Small Rifle Primers In Pistol Calibers

[TBF]

I read a post recently expressing concern over the use of small rifle primers in 40S&W.

The post hinted at excessive breechface wear due to failure to seal at pistol pressures.

I assume alot of loads are made using SRP, anyone seen this problem?

And while we are on the subject, anyone notice any velocity change when switching from pistol

to rifle primers?

Any negative effects of any sort?

I have not noticed this problem or any others using SRP in pistol loads, but , YMMV...

Thanks in advance for info.

Travis F.

[Ironman]

I was talking to a friend last night that has used small rifle primers in his 40 cal SV and he said that the firing pin may wear a little faster. But he still uses them for major competitions. He also said that the harder cup may not work reliably on my glock.

Jim

[cpty1]

I've been using WSR primers in a Glock and playing around with different trigger components. This particular Glock would not ignite the WSR primers with any reduced power firing pin spring combination of any sort. As long as the stock springs were in place, it's ignited the WSRs with no problem.

[shred]

I chronoed a couple batches of 38 Super ammo (VV N350) last night. One was made with Federal Small Pistol primers and the other was otherwise identical (same press run), except for Winchester Small Rifle primers. Difference in velocity over ten shot averages? One foot per second.

[jnorine]

Hi All,

There was a thread on this a while back. The consensus seemed to be that the only major difference is that the metal in the small rifle primers is a bit thicker, contains negligible additional priming compound, and is mainly an advantage if you were to load extra high pressure rounds (like 9mm major). The thicker metal will reduce the tendency of primer to flatten at high pressure. Hope this helps

-Jim

[2alpha]

The thicker cup serves to hide the high pressure warning a pistol primer would show. If you want to run rifle pressures in your pistol use them.

[eric nielsen]

My $.02 -

Before I could get my hands on Fed Small Pistol primers for my new Glock35, I used the WSR's on hand that I've always used in 38 Super. The Federals are "just in case" and they flatten out & seal a little better than the WinSmallRifle. No difference in velocity.

Shot 435 rounds with WSR & 5.5 stock Glock striker spring. No problems.

Shot 200 rounds with WSR & 4.0 lb Wolff striker spring. No problems.

NOTE: I size every case first, then turn them over in a tray & spray the empty primer pockets with Hornady 1-shot case lube, then load ammo. Have never had an ignition failure doing this. Inspect your new primers, I've had to throw out 3 or 4 (ever) for mangled cups, and one for no anvil.

I did experience (bad) breechface erosion years back in a Glock20 (10mm) and that was using ONLY Federal Large Pistol primers. I think it had more to do with the nature of Glock steel: hard on the outside, supersoft on the inside. But maybe the loads were such low pressure that the FLP's didn't seal. I dunno. Used to reload those cases about 25 times each...

dvc - eric - a28026

[a-44978]

I had more light hits than i can count with my sotck Glock model 35.I now have an sti with a long firing pin and use wsr primers with no problem.I intensionally loaded a couple of empty cases with very high primers just to see what it would do,and it went pop every time.

Thats my experience so far

[Carlos]

No problems here; SV in 9x23/9supercomp; 2nd owner & maybe 2000 rounds w/ small rifle primers but the gun is on its 2nd barrel and has maybe 50,000 to 60,000 rounds through it - all w/ small rifle primers.

[megaman]

a friend and i compared chronograph results; same press, dies, powder, cases, and heads, but different primers. wsp vs. fsr. mine (small rifle) made major with a tenth of a grain less powder.

[Thomas Moore]

i too am using the wsr primers for my para 40 cal. not much more in velocity but did have better buring of powder and a little more accuracy.

[EricW]

I chronoed a couple batches of 38 Super ammo (VV N350) last night.  One was made with Federal Small Pistol primers and the other was otherwise identical (same press run), except for Winchester Small Rifle primers.  Difference in velocity over ten shot averages?  One foot per second.

That matches my results.

[Counting Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin Mode ON]

Try comparing Federal's Rifle and Pistol primers against one another. There does seem to be a difference there. I was developing some blank loads and noticed a substantial improvement in ignition as I went from Federal Pistol to Rifle - then to the magnum flavor of each. Winchesters didn't work at all - I couldn't get decent ignition. If you're already getting complete powder ignition in your load, I doubt this difference will show up on a chrono.

I really think the primer power difference only matters for igniting large volumes of powder and/or at low pressures. Then, rifle primers and the magnum rifle primers do have the extra heat to make a difference. For everything else, I doubt there will be any change in pressure or velocity.

Now that I think about it, running a rifle or magnum rifle primer in a light 45ACP load might be a good trick to clean up an incompletely burning or dirty load.

[Flexmoney]

I don't recall the numbers, but there is a small difference between Federal 100's and federal 200's.

[TBF]

Large rifle primers are taller than large pistol. Small primers are the same height for both.

Not sure by exactly how much....

Travis F.

[2alpha]

Limited 40: Please share the accuracy difference between rifle and pistol primers.

[Steve Anderson]

Do the brand/sensitivity generalizations hold up in small rifle?

Federals softest, etc.

sA

[Thomas Moore]

2alpha, i shot the groups fee style and observed the wsr load was 1-1.5 inches tighter at 25yrds, so i went with that load.