Small Rifle vs Small Pistol Primers .380 Smith Wesson MP EZ .380

[Sgt. Stiglitz]

Can't wait till this primer shortage is over with! So in my stash I have left about 7K of Small Pistol same for Small rifle primers, about 16K Large Pistol and a couple thousand large rifle primers. I shoot lots of small pistol. So I was wondering and I have read small rifle can be used in place of small pistol primers but there could be light strikes with certain guns.

So I took the chrono and old Phone I use that is bluetoothed to the chronograph to the range. I was trying to see if there is any difference shooting SR instead of SR. Not much, maybe 25fps faster.
Small pistol 3.8 gr ww231
Temperature: N/A
Pressure: N/A
Bullet Weight: 98.0 Cast Lead Truncated
Power Factor Average: 105
Power Factor Low: 104
Power Factor High: 107
Number of Shots: 14
Minimum: 1064
Maximum: 1092
Spread: 28
Average: 1079
Standard Deviation: 9
14 1066 247.26 104 5/18/21 10:03 AM
13 1086 256.62 106 5/18/21 10:03 AM
12 1064 246.33 104 5/18/21 10:03 AM
11 1085 256.15 106 5/18/21 10:03 AM
10 1080 253.79 105 5/18/21 10:03 AM


95gr fmj 3.8gr ww231
Temperature: N/A
Pressure: N/A
Bullet Weight: 95.0
Power Factor Average: 98
Power Factor Low: 96
Power Factor High: 99
Number of Shots: 5
Minimum: 1017
Maximum: 1044
Spread: 27
Average: 1032
Standard Deviation: 10
# Velocity Ft/lbs Power Factor Date
5 1044 229.90 99 5/18/21 10:19 AM
4 1038 227.26 98 5/18/21 10:19 AM
3 1017 218.16 96 5/18/21 10:19 AM
2 1025 221.60 97 5/18/21 10:19 AM
1 1037 226.82 98 5/18/21 10:19 AM


Small rifle primers 3.8gr ww231
Temperature: N/A
Pressure: N/A
Bullet Weight: 95.0
Power Factor Average: 104
Power Factor Low: 102
Power Factor High: 106
Number of Shots: 5
Minimum: 1083
Maximum: 1119
Spread: 36
Average: 1100
Standard Deviation: 12
# Velocity Ft/lbs Power Factor Date
5 1083 247.39 102 5/18/21 10:06 AM
4 1093 251.98 103 5/18/21 10:06 AM
3 1103 256.61 104 5/18/21 10:06 AM
2 1103 256.61 104 5/18/21 10:06 AM
1 1119 264.11 106 5/18/21 10:06 AM

 

[FROGO207]

As long as your firearm will light them off reliably I have seen no practicle difference between SRP and SPP in my trials. I have shifted over to almost all SRP to load with save for the couple striker fired pistols that will not set them off reliably. Those get SPP still. The AR's get CCI 41.

 

[Mark_Mark]

only 1way to find out!

 

[jebova2301]

Copying and pasting what I posted in an old thread on the same topic...

I have been substituting small rifle magnum(SRM) in place of small pistol primers(SPP) for years with no adverse effects. Some pistols don't have enough force on the hammer or striker to set off SRMs, but I have had no issue with any of mine thus far. Just for kicks, I ran some loads past my chronograph while doing other testing the other day.

Load was as follows:
124gr Hornady FMJ
5.0gr unique
Once fired(honestly only fired one time) Remington brass
Fiocchi SRM or SPP
Fired from a polymer80 "glock 19" build

SRM Results
1174
1175
1167
1172
1149
Average: 1167.28fps

SPP Results
1155
1164
1189
1169
1159
Average: 1167.14fps

Overall difference between the two of 0.14 feet per second. Granted, this wasn't a giant sample, but I feel they are close enough that I don't have any concerns as to substituting.

Having said that, I WILL NOT substitute SPP in place of SRM, as the SPP has a thinner cup and I would be afraid of primers getting pierced or failing at the higher pressures.

 

[AzShooter1]

I've run thousands of Small Rifle Primers in my centerfire loads and found the same as the OP, about 25 fps faster. All else is equal.

If your gun reliably pops the primers go for it.

 

[milsurpguy]

Don't buy or build a gun that fires pistol ammo unless it can fire rifle primers.
I decided after the 1994 primer shortage to go rifle primers on everything. Only buy pistol primers when that's the only thing available or if they are really cheap.
Generally any hammer fired pistol will light up rifle primers just fine.
1911s do good on rifle primers, FN products seem good, Beretta is good, sig always sets them off, any revolver that fires a magnum round will give good strong hits.
I have had problems with striker fired guns giving good hits on rifle primers and always setting them off. But a little modification usually fixes the problem.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Striker fired pistols and revolvers with weak hammer springs aside, don't forget this is a one-way swap: small for small and rifle for pistol, only. The same does not apply to large primers or swapping smalls for pistols into rifle rounds.

There are exceptions to every rule, though and if someone can point out a maker whose large pistol primer pockets are consistently deep enough for large rifle primers, I'd be curious to try it out.

 

[milsurpguy]

I have several hundred cases, at least winchester, remington, federal, cbc, several others. All loaded with winchester large rifle primers.
Clean primer pockets help a lot.