Small Pistol a Substitute for Small Rifle

[Ganderite]

I load 223 in lots of about 4,000 each. Today I don't have 4,000 small rifle primers, so am considering alternatives.

I tried a standard small pistol primer, and it punctured on the first shot, jamming the firing pin with crud.

I tried a Remington 5 1/2, which is a small pistol magnum primer. The harder cup did not puncture.

I know the CamPro Ginex small pistol primer cup is hard, because of the misfires in striker pistols, so tried them. hey work, too.

So I ran a test comparing the pistol primers to the Remington benchrest small rifle primer.

The Shooters World Match Rifle powder is a ball powder and the pistol primers may not have enough energy for reliable ignition of the hard to ignite ball powder.

I have ordered 5,000 Winchester SR primers. They have lots of energy.

 

[AB.boy]

Interesting results. I have been considering doing the same as I too have more small pistol primers than small rifle primers.

 

[B]

I have been using Winchester SR for most of all my loading for years now. Never any issues at all from .380 ACP right up to full pressure 5.56 loads. Some companies use the same cup for both, I believe Murom does for instance. Then there is the CCI 550/400 which is the exact same primer. Stocking SP doesn't make much sense if you can be bothered to simply develop your loads. Guys who can't shoot without super light springs installed are a different story but they should be covering themselves already.

 

[Ganderite]

Did another test, comparing the Ginex small pistol to the Remingtom small rifle.

The Ginex all went bang. No pierced primers, so they will work. ES and SD was good, too. But velocity was 50 fps less and group was bigger. I suspect that this is because the ball powder is harder to ignite.

I will repeat with some extruded powder and compare again.

I have both Ginex and Winchester small rifle on hand. I will use the Winchester.

 

[Cgfns]

any updates?

 

[Ganderite]

No. Been working on the 308 and 9.3x62 and 6.5x55 testing SDtabal match as a substitute for N140, Varget and N150. I am impressed.