primer question

C

cccan

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has anyone used small rifle primers in place of small pistol primmers....was there any noticable difference?..I was going to use small rifle in place of small magnum pistol in a 357 mag...pressure difference should be very simular (I think) ...thanks
 
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I have not tried that although I think the small rifle primer is designed to handle higher pressure and requires a heavier hit from the firing pin to ignite.
Small rifle primers in a pistol could at least in theory result in the pistol failing to set off the primer.
 
If you have small rifle primers and pistol rounds to load, I would sure try them. I don't think there is a chance that a pistol wouldn't ignite them.
I have never noticed any change in pressure of a cartridge, regardless of what primer I used.
However, since we all want to be super safe on here, it would be a good idea to drop the load a bit for trying them. If all appears well, you could soon be back to your regular load.
 
Its one of those things that you might get away with or might not.
The cup on a pistol primer should be built of thinner material than a rifle primer to allow for the lighter hit of a pistol or revolver firing pin.
Secondly the diameter may be the same but a rifle primer may be higher than a pistol primer and contain more detonating material than a pistol primer.

Kind of like substituting a magnum rifle primer in a max load calling for a standard rifle primer.
 
I load exclusively with smal rifle as do a few others I know... Simplifies inventory
No gus done blowed up yet and my chroney data doesn't show much of a diff... if any, between loads using small pistol/small rifle primers..

I'm loading 9mm and .45acp.
 
According to what I have been reading on other forums, small rifle primers are equivalent to small pistol magnum primers. I have used both in pistol without problems and very little difference (if any at all) over the chrony compared to regular small pistol primers. I found that small rifle primers were not any harder to ignite than any other. Just to be on the safe side, I always used about 1 grain less powder with a small pistol magnum or small rifle primer.
 
most of us loading 38 super use small rifle as they are harder. not such a big deal now with the lower power factor but when we were shooting for a minimum of a 175 PF most of us loaded into the 185 range. in the old single stack days it was not unusual for the fire pin to pierce small pistol primers so guys changed to small rifle. i have shot both and i can't tell the difference.
 
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