Magnum Primers in 9x19

[Estimator]

Magnum primers in 9mm

As in most of the country, primers, powder and brass are in short supply here in Alaska, especially primers. Out of desperation, I recently purchased a large amount of Small Pistol Magnum primers at an estate auction. Now I am faced with the challenge of figuring out how to safely use them in my various 9x19 handguns.

As most serious reloaders know, the 9mm cartridge is sensitive to change and using magnum primers with the wrong combination powder, bullet, OAL etc, could be “not a good thing”. The bullet I have been using lately for weekend target shooting/load development is 125 gr rn BH18 .356 from the Missouri Bullet Company. Brass is Starline 9mm+P and powders vary from 231, HS-6, Titegroup, Universal Clays, Unique.

It seems that using a fairly slow powder with good shell filling capacity such as HS-6 or possibly Blue Dot and working up slowly would be a good way to go. The primers I normally use are Federal 100 which seem to be of fairly soft metal in that they can flatten somewhat when in fact the pressure does not seem excessive.

Although I have experimented with many combinations in 9mm from “barely able to cycle the slide” to “oh my, too much +P” my main goal is the seemingly never-ending search for a very accurate load with good velocity which does not overly stress the pistol.

The three pistols I commonly shoot in 9mm are S&W Model 39-2, S&W Model 639 and KAHR PM-9. Input from others concerning the above discussion will be greatly appreciated.

[yoshidaex]

for my 9 major loads shot out of my open gun, i use 9.2 grains of HS6 with a 115 grain JHP. I get about 1490+ fps on the velocity. Didn't see too much velocity change when using magnum primers. maybe 30-50 fps more than standard. I did notice a bit less crud using magnum primers compared to standard primers. Still dirty when comapring it to other powders but HS6 is a fairly dirty powder anyway.

[gm iprod]

I got a bunch of Small Magnums many years ago at a knock down price and I used them for practice for a bunch of calibres.

For 9mm with most fast burnign powders take about .2grains out of the powder load, check the velocity and adjust accordingly.

[DougCarden]

Ditto reduce by .02grains and you should be real close to spot on.!

DougC

[ammowaster]

Hope you dont mind me jumping in.

I am using small rifle primers at the moment because it is allI could get. I am using titegroup.

Should I do the same .2 reduction if I load some of the magnums?

[Estimator]

Replies to "magnum primers in 9mm" have been appreciated. This weekend I hope to do some testing at the range where I run duplicate loads side by side with powder, brass, bullets, etc being the same with the exception of using Federal 100 small pistol primers in one group and CCI 550 small pistol magnum primers in the other group. All shots with various amounts of Hogdon HS-6 will be fired through a chronograph and the average velocity and indications of pressure change noted.

I will write up the results next week. Testing will be with a S&W 639. I also run the same lot of bullets through a KAHR PM-9 just to see how much difference in velocity there is between the two barrel lengths. Also, I just plain enjoy shooting the little KAHR.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Estimator

[ammowaster]

I would like to see the results for sure

[SteveZ]

I'm not sure how useful this information will be but I recently found myself in the same situation...I bought some small pistol magnum primers because thats all I could get my hands on. I'm shooting 40S&W...my load is a 180gr MasterBlaster bullet over 4.4gr of TG loaded to 1.18". I did two experiments. First was to change nothing but the primer (WSP to WSPM) and compare velocity. The magnum primer was about 14fps faster. Second, I dropped my powder charge by .1gr and my velocity dropped by about 15fps.

[aztecdriver]

I've been running my G34 production setup with rem 5 1/2, 147 gr montana gold in mixed brass with 4.3 gr of Power Pistol. Chronos at 134pf, could dial it back to 4.2 which gets about 129pf. Runs clean for me. I, too, saw a bunch of them and ordered. It's been a real accurate load for me.

[gm iprod]

ammowaster.

Reduce just in case. It won't hurt and it may help.

[DougCarden]

Here is an example.

My Major load for USPSA 165fmj/jhp 1.200 OAL Normally Win small rifle primer mixed cases 5.7gr VV320 173PF

I loaded up the same load but with win small pistol primer. 163-165. I bumped up .03 grains and was back where I wanted to be. You really need to reduce and chrono back up to know for sure.

Good luck,

DougC

[Estimator]

This is a follow-up to the Post I entered on June 19 “Magnum Primers in 9mm”

The test consisted of three different amounts of HS-6, Starline +P brass, Federal Small Pistol Regular and CCI Small Pistol Magnum primers. Bullets were Missouri Bullet Company 9MM .356, BH18, 125Grain RN. Velocity measurements from a “Shooting Chrony Alpha” placed approx 5 ft from muzzle. Results is average of 5-shot strings.

Pistols used were a S&W Model 639 and KAHR PM9. The PM9 was included to see how much difference the 3 inch barrel would make.

Results:

5.7 grains HS-6 S&W Regular Primer 1017fps Magnum Primer 1023fps

5.7 grains HS-6 KAHR “ 905fps “ 896fps

6.2 grains HS-6 S&W Regular Primer 1108fps Magnum Primer 1119fps

6.2 grains HS-6 KAHR “ 978fps “ 979fps

6.4 grains HS-6 S&W Regular Primer 1177fps Magnum Primer 1131fps

6.4 grains HS-6 KAHR “ 1050fps “ 993fps

There are several things to consider here. The test velocity readings were from a 5 shot average and would benefit from a much larger average. The Magnum Primers are fairly old. As I mentioned in the original Post I bought them “out of desperation” at an estate auction. Judging from the style of box in which the primers are packaged, and the price stickers, I suspect the primers are 12 to 17 years old. Furthermore, one type of powder was used. A similar test with a wide variety of powders would be beneficial.

I doubt the age of the primers would be a factor if they were stored correctly, but think it is worth mentioning.

There were two goals in conducting this test. One, see if there was much of a velocity difference, and second (and more importantly) try to determine if the magnum primers caused a noticeable increase in pressure.

The pressure issue is difficult to judge by just looking at the fired primers resulting from only one type of relatively slow burning powder. Especially since the Federal primers are quite soft and the CCI primers are much harder. However, it did not seem that the pressure was excessive in any of the loads.

I hope this provides at least a bit of information to those readers with similar concerns.