Quick question:small pistol vs. small Rifle Primers

maxpig

maxpig

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Are there any reason for not using small rifle vs small pistol primers. I got a box of small rifle by mistake. And wonder if they can't be interchanged. I want to use them in .40 S&W ... does this also affect powder??
 
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the only real difference is that small rifle are harder then small pistol. a lot of 38 super open shooters will only use small rifle for this reason. if you gun has a good hard hammer drop it shouldn't be a problem.
 
... does this also affect powder??
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for the couple bucks why not just get what you need? Working up a new load to compensate for a major primer change is not worth it IMHO.

Unless you have lots of first hand experience (and even then) you should treat component changes as a trigger for new load development practices.
 
david doyle said:
for the couple bucks why not just get what you need? Working up a new load to compensate for a major primer change is not worth it IMHO.

Unless you have lots of first hand experience (and even then) you should treat component changes as a trigger for new load development practices.
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because I picked up what I thought was small pistol primer off the shelf only to realize they are small Rifle. If I could return them I would... just wanted to know if I could use them without any major problems
 
Easy now brother - last winter, I tried a few rifle primers in a 45 acp - and had high/low spread of 160 fps if I remember correctly. I loaded them light so it was no problem, but .... and they protruded proud of the case so umm.... remember - this was done in controlled conditions by professionals so don't do this at home unless it is fun.
 
Something that has been discussed on another forum is specific to Winchester small pistol and small rifle primers. One of our shooters talked to the Winchester Rep at a show and he stated that the Winchester SP and SR primers were identical in composition and the difference in the two was the cup thickness, otherwise they were the same. That being said, I've used both in the 40 and really found no difference. Many people use only the SR primers in all of their handgun loads so that they need only stock one kind. Large rifle and large pistol onthe other hand are different in that large rifle primers are thicker and the corresponding primer pockets for rifles are deeper to accomodate them. They will not fully seat into large pistol primer pockets.
 
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