brass too.

Speculation here... is maybe when they are running a batch of SP calibers on the machinrs and they want to run a batch of 45acp to save time they just load the machine up with SP brass.

During a time they are running LP calibers on the machines and then want to run a batch of 45acp.... again they may want to save time and just load up the line with LP brass.

Thus saving time of having to switch the line from SP to lP and back again...

Or maybe this allows them to run 45acp on both SP and LP lines.

Just speculation

 

[LiveLife]

Now that of course makes perfect sense.... if all their 45acp brass was SP. but it isnt. They also have LP brass too.

What could explain the SP and LP is they could have been loaded in different lots and stored together and pulled together when wholesale orders were received.

 

[9mmepiphany]

An equally like story is that the aren't replacing the LPP machines until they wear out...but when they do, they'll make the switch over to SPP machines.

It make economic sense to have most of their high volume handgun ammo using SPP. Not standardizing with other manufactures isn't really an issue...they just want to standardize within their own production lines

 

[cw308]

Federal is using Small Pistol Primers , supposedly makes a stronger base and shoots the same , I use the same load and separate the brass , no big deal . It is a pain if shooting Federal with brass and separating large and small .

 

[lightman]

I sort all of my brass by headstamp and look at it pretty closely. I may choose to load a batch with mixed headstamps but they start out by being sorted. So, separating the sp and lp is not a big deal to me. I prefer loading lp, probably because thats the way I started. I can see the advantage of loading sp if the 45 is the only lp case that you load but I load several other lp cases.

 

[joneb]

I've been saving the spp 45 acp brass in
case I run out of LPP.

 

[Walkalong]

in
case I run out of LPP.

I won't do that in my lifetime. My kids might not either. I've been picking up LP .45 ACP brass for decades.

 

[cw308]

I get my brass from a friend that doesn't reload . Now Federal is using Small Pistol primers , it does create a problem when some of my brass ( Federal ) have small & large pockets . I separate all my brass by brands and now by pockets . Different brass also have different thickness's , adjusting the taper and Bell is something to watch . I like the Lee M expander die , cuts down on the uneven case bulge when seating .