Mixing Primers

Status
Not open for further replies.
Captain Quack

Captain Quack

Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2021
Messages
375
Location
North Idaho
I was reading a thread the other day and they got talking about substituting large and small pistol primers and now I can't find the thread. I have a box of large pistol magnums and I'm getting short of small pistol primers. Can you use large pistol magnums in 9mm and .38?

Captain Quack.
 
That could have been it .38 Special. I do have a box of primers from when we had a M1 Carbine. As they say. The memory is the second thing to go lol.

Captain Quack.
 
Some cartridges' cases come in small or large primer sizes. I recently started loading .45ACP, which, historically, used Large Pistol primers. However, it has recently (??) been offered with Small Primers. I bought a bunch of small primer once-fired .45ACP cases because I have lots of small pistol primers, but am short of large pistol primers.
Primers generally come in several variations:
Small or Large (diameter);
Pistol or Rifle;
Standard or Magnum.

There are other variations for mil-spec loads;
Remington has a real mixed bag of primer options, check them individually for 'proper' application.
 
Little JBWeld or Epoxy and you should be good to go. J/K.....no.......you can't swap between large/small. You can often replace magnum with standard, or even swap small pistol and small rifle, or large pistol and large rifle...depending on caliber and gun used........but there is no legit safe or functionally sane way to swap large and small.
 
Hmmm. Small pistol and small rifle... Let me go take at quick look at something. Darn. Whole box of small rifle magnum primers. I assume because of the magnum rating those wont work in place of small pistols? .38/.357 and 9mm.

Captain Quack.
 
I have used small magnum rifle in .357 with no issues. I'd be slightly leery of using them in lower pressure loadings, but would do it in a pinch - I have heard of them being successfully used in the 9mm on several occasions over the years. As always, start with the book minimum and work your way up...
 
I always start at the bottom and then work up to the middle. Still. I'm not that desperate yet. I'll stick with small pistol. I still have a couple of thousand of those. but we're at the range twice a week. I've got about 600 .357 cases all cleaned and primed from before I quit reloading 7 years ago. What I am short of like everyone else is primers. All the primed .38 and 9mm have all been used up.

Captain Quack.
 
Captain Quack said:
Hmmm. Small pistol and small rifle... Let me go take at quick look at something. Darn. Whole box of small rifle magnum primers. I assume because of the magnum rating those wont work in place of small pistols? .38/.357 and 9mm.

Captain Quack.
Click to expand...
During the 2008 Shortage.......I loaded and shot about 5,000 9mm using CCI Small Rifle Magnum....Because I had come across a really smokin' deal the year before, and bought 3 5K ct cases for 150.00 each. So yeah......they run just fine, but none of my striker guns would punch the cup..Glocks, Springfield XDs...wouldn't run them. Didn't even change the load, ran exactly the same...
 
That's interesting information EricBu. My EDC is a Ruger Max 9 and that's a striker gun but I also have a Ruger P95. Methinks maybe load up a couple of dozen and give them a try. Just stick with the bottom end of the loads data. Thanks Very Much EricBu!

Captain Quack.
 
Small rifle primers MIGHT work in lieu of small pistol primers. I have loaded SRP in some of my pistol loads with generally good results. You will have to work up your loads again. Only issue I had was my Colt would not set off the SRP`s. You cannot do this with large primers as large rifle primer cups are taller than large pistol primers (at least on paper). I recall reading somewhere that someone had measured a variety of large rifle primers and some were the same height as large pistol. YMMV. It is NOT a good idea (i.e. dangerous) to use pistol primers for rifle loads as a general rule, although, it is my understanding this is sometimes done on reduced loads such as for cast bullets and sub-sonic loads. I have no personal experience with this, however.

All that being said, and as others have mentioned, small and large primers are definitely NOT interchangeable.
 
Yes small pistol, small rifle, small pistol magnum, small rifle magnum can be used in hand gun cartridges. But, the main consideration is to do an individual load work up and test in your gun. Like many reloaders I have experimented with different "power" primers in different applications, safely because I went back to book min charges with every substitution and worked up is necessary. I had no rifle primers FTF in any hand gun but all hand guns were stock and small pistol primers in my ,223 handloads would occasionally leak when loaded with upper loads.

I hope this panic shortage ends soon so all the fearful, inexperienced reloaders will stop asking "can I use a XXX primer in my ZZZ?", without doing any research themselves... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=can+I+use+small+rifle+primers+in+my+38+special?&atb=v275-1&ia=web
 
mdi said:
Yes small pistol, small rifle, small pistol magnum, small rifle magnum can be used in hand gun cartridges. But, the main consideration is to do an individual load work up and test in your gun. Like many reloaders I have experimented with different "power" primers in different applications, safely because I went back to book min charges with every substitution and worked up is necessary. I had no rifle primers FTF in any hand gun but all hand guns were stock and small pistol primers in my ,223 handloads would occasionally leak when loaded with upper loads.

I hope this panic shortage ends soon so all the fearful, inexperienced reloaders will stop asking "can I use a XXX primer in my ZZZ?", without doing any research themselves... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=can+I+use+small+rifle+primers+in+my+38+special?&atb=v275-1&ia=web
Click to expand...

I agree with everything you said except the part about inexperienced reloaders. Everyone had to start somewhere, and we should be happy to gently point them in the right direction. The more reloaders and firearms owners, the less likely laws that make life difficult for firearms owners will be. I am of the firm opinion that the only dumb question is the one unasked - when it really NEEDED to be.

I know sometimes printed words can come across as mean-spirited. I do not intend anything above to come across that way. It is said more in the spirit of two guys having a beer and one saying "Oh, I don't know...":)
 
Yep, my apologies if I sounded snarky. But I have been cruising reloading forums since 2006 and lately I have been seeing many, many very basic questions that are answered in any reloading manual, published or on line or just common sense. Forums are like a bunch of reloaders hanging out in the back room of the LGS shooting the bull. Simple questions can be answered easily, but the same question over and over, even just a few minutes apart gets old. I have seen "can I use SP mag primers instead of SP standard primers?" maybe 6,854 times in recent history. Forums are not the end all for reliable reloading info, but some do believe so. I guess the "instant answer" thinking is replacing basic research and any answer, even from an anonymous screen name is OK to be taken as gospel.

Perhaps I'm a dinosaur, old school caveman but my Rule # 1 is;
I pay very little attention (none) to any load data I see on any forum, or pet loads website, hear from any gun counter clerk, range rat, good intended friend or gun shop guru. I get my info/data from published manuals and texts with a bit of data from powder manufacturer websites. This has served me well for many years (I started waaay pre-web) and I have no ruined guns, one squib in 1970, and no kabooms. Reliable, safe info is easily found in many other places than forums which are composed of a lot of opinions and some (?) of fact...
 
I totally get it. I don't go that far back. I was not saying you were snarky - but that I did not want to come across that way. I agree, simple research would do the trick, but like you said, we are in the "instant answer" generation.
 
I did try some searching here and found that one thread but it wasn't quite right for what I was interested in. There is also the fact that this is the internet after all and you take a chance when you trust any information. I've always preferred as narrow a definition of a question as the starting point as I can get it and watch where it goes. The consensus seems to be that SR will be fine which doubles my current supply of primers for our small pistols. They say things are getting better but no one has seen a primer for 100 miles around here in the last 9 months. Not even the big stores like Sportsman's Warehouse or Caballa's. When my 2K primers are gone we're done shooting for the year and we shoot twice a week.

Captain Quack.
 
I "researched" small primer substitution and quit counting at 60 hits, and it took less than 5 seconds to appear. Information is out there, all you gotta do is look. I normally take forum answers with a grain of Bullseye and prefer dedicated manuals and texts, but Google is a good place to start...

How primers work, composition of primers, primer sizes, interchangeability, history, safety, etc. are all available with a few seconds...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
  • Locked
Magnum vs. Standard primers
Replies
6
Views
4K
ArchAngelCD
ArchAngelCD
E
  • Locked
Substituting Standard Pistol Primers for Magnum Pistol Primers
Replies
12
Views
563
DMW1116
D
J
  • Locked
What makes the types of primers different?
Replies
0
Views
378
jeepmor
J
ArchAngelCD
  • Locked
  • Poll
Better Primers?
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
evan price
evan price
B
  • Locked
Magnum primers - any disadvantage ?
Replies
7
Views
1K
Phil in Seattle
P
Back
Top