Those of you who load handgun cartridges for shooting in rifles, 357, 44 RM, 44-40, 38-40 do you use pistol or rifle primers? I was loading a bunch all weekend while the rain poured outdoors, and mused to myself if maybe I should be using rifle primers, particularly in the 44 Mag as the rifle I use it in is new and has full spring power to the hammer.
What caused me to ponder this was a 44 mag case I picked up at the range, factory load, fired, with a pierced primer.
Any relavent thoughts or experiences?
Bigedp51........somehow I don't think we're communicating here, my question was specifically about the need to use rifle primers, in a rifle application, using a handgun cartridge. Not sure how we got to using rifle primers in a Mod 29.............I have never used, nor would I, a rifle primer in a pistol for a pistol cartridge. I even used pistol primers in my Contender in 7TCU and 357 Herret, because the Contender has a light hammer fall.
c-fbmi, I'm not being a smart ass, but your answers are in your reloading manuals. Not one reloading manual I have uses rifle primers in pistol cartridges fired in a rifle. (all you really have is a long barreled pistol with a butt stock)
Below, "NOW" we are on the same page,
rifle primers are designed for higher chamber pressures and the cup is thicker and taller than a pistol primer. Rifle primers contain more priming mixture and were not designed for smaller pistol cases.
The most common reason for pierced primers is excess headspace or head clearance which is the "air space" between the rear of the case and the breech face.
The firing pin hits the primer and drives the case forward until the shoulder or the rim of the case stops forward movement, then the cartridge goes bang and pushes the primer to the rear and back over the firing pin. If the headspace or head clearance is excessive this action turns the firing pin into a cookie cutter and punches the center out of the primer.
Below, the shoulder of this .223/5.56 case was bumped back too far (over resized) creating excess cartridge headspace. This created too much air space between the rear of the case and the bolt face. This caused the firing pin to act like a cookie cutter and punched out the center of the primer.
Below the primer anvil plugged the hole in the primer, on a over gassed AR15 the bolt can move to the rear while there is still pressure in the barrel. This pressure allows the primer to move even further to the rear and if you have a loose primer pocket the primer can pop out of the case and fall into the trigger group jamming the rifle.
The scanned primer information above came from the Speer No.14 reloading manual and the pierced primer information came from the Sierra reloading manual.
