M1 Carbine with Remington 5 1/2 primers

[Husker_Fan]

I had a thread going on this a while ago, but it was lost during a recent board upgrade.

Anyhow, I had trouble finding small rifle primers at the time. I figured that since I was using H110, and small pistol primers are the same dimensions, I thought I'd give them a shot.

Long story short, they worked perfectly. I contacted Remington and asked if the cup thickness was the same between the two. They wouldn't give me a straight answer unfortunately.

The M1 has a free floated firing pin so the primer cup must be sufficiently hard/thick to avoid slam fires. To check for this, I made some dummy rounds without a powder charge. I hand cycled them and found no marks on the primers. I then put some in the magazine under live, factory ammo. I fired the factory ammo, and there was no slam fire with the dummy round. (I figured if there was, the worst case would be a squib). These also had no marks on the primers.

This gave me enough confidence to try some live rounds. 200 later, I've had no issues whatsoever with the small pistol magnum primers. No signs of overpressure from the primers or anything else. This leads me to feel confidence using these as a substitute FOR MY GUN ONLY.

I cannot say it will be safe in any other carbine, but it may be something others may be interested in.

 

[1KPerDay]

Interesting. I didn't know they were the same size. I thought one was thicker front to back or something.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Interesting. I didn't know they were the same size. I thought one was thicker front to back or something.

Large rifle primers are a different size than large pistol primers but small rifle and pistol primers are dimensionally identical.

Long story short, they worked perfectly. I contacted Remington and asked if the cup thickness was the same between the two. They wouldn't give me a straight answer unfortunately.

The reason Remington would not tell you if small pistol and small rifle primers are the same cup thickness is because they didn't want you to use small pistol primers in a rifle case. IMO that's a very bad choice to make and even if it's safe in your guns you shouldn't post it here where someone without reloading experience can read it.

Remington suggests using their #7 1/2 primers in semi-autos and not their standard #6 1/2 primers. I'm sure using pistil primers in a rifle round is unwise at the least. Even though you're using a pistol powder I highly doubt you come close to the pressure generated in a rifle round in a pistol caliber. Not a good idea at all!!!

 

[Husker_Fan]

ArchAngelCD,
I agree. I used small pistol magnum primers which have a thicker cup than small pistol primers (at least the Remington primers). I would never try this with a higher pressure round, or rifle powder.

This is limited to .30 Carbine. Specifically, this is limited to MY particular rifle.

 

[56hawk]

I'm sure using pistil primers in a rifle round is unwise at the least. Even though you're using a pistol powder I highly doubt you come close to the pressure generated in a rifle round in a pistol caliber. Not a good idea at all!!!

I don't know. 357 Magnum is loaded to around the same pressure as the 30 Carbine, and I use small pistol primers for it.

 

[cfullgraf]

Lines between some small rifle cartridges and some handgun cartridges are being blurred these days.

RCBS now recommends small pistol primers in 22 Hornet.

I am not recommending anything just passing along some information.

Correction, it is Speer manual #14, Page 182, 22 Hornet, that recommends small pistol primers with 22 Hornet.

I sometimes use RCBS and Speer interchangeably.

Yes, do not use any information that does not come from a reputable source an internet forums are not reputable for reloading data

 

[ArchAngelCD]

It's really not a good idea to post on an open forum something that no reloading manual, book or company would recommend. I'll say it again, don't post things like this because a new reloader might read it and end up hurting them self or someone else...

You can do what you want but don't post it on an open forum!!!

 

[1KPerDay]

IMO his disclaimer was sufficient.

 

[cheeze]

Just so the new folks know, DO NOT use pistol primers on rifle cartridges. The .30 carbine is pretty much the same as a magnum pistol round chambered in a rifle, and pressures are lower than most rifle cartridges, so it may have worked out okay so far for the original poster. If you do this on a higher pressure round, you will most likely suffer injury or worse.

The metal cup that holds the priming compound is thicker on rifle primers so that it can withstand the higher pressures of a rifle (can exceed 65,000 psi). To put this into perspective, the compression on the cylinders in your car or truck engine is around 130 psi. If 65,000 psi blows a hole in the primer, it puts that much pressure on the firing pin and other parts, which can make a missile towards your head out of the firing pin or parts. It could be the last bad idea you ever had.

 

[4895]

Funny thing, "only" once I loaded some small pistol standard primers in 5.56 ammo. This was of course a mistake since I couldn't find my small rifle primers anywhere and thought I was using small rifle primers. Of course, everything went bang with no problems and I would never recommend to deviate from the reload manual. Since then, I have tried to use the correct primers for every load and have been most successful. Hope you all have as much success as I. Happy loading!