pistol primer vs. rifle primer

[scarletfire]

hi guys,
hoping you can share your wisdom and opinions.
wanting to try some reloading for my ruger PC9, 9mm carbine.
small rifle primers or small pistol primers???
your thoughts are always appreciated.
thanks, Bob

 

[mcb]

Either, just work your load up accordingly. Ran Winchester small rifle primers in 40S&W for quite awhile because I had a cheap source.

 

[Walkalong]

Small pistol primers are what you want for reloading a pistol caliber, doesn't matter that it ill be fired in a carbine.

 

[Texas10mm]

Small pistol primers are what you want for reloading a pistol caliber, doesn't matter that it ill be fired in a carbine.

Umm....that's pretty broad and kind of wrong. Many .327 Federal Mag loads call for a small rifle primer.

 

[Walkalong]

Ok, for 9MM loads you need small pistol primers.

Didn't know that about .327 Federal, but it makes sense.

Yes, people sometimes use small pistol mag even though the powder doesn't need them, and sometimes they use small rifle primers because that's what they have, but in general any advice for new or questioning reloaders is always use small pistol primers for 9MM loads. It seemed the OP was questioning SR because of the carbine, which of course doesn't matter, but either way, the answer is small pistol primers. I don't see any manuals showing SR or SP Mag primers for 9MM.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Small pistol primers are what you want for reloading a pistol caliber, doesn't matter that it ill be fired in a carbine.

I agree completely, couldn't have said it better.

 

[Whiterook808]

Umm....that's pretty broad and kind of wrong. Many .327 Federal Mag loads call for a small rifle primer.

That's a new one for me. I would say that .327 Federal is then the inevitable exception to the rule. Any others you know about? I just learned something..

 

[rsrocket1]

hi guys,
hoping you can share your wisdom and opinions.
wanting to try some reloading for my ruger PC9, 9mm carbine.
small rifle primers or small pistol primers???
your thoughts are always appreciated.
thanks, Bob

Bob,
The PC9 was meant to shoot standard 9mm cartridges which were loaded as if they would be shot in a 9mm pistol. If you load the 9mm rounds properly, they will work fine in a pistol or your PC9 so the wise move would be to simply use small pistol primers.

I personally buy small rifle primers whenever possible unless I find a great deal on spp's. I've developed and tested my pistol loads with srp's.
You can search the archives for all the debates on spp vs srp in pistol applications but for your case, just use spp's and you'll do fine.

 

[mcb]

I believe 454 Casull and 460 S&W use rifle primers. Which makes sense since they run at rifle pressures, 60k & 65k respectfully.

 

[frankmako]

i know several that use small rifle in place of small pistol in 357 mag without any problems. i use all mag primers in all my pistol loads.

 

[Riomouse911]

I use what my reloading manual uses for the loads I’m concocting, and so far I’ve been pretty darn lucky with my reloads. I don’t know if there would be a great difference, but I play it pretty darn safe so I’m not going to find out.

And yes, my 454 loads call for small rifle primers so I use them .

Stay safe!

 

[MEHavey]

Once you approach/much less pass 40ksi -- and there ain't a whole lotta pistol cartridges that do that -- shift to rifle primers.

(327Fed/500S&W/454Cas shooters kinda know they're different at the start. Most all others, stick w/ pistol.)

 

[Walkalong]

I don't have a .327 Federal, nor a .460 or .500 (.327 Federal sounds fun, but you can keep the big boomers), so the only pistol caliber where I use small rifle primers is hot .38 Super in an appropriate pistol.

 

[Varminterror]

I believe 454 Casull and 460 S&W use rifle primers.

wanting to try some reloading for my ruger PC9

Unfortunately, @mcb, the PC9 isn't chambered for 454C or 460 S&W (nor 327 Federal)...

Primer selection has nothing to do with whether it's fired in a rifle or pistol. The max pressure is achieved too early in the bullet travel, it doesn't change with the platform. If a guy thought a PC9 were stronger than any 9mm pistol and chose to load some 9mm+P++++ stuff, maybe they might choose a thicker cup, but based on his question, I don't get the impression that is the objective for the OP.

Small pistol primers, @scarletfire, for your 9x19mm Ruger PC9...

 

[Kaldor]

I've loaded 9mm and small primer 45 ACP over small rifle primers with no issues. Behavior is similar to a small pistol magnum primer, and cup thickness is the same from the research and numbers I was able to dig up on the CCI primers I use. The other thing to consider is that rifle primers do have a thicker cup than a pistol primer, so your pistol needs to be able to ignite them reliably.

I know that many folks that shoot 9mm Major in competition use SRP in their loads because they are pushing 1300+ fps from a pistol.

 

[mcb]

Unfortunately, @mcb, the PC9 isn't chambered for 454C or 460 S&W (nor 327 Federal)...

Primer selection has nothing to do with whether it's fired in a rifle or pistol. The max pressure is achieved too early in the bullet travel, it doesn't change with the platform. If a guy thought a PC9 were stronger than any 9mm pistol and chose to load some 9mm+P++++ stuff, maybe they might choose a thicker cup, but based on his question, I don't get the impression that is the objective for the OP.

Small pistol primers, @scarletfire, for your 9x19mm Ruger PC9...

My 454C469

Unfortunately, @mcb, the PC9 isn't chambered for 454C or 460 S&W (nor 327 Federal)...

Primer selection has nothing to do with whether it's fired in a rifle or pistol. The max pressure is achieved too early in the bullet travel, it doesn't change with the platform. If a guy thought a PC9 were stronger than any 9mm pistol and chose to load some 9mm+P++++ stuff, maybe they might choose a thicker cup, but based on his question, I don't get the impression that is the objective for the OP.

Small pistol primers, @scarletfire, for your 9x19mm Ruger PC9...

The 454C & 460 S&W comment was to a side conversation. But I still stand by my original comment that as long as you take the time to work up the load with your selected primer it's perfectly safe to run either small rifle or pistol in 9mm.

But yeah I agree shooting 9mm in a carbine does not need or benefit from small rifle primers assuming we are staying within SAAMI

I use what I can get affordably. When small pistol primers were going for $22/1000 I fell into two sleeves (10k) of Winchester small rifle for $15/1000. For a bit over one competition season I ran small rifle exclusively in 40S&W with no problems.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

i know several that use small rifle in place of small pistol in 357 mag without any problems. i use all mag primers in all my pistol loads.

That doesn't make it necessary or even correct, especially when a new reloaded is asking.

 

[mdi]

Small pistol primers are what you want for reloading a pistol caliber, doesn't matter that it ill be fired in a carbine.

Agree. The 9mm carbine was designed around a pistol cartridge and all my reloading manuals call for a small pistol primer in all 9mm loads...

I, like many others have experimented with small rifle primers in small pistol situations, but the OP was specific about the need for rifle primers in his 9mm carbine...

 

[n6yga]

Interesting that Hodgdon lists Small Pistol Magnum primers in all the loads that I looked at for 327 Federal Magnum. Definitely not small rifle primers.

Mark.

 

[forrest r]

I use these ($20/1000) for the 9mm's/357's & 223rem

 

[Grumulkin]

And I have Sellier & Bellot large rifle primers that say right on the box that they're for rifle, pistol and revolver loads.

According to conventional wisdom, you have to use magnum primers with ball powders. Not true in my experience and I have never followed this rule.

Supposedly, you don't need magnum primers with stick powders in smaller cases. True; regular primers will ignite the powder but with some powders that aren't ball powders magnum primers will at times give better accuracy (i.e., 357 Herrett with IMR 4227).

I did find that in using large rifle magnum primers in 44 Remington Magnum loads I had to reduce the load by 1 or 2 grains. In another revolver, rifle primers were too hard for the hammer to touch off.

The fact that pistol primers are a tiny bit shorter than rifle primers is totally irrelevant to the issue. The difference in height is not enough to make any difference in ignition.

If you're not an experienced handloader, you should stick close to what the manual says. If you're shooting one of the less strong firearms you should be a lot more cautious in making up your own loads. My opinion is that with the marginal accuracy potential of a 9mm firearm, there will probably not be a big advantage accuracy wise in using rifle primers over pistol primers so I doubt I would use anything but pistol primers in a 9mm carbine. Not because I couldn't but because I don't see the potential for a big advantage in doing so.

And by the way, I've never blown a gun up or even damaged one.

 

[Texas10mm]

Interesting that Hodgdon lists Small Pistol Magnum primers in all the loads that I looked at for 327 Federal Magnum. Definitely not small rifle primers.

Mark.

Hornady manual.

 

[Rule3]

Umm....that's pretty broad and kind of wrong. Many .327 Federal Mag loads call for a small rifle primer.

Well that is "kinda wrong" also
The OP is shooting 9mm not 327 Federal

327 Federal kinda sorta maybe has more PSI than a 9mm

Not ALL data for 327 Fed specifies a Magnum or Rifle primer
There was much debate when the caliber first came out as there was no data

Yes, I have one load for one.

Hodgdon list Mag primers for any cartridge/Caliber that says MAGNUM Even when using 2400 which doen't need a magnum primer

Yes I have a PC carbine and use my good regular 9mm loads with pistol primers

http://www.accuratepowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WPHandloading-Guide-7.0-Web-REV.pdf

 

[scarletfire]

thanks for all the replies.
makes sense that Ruger would expect people to use 9mm pistol rounds and construct the gun accordingly.
Bob

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Why are we talking about the .327 Mag when the OP asked about the 9mm?