primers

[depback]

small rifle primers are all but unattainable in my area. anyone have any facts or opinions on substituting magnum small pistol primers? will the cup survive a rifle pin strike?

 

[BBarn]

The general answer is no, because the pistol primer cup isn't designed to handle rifle pressures. There is only one exception to this that I'm aware of. Speer tested CCI pistol primers for use in some 22 Hornet loads and found them able to handle the 49,000 psi pressure. However, most other small primer rifle calibers operate at higher pressures than the 22 Hornet, and Speer didn't recommend the practice for any other cartridges, or with any other small pistol primers.

There is also the issue of priming compound. The small pistol primers may have considerably less energy than small rifle primers, rendering them unsuitable for small rifle calibers (with certain 22 Hornet loads using CCI 500 primers being an exception).

 

[Walkalong]

As posted, for almost all applications, no, so y'all be careful out there. Good luck finding what you need, you might check the sticky at the top of the page where folks are posting where components are.

 

[depback]

i'll try for sr primes again today. if not, guess i'll wait. got a 1000 or so 223 loaded, so i guess i can wait. got enough other calibers to play with anyway.