Newbie Primer question

[dmftoy1]

Ok, this is probably a stupid question, but I figure I'll ask it anyway.

S&W 500 brass right now is divided into 2 types. Some have Large Pistol Primers and some have Large Rifle Primers.

I completely understand why you can't put Large Rifle Primers into Large Pistol Primer brass. (possibly sympathetic discharge, etc.)

The "stupid" question is . . . .can you put Large Pistol Primers into Large Rifle Primer brass? I'm guessing the answer is "no" because they'd be seated too deep and the firing pin wouldn't hit them . . . . . but I'm hoping the answer is "yes" because I have 20 rounds of the "large rifle primer" brass and don't really want to buy 1k of large rifle primers just to be able to reload this brass.

If there are any safety concerns, etc I'd like to hear them also.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Jake in TX]

Large pistol primers and large rifle primers are dimensionally just about identical. The differences are in thickness of the cups and the priming mixture. Does your reloading data call for large pistol primers or large rifle primers? If you are loading mid range loads, and not max pressures, you can probably get away with mixing primer types. But I would not do this on a regular basis.

Jake in TX

 

[dmftoy1]

I've got a mixture of loading data, some of it uses starline brass and large rifle primer's and some of it uses hornady brass and large pistol primers.

If I were to use large pistol primers in "mid-range" loads with brass made for large rifle primers would accuracy be adversly effected or ??

I'm guessing that rifle primers will ignite better than pistol primers??

Sorry for the ignorance.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Mal H]

"I'm guessing that rifle primers will ignite better than pistol primers??"

Not necessarily. When using LR primers in a handgun, you might have a situation where the average handgun firing pin hits a little softer than the average rifle firing pin. So ignition may or may not be better than when using handgun primers with the tendency leaning towards "may not". That being said, I think the S&W 500 will have a harder hitting firing pin than the average handgun.

As Jake said, LP primers have slightly thinner cup metal and usually have a different priming compound (rifle compound being a little hotter). If your handgun calls for either LP or LR primers, I would think you could use LP primers in place of LR primers in most low to mid-range power applications. You shouldn't experience any pierced primers which is the main concern I would have when substituting LP for LR primers.

I'm not sure what you mean by "sympathetic discharge". No modern primer is going to exhibit that phenomenon. If they did, you'd be hearing of a lot of blown up guns from adjacent cylinders or rounds in the magazines going off.

One additional observation (and please don't take it the wrong way): If you can afford a S&W 500 and the bullets and cases for it, why can't you spring for one box or at least one plate of 100 of large rifle primers? One box of 1,000 shouldn't cost more than 10 or so rounds of ammo for that handgun, and 100 should be only a little more than 1/10th of that cost. You might even be able to trade LR primers for LP primers from a reloader in your area.

 

[dmftoy1]

What I was referring to was this:

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/pistol/500swmag.php

?? Possibly I read it wrong.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Jake in TX]

OK, I stand corrected. Hogdon has been in the reloading business much longer than I. As they say:

"These data were developed with Starline Brass which was designed for use with large rifle type primers. Some brands of brass were designed solely for use with large pistol primers. Check with the manufacturer of the brass for correct primer usage. Rifle primers used in a pistol primer pocket cannot be seated sufficiently deep to be below flush with the casehead..."

Go with what the brass was designed for, start low, work up slowly and carefully, and watch for signs of excessive pressure.

Jake in TX

 

[Mal H]

"Rifle primers used in a pistol primer pocket cannot be seated sufficiently deep to be below flush with the casehead..."

True. But the question was whether LP primers can be used in place of LR primers, not vice versa.

 

[Zak Smith]

Many IPSC shooters use Small Rifle primers in their hot 40SW and 38Super/9x23/38SX/9SC loads. Just another data point.

 

[Cortland]

Sounds like some people here are a little confused. Small rifle and small pistol primers are dimensionally identical. Large rifle primers are slightly taller than large pistol primers.

With that said, 1 tray of LR primers should be ~$2. Not a major investment.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Keeping our perspective, here

If you're only trying to re-use 20 rounds of brass with the odd primers, the answer to me seems obvious: Scrap the odd brass, get yourself a single-lot set of brass numerous enough to answer your needs, and use only the one kind of primer.

Buying/using 2 kinds of primer so that you can load up 2 kinds of unlike loads, which will probably behave differently when fired, or loading the "wrong" kind of primer into some of your cases, just to save a little $$ seems to me to be the worst kind of penny wise, pound foolish sort of thinking.

Save up your scrap brass until you have, say, an ice-cream bucket full of it, take it in with your aluminum cans to a dealer, and you can buy new, all-same brass with the proceeds on the way home.

When you go to a public range, there is always brass lying around that some doober failed to police properly. Wear a jacket with big pockets, do the range a favor, and keep saving up scrap brass.