small rifle primers

[chetc]

i am getting low on my small pistol primers, i have a few 1000 of small rifle, will they work ok in small pistol use.

 

chet

[Alaskapopo]

Yes with a few buts. Work your load up again as the primers are hotter. And they may give you miss fires in Glocks or revolvers with lightened striker springs or hammer springs in da mode mostly in the revolver 

[chetc]

13 minutes ago, Alaskapopo said:

Yes with a few buts. Work your load up again as the primers are hotter. And they may give you miss fires in Glocks or revolvers with lightened striker springs or hammer springs in da mode mostly in the revolver 

thanks, will give them a try

[WaltK]

24 minutes ago, Alaskapopo said:

Yes with a few buts. Work your load up again as the primers are hotter. And they may give you miss fires in Glocks or revolvers with lightened striker springs or hammer springs in da mode mostly in the revolver 

I've been using Fed. standard small rifle primers for my 9mm minor load , no problem. Also there's a You Tube video by Atlas gun works thoroughly explaining the use of various primers for use in pistol ammo. 

Edited April 8 by WaltK
grammar

[36873687]

Yes my adjust powder drop little not much for me to bother

[pjb45]

I have used Federal Small pistol; magnum, match, rifle; magnum and match for 9mm and 40 S&W with VV320 in my Limited and SS guns with no problems.  Generally, Zero bullets are used in my guns.  Range brass offers a slightly greater variance than once fired (out of my guns) brass.   

I do have extended firing pins.

i do not load to max but rather a 166-169 power factor.

 

I have seen some limited data stating there might be a 10-15 fps increase in velocity by using rifle or magnum primers.  I never statistically noticed a difference in over 20,000 reloads.  My chrono data does not show much of a difference for me to worry about pressures, that and the primers do not show any pressure problems.  

 

For you statisticians I did use a Variance of Means algorithm.  I have several boxes of 'control' ammo = ammo used at National and Area matches that was chrono'd and left over.  

 

I have not tried the different primers in a revolver yet.  Probably next month.

 

CCI has published some very good papers on primers.

[RGA]

FWIW, back in the 90's I used CCI400's in 9mm without issues. My loads were not max though. These CCI's are hard but I had no ignition problems in a std Glock and Beretta 92.

 

Large rifle primers though were a different story. The ones I had on hand (not sure anymore if they were CCI or Fed) were too tall for the primer pockets of the brass I had.

[Guy Neill]

While small rifle and small pistol primers have the same dimensions, the large  pistol and large rifle differ.  Large rifle primers are taller than large pistol.

 

 

[jejb]

9 hours ago, WaltK said:

I've been using Fed. standard small rifle primers for my 9mm minor load , no problem. Also there's a You Tube video by Atlas gun works thoroughly explaining the use of various primers for use in pistol ammo. 

It is a good video with actual test results. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWqDVmJMZfo

 

[adamastergunner]

In the end it sounds like there is no issue with using small rifle primers in place if small pistol primers.

[Sarge]

4 minutes ago, adamastergunner said:

In the end it sounds like there is no issue with using small rifle primers in place if small pistol primers.

Breech face erosion can be a major issue. 

[bigdawgbeav]

I was able to pick up a bunch of SRP's as well.  Since all of my pistols are using lighter springs, I'm saving all the SRP loaded rounds for my PCC.  Tested CCI and Win SRP and they ran great.  

[Eric802]

3 hours ago, Sarge said:

Breech face erosion can be a major issue. 

If you're getting pierced primers?

[Sarge]

8 minutes ago, Eric802 said:

If you're getting pierced primers?

No. If loads are really light sometimes the harder rifle primers do not expand in the case enough to stop harmful gas cutting of the breech face.

[IPSCLUVERRR]

Back in the early open major days almost everyone was using SRP in their guns, it was just something that had to be used. To this day I strictly use SRP in my 1911/2011 pistols. In my lightened p320's/tanfos I have to use small pistol but some of the guns will fire SRP. It won't hurt the gun at all whichever primer you use. And based on the Atlas/Vel ammo primer test there is negligent difference between velocities and pressure. 

[ltdmstr]

One of the major manufacturers, think it was Federal, but may have been Winchester, told me probably 20 years ago, that the only difference between the two is the hardness of the cup.  The type and quantity, etc. of the priming compound is exactly the same.  I doubt anything has changed since.

[EEH]

They have different color compound !

[Sarge]

3 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

One of the major manufacturers, think it was Federal, but may have been Winchester, told me probably 20 years ago, that the only difference between the two is the hardness of the cup.  The type and quantity, etc. of the priming compound is exactly the same.  I doubt anything has changed since.

 

1 hour ago, EEH said:

They have different color compound !

While I have great faith both of you guys knowledge I only know when I did a simple test of just firing a primed case in a dark garage my Fed SRP’s were louder and shot more flame out of the comp and barrel than any SPP I compared with.

BUT I do completely agree that in loaded ammo they all performed about the same as far as velocity etc

[AverageJoeShooting]

ive been using smp in my open gun for the entire past year

they work perfectly

[EEH]

1 hour ago, Sarge said:

 

While I have great faith both of you guys knowledge I only know when I did a simple test of just firing a primed case in a dark garage my Fed SRP’s were louder and shot more flame out of the comp and barrel than any SPP I compared with.

BUT I do completely agree that in loaded ammo they all performed about the same as far as velocity etc

I did that once in a revolver and the case swelled had to punch it out. I use SRP in most everything I shoot.

[Alaskapopo]

On 4/7/2021 at 5:35 PM, WaltK said:

I've been using Fed. standard small rifle primers for my 9mm minor load , no problem. Also there's a You Tube video by Atlas gun works thoroughly explaining the use of various primers for use in pistol ammo. 

Great video thanks 

[redfisher]

I have never used anythig but small rife primers in my open guns since the early 90s.

[grsdoug]

" 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."

 

[SGT_Schultz]

I recently tried some Rem 7 1/2 primers in my usual load (3.8 TG 125 gr conical mixed brass) and couldn't tell the difference in recoil from the same load with CCI SP or with WSPM primers.

 

I'll get around chronoing them one of these days.