Small pistol primers for rifle

[KentG]

I would like to know if in a situation of extreme shortages can small pistol primers be used for

223?

I thought they were dimensionally the same. Educate me please.

[yoshidaex]

Dimensionally the same, construction different.

Cups for SRP are harder than SPP to prevent primer flow.

Also the amount of priming compound in SPP is less than SRP.

[Powder Finger]

No, never.... won't handle the pressure.

[twodownzero]

Absolutely not.

[Mike Morcillo]

Not hot enough to fully ignite the powder, could cause an over-pressure, in my opinion. Not made for it, don't it. Rifle in pistols, that's another story.

[RePete]

What they said - NO!

[Alaskapopo]

You can go the other way however and use small rifle for pistol rounds just start over on your reloading data to compensate for the extra power.

Pat

[Canuck223]

I recall stories about guys during WWII using small pistol primers in .22 Hornet. That might be fine for very low pressure ammo, but like the rest here I suspect most times you'd wind up with pierced primers and some signifigant risk.

[KentG]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems to follow what I thought. My next question is why not make/buy small rifle and adjust load data for pistol? I use Scharch processed brass for 223 at the moment but am thinking of starting to do my own brass prep. I believe in the KISS theory and not having to stock multiple primer types seems to make a case for just using small rifle for everything. Not to mention the possibility of mistakenly mixing them when loading. BUT Im not sure how hard the anvil is for most small rifle and if that would be a issue.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Kent Grewe

[Steve RA]

It isn't the hardness of the anvil that matters, it's the primer cup that counts. Personally, when I was shooting an open gun with all titanium parts, the only one that would not fire very frequently was the 7 1/2 Remington match primers. The Tula .223 primers will fire reliably in a Taurus 709 (striker fired) and are reasonably priced. If you have friends who reload .223 rifle rounds, see it you can get a few primers from them to try. Just load them in an empty case and fire into a piece of note paper from about a foot away with a rifle primer and a pistol primer and you can see the difference in the output. Best to have the paper on a clipboard - or you can use a clean shop towel.

[yoshidaex]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems to follow what I thought. My next question is why not make/buy small rifle and adjust load data for pistol? I use Scharch processed brass for 223 at the moment but am thinking of starting to do my own brass prep. I believe in the KISS theory and not having to stock multiple primer types seems to make a case for just using small rifle for everything. Not to mention the possibility of mistakenly mixing them when loading. BUT Im not sure how hard the anvil is for most small rifle and if that would be a issue.

The SRP won't seal properly in "regular" pistol loadings which may cause gas cutting/pitting of the breech face.

If you load high pressure loads (i.e. 9 major, 38 super/sc/TJ or 40 s&w major and other high pressure loads) theres enough pressure to seal the primer/brass area to minimize breech face erosion.

[FightFireJay]

I would like to know if in a situation of extreme shortages can small pistol primers be used for

223?

I thought they were dimensionally the same. Educate me please.

A better substitution would be Small Pistol Magnums. Dimensionally the same as SRP, but with a thicker cup and more compound than SSP. In fact, I believe at least a couple companies have admitted that Small Pistol Magnums and SRP are same product in different boxes.

[Mush from PA.]

Small pistol primers in a rifle - only of you want to melt your bolt face from the flame melting through the primer. (Or so I have heard).

Low pressure rounds - 22 Hornet or 30 Carbine can use 6 1/2 Remington Small Rifle Primers - all other small rifle use the 7 1/2 small rifle primers.

http://www.glockpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2800

Edited August 13, 2012 by Mush from PA.

[JakeMartens]

I have only used Winchester small rifle primers in loading 40s&w.

[res45]

I would like to know if in a situation of extreme shortages can small pistol primers be used for

223?

I thought they were dimensionally the same. Educate me please.

A better substitution would be Small Pistol Magnums. Dimensionally the same as SRP, but with a thicker cup and more compound than SSP. In fact, I believe at least a couple companies have admitted that Small Pistol Magnums and SRP are same product in different boxes.

That may be correct but I've only received confirmation for one source.

NOTE 1: According to Speer/CCI Technical Services - Both the CCI 550 Small Pistol Magnum and CCI 400 Small Rifle primers are identical in size. Both primers use the same cup metal and share the same cup thickness. Both primers use the same primer compound formula and same amount of primer compound. They can be used interchangeably.