Made A Mistake Today, Needing Advice

[Havok7416]

I have a bunch of CCI Small Pistol MAGNUM primers that I have been using up. I had a bunch of .357 primed up with these primers for use with some H110. Today I went to prime the last of the .357 cases, but apparently grabbed CCI REGULAR SPP instead. All the cases are mixed in together.:banghead:

Is there a way to tell the SPP apart from the SPMP? I can take them apart if necessary. Since my powder for these is H110 I will need the magnum primer. I can also ditch all the primers if necessary and start over. I have no further use for magnum primers once these are gone anyway.

Any advice or helpful input will be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[gamestalker]

Don't beat yourself up to badly, I made the same mistake a while back. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to tell them apart either. I tried a few of the standard primers with the H110 load, and it was filthy disaster. I didn't have any stick in the barrel, but I'm guessing it was a close call, judging by the half burned powder mess they produced.

My suggestion would be to either take the loss and toss all the primers, or grab another powder that doesn't require magnum primers, and use them up that way. It's ok to run magnum primers with loads powders that don't require one, just don't run standard SPP's with powders like H110 / 296. Maybe Longshot, HS6, AA9?

I just had an after thought, try weighing say 5 magnum primers, then 5 standard one's see if they can be distinguished that way?

GS

 

[Havok7416]

GS, it's not too big of a problem other than the fact that there are 550 cases sitting in front of me. I have piles of primers on the shelf to replace with and I do have AA9 and 2400, but I was hoping to save those for other calibers.

Perhaps I can load these up with low end magnum loads using Unique, Bullseye or some other powder?

 

[g.willikers]

Just remove the suspected incorrect primers like removing spent ones.
Do it slowly and there shouldn't be a problem.
I've done lots of them without harm.
Wear eye and ear protection, though, just in case.
There is a color difference in the ingredients in the business ends, just compare the unused ones.
But it might be hard to see through the primer hole of the cases.

 

[Havok7416]

g.willikers, I checked the live primers on the shelf and they are the same color. The magnum primers do appear to be about .01 thicker. I have de-primed over a thousand live primers with only one issue to date, so that is not a problem.

 

[rcmodel]

Perhaps I can load these up with low end magnum loads using Unique, Bullseye or some other powder?

Yes, you can.

You can also use them with H110, as long as you are near max load, and not shooting them in sub-zero weather!

rc

 

[tightgroup tiger]

You need to listen to Gamestalker and reload those shells with a powder that doesn't need magnum primers.
There is no way to tell the difference and even if you do punch them out you will have to use them later "with a powder that doesn't need magnum primers" so why punch them out at all.

I've done the same thing and even the ones that did fire better left a cloud of brown smoke the size of a small car and were not accurate at all. Maybe at 10feet.

 

[Havok7416]

Ok then, I will load these up and start the shooting extravaganza all over again! Let's see if I can get all of them back down the range in a week!

 

[g.willikers]

Now you made me get up off the couch and go look.
And I was sooo comfy.
My CCI standard small pistol primers are definitely bright gold inside.
The CCI Magnum small pistol primers look more silvery.
But they could be discolored, as they are very old and neglected.
Or maybe CCI just decided to make a different fashion statement at some time.

 

[Havok7416]

They are definitely the same here. Mine are about a year old at the most.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

My post looks like I'm contradicting RC. I'm not. We just posted at the same time, his just got there before mine.

 

[Havok7416]

Isn't RC saying that I can shoot the regular SPP brass with H110 though? I thought that was a no-no?

 

[rcmodel]

Perhaps I can load these up with low end magnum loads using Unique, Bullseye or some other powder?

it is a no-no now days.
Just not a no-no No Not Ever No-No.

How many gazillion pounds of H-110 / W-296 would you guess have been shot with standard primers over the last 50 years?

Me neither.
Not even a clue!
But an awful lot of it I betcha!

H-110 was first sold by Hodgdon, and was surplus .30 Carbine powder left over from WWII & the Korean wars.

In 1960 something, few of use knew what mag primers were, and didn't use them, or couldn't get them if we did.

As I said, if you are running near the top loads, and are not shooting them at sub-zero temperatures?

Gofer it.

rc

 

[Havok7416]

Thanks rc. Thanks to everyone actually! You guys always have good advice.

 

[nix4me]

The AA9 and 2400 will work fine with standard primers too. Not a huge mistake, i've done worse.

 

[buck460XVR]

Iffin it were me, I load 'em using IMR4227. It works with either magnum or standard primers, gives magnum performance, but does not get spikey like 2400 with magnum primers. But then I've got two 8# jugs of 4227 I use for .44 mag and .460mag.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm a huge proponent of using a magnum primer when loading W296/H110 but you can use those powder with a standard primer too. If I have 550 cases primers and some were loaded with a standard primer I would shoot them and not worry about it at all...

 

[Havok7416]

I bought the H110 specifically for the purpose of burning off the magnum primers, so I'm sticking with that for these cases. Actually I have little use for most of the brass once I'm done turning out the primers and powder. Most of the cases will also be used for coated bullet development during this run.

I bought all 550ish pieces in response to a challenge from a guy at the range who said my Chiappa Rhino would never hold up to full-power .357 loads. Just in case anyone is wondering, he was wrong!

 

[buck460XVR]

I'm a huge proponent of using a magnum primer when loading W296/H110 but you can use those powder with a standard primer too. If I have 550 cases primers and some were loaded with a standard primer I would shoot them and not worry about it at all...

I personally would worry a little about a stuck bullet from incomplete ignition, which is why the use of Magnum primers is recommended when using H110/W296 in small capacity cases like .357. While I might be prone to use the cases already erroneously primed with standard primers with H110/W296, I would not rapid fire and would be concerned about any round that sounded different, felt different or did not leave a hole on paper. Odds are slim of a squib and can be reduced by using a stiff powder charge and a heavy roll crimp.

 

[Havok7416]

buck, thanks for the concern. I do have extensive experience with squibs which started accidentally, then progressed to intentionally as I tried to figure out how low I could go with certain powders. These will be fired off over a fairly short time-frame to get them reloaded again, but I can't rapid-fire at my range anyway for the most part.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If I have 550 cases primers and some were loaded with a standard primer I would shoot them and not worry about it at all...

I personally would worry a little about a stuck bullet from incomplete ignition, which is why the use of Magnum primers is recommended when using H110/W296 in small capacity cases like .357. While I might be prone to use the cases already erroneously primed with standard primers with H110/W296, I would not rapid fire and would be concerned about any round that sounded different, felt different or did not leave a hole on paper. Odds are slim of a squib and can be reduced by using a stiff powder charge and a heavy roll crimp.

Buck, you left off the first part of my post which made it look like I suggest using a standard primer with H110, I do not. I would not intentionally load a standard primer with H110/W296 but in this case I would not take 550 rounds of ammo apart because a few of them are loaded with standard primers.

I'm a huge proponent of using a magnum primer when loading W296/H110 but you can use those powder with a standard primer too. If I have 550 cases primers and some were loaded with a standard primer I would shoot them and not worry about it at all...

 

[buck460XVR]

Buck, you left off the first part of my post which made it look like I suggest using a standard primer with H110, I do not. I would not intentionally load a standard primer with H110/W296 but in this case I would not take 550 rounds of ammo apart because a few of them are loaded with standard primers.

I did not leave it off on purpose my friend, and did not think it changed the just of my response by doing so. I will then edit that post to include it. I too would not deprime 550 .357 cases because of a mix up with primers. I would just use a powder appropriate for both standard or magnum. If my only choice was H110/W296, I would load them stout, with bullets of 158gr or more and give a them a firm roll crimp. Still, I would have some concern about squibs and the consequences of them. I did not mean to infer that you were suggesting using H110/W296 with a standard primer all the time, only that there were some risks associated with doing so.

 

[Elkins45]

I can't for certain tell you how many rounds of 357 and 44 magnum I have loaded over the years, but it must be in the thousands.

I can tell you how many of them have been with a magnum primer: none.

Maybe I've just been lucky?

 

[Walkalong]

I suspect the closer to max you load H-110/W-296, the less important a mag primer is, but I don't have a lot of experience with it. I also believe the temp plays a big role in that, and it is rarely very cold here, but I always used a mag primer because my Speer manual said to. I still have some mag primers left from that. They have been sitting there all lonesome like for years since I switched to AA #9. I have also used N-110 lately as well.

 

[Havok7416]

So, I have loaded all the rounds up. There was some fluctuation in the charge weights, but not enough to concern me. Charge weight was ~15.5 grains, max is listed at 15.9 (158gr SWC coated). We will see what happens come Saturday!