45 ACP Winchester Small or Large Primers?

[ZuluMike]

Does the bulk Winchester 45 ACP brass take small or large pistol primers? I know that thier Winclean ammo takes small, but was wondering about thier bulk brass.

Thanks

 

[Karl]

Large pistol primers

 

[Handloader B.C.]

45 acp brass

Winchester identifies their small primer brass with NT stamped on the case head. Current factory loading of win clean is small primer and has the NT on the head stamp.
Carry on!

 

[Curt]

On the boxes of WinClean, small pistol primer .45acp ammo, Winchester does not recommend the handloading of small pistol primer brass. Why? Is there something different about .45 acp? On boxes of 9mm or .40s&w, there is no such warning.

 

[Dragoon]

On the boxes of WinClean, small pistol primer .45acp ammo, Winchester does not recommend the handloading of small pistol primer brass. Why? Is there something different about .45 acp? On boxes of 9mm or .40s&w, there is no such warning.

I've loaded 1000s of WIN NT .45 ACP brass with the small primer pocket with no problems whatsoever.....

 

[ElmerFudd]

On the boxes of WinClean, small pistol primer .45acp ammo, Winchester does not recommend the handloading of small pistol primer brass. Why? Is there something different about .45 acp? On boxes of 9mm or .40s&w, there is no such warning.

One reason... they want you to buy their new brass! Look at the brass and the only difference is the primer size. Reload it the same as you would every other brand... primer excluded of course.


Fudd

 

[WithoutWarning]

I have also wondered about this.
Ok, so the main 'feel' here is that the WinClean
brass can be loaded just like you normally would but,
stick in a small pistol primer instead.
Is that it, charge and bullet weights stay the same you
just simpily 'swap' the primers ?


....WW

 

[Colin]

In Modern reloading Richard Lee states that the flash hole is also a different size and that will affect the performance. Can't for the life of me remember if it's bigger or smaller.

 

[t-star]

yep that's it- no change in anything except your primer tools- if you're already loading 9, it can be an advantage

 

[The Hippie]

I load winclean brass.
i dont load hot though.

 

[t-star]

flasholes- the nt LOOKS smaller- i just put a 5/64 drill into a 9mm, 45acp regular and 45nt, and a 308 just to see and they all took it with about the same amount of slop - i don't have anything that's tighter than 64ths

 

[WithoutWarning]

Rite. So the flash hole diameter in WinCleanbrass,
(whatever it may be) is sized appropriatly for regular
small pistol pimers, no ?

 

[damndirtyape]

I've reloaded thousands of WIN NT small primer 45s, never modified the flash hole and have never had a problem. If you're switching from large primer brass, just work up your load again as you would when you change any component.

If the flash hole size somehow caused high pressure, you'd probably see it in the usual ways.

I think the warning on the packages is there for liability reasons, some doofus may try to force a large primer into a small pocket and get predictable results.