Small pistol magnum primers in 38 special

Ruger007

Ruger007

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I have the opportunity to pick up 10000 CCI 550 primers for a decent price.

I load 38 special for a 357. Light plinking loads. Bullseye, Red dot, 231. Cast bullets.
9mm mid range loads.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't use these in place of regulars?

I have read that CCI small pistol magnums are equivalent to small rifle 400's?

Thanks
 
They will work may have to tweak the powder charge some, if fired in a .357 pressure should not be a problem. I have substituted spp for srp they work in a revolver just fine if I remember correctly rifle primers are a couple of thousands taller.
 
The magnum part doesn't matter but some tuned revolvers might not ignite CCI primers. Has your Model 19 been worked on? Federal only?
 
The only primers I’ve ever had trouble with (in a handgun) were the s&b srp. 2 out of 10 were showing as light strikes.
Not that I’m condoning the use of rifle primers in pistols for everyone...
 
Magnum primers are slightly harder to ignite in double action. In single action that 19 will set them off but you might have trouble in double action. They do cause me trouble in several of the K frames I have including a S&W 19-4. I also would avoid the top end of the powder load as you will get a little bit more bang with magnum primers.

Cheers
Moe
 
I use small rifle primers almost exclusively. Magnums can be hard to set off but the standard primers work just fine. I do not mod my guns though, if anything I install stronger striker and hammer springs.
 
You can tune up a revolver so it is slick as hell, and still use the standard main spring, and not have a problem with hard primers, thou SB can be iffy, I find shooting fast.
More of a problem in the D.W. shooting d.a. I never used mag primers in light 38 loads.
 
As long as your gun can make them go bang, all is good. You may need to fine-tune your powder charge, depending on your accuracy expectations...
 
I own several hammer fired guns in revolver & semi-auto. Never had a hiccup with any mag or small rifle when firing revolvers single action. My .357 Mod 19 likes federal small pistol when firing double action though. I have found small pistol primers most effective with striker fired semi's.
 
Ruger007 said:
I see. CCI are hard. Kind of knew that. He also has Winchester small pistol magnum. Would these be a better choice then?
Click to expand...
The Winchester will probably be a little more forgiving but as has been noted lightened trigger revolvers in double action will not always set them off. Should not be a problem in single action revolvers or semi-autos.
 
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