Switching small pistol primers and/or lightening springs

mtbore

mtbore

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Hi. I've been happily priming with Federal SPP in .357 Mag with a variety of lead and plated/jacketed bullets in front of Titegroup. I've found some target and major loads I think I like. (In a 6" GP-100.)

1) Shopping for primers locally and on the net this past week, it looks like Fed SPP aren't in huge supply at the moment. So if I'm faced with switching primer brands to Win or CCI... Is the usual practice to effectively start from scratch and build the loads up again? Painful. My loads are nowhere near Max. Say, 5.6 gr Titegroup behind 158 gr JHP. Or 3.7 gr Titegroup behind 158 gr LSWCHP.

2) Additionally, I'm planning to put slightly lighter springs (one increment lighter than stock, from Wilson Combat, both hammer spring and rebound trigger spring) into the Ruger GP-100... I've never had a Fed SPP fail to detonate so far, so what are your thoughts on Fed vs. Win vs. CCI when faced with slightly lighter springs?

Thanks! :)
 
mtbore said:
Hi. I've been happily priming with Federal SPP in .357 Mag with a variety of lead and plated/jacketed bullets in front of Titegroup. I've found some target and major loads I think I like. (In a 6" GP-100.)

1) Shopping for primers locally and on the net this past week, it looks like Fed SPP aren't in huge supply at the moment. So if I'm faced with switching primer brands to Win or CCI... Is the usual practice to effectively start from scratch and build the loads up again? Painful. My loads are nowhere near Max. Say, 5.6 gr Titegroup behind 158 gr JHP. Or 3.7 gr Titegroup behind 158 gr LSWCHP.

2) Additionally, I'm planning to put slightly lighter springs (one increment lighter than stock, from Wilson Combat, both hammer spring and rebound trigger spring) into the Ruger GP-100... I've never had a Fed SPP fail to detonate so far, so what are your thoughts on Fed vs. Win vs. CCI when faced with slightly lighter springs?

Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Winchester Primers are almost $6 more /1000.
I use CCI in my CZ75b with lighter Mainspring and have never had a problem
 
Federal primers are notorious for being sensitive anyways. Instead of trying to find SPP's, you can also use small rifle in lieu of Small Pistol Magnum. In fact it is reccommended if using ball type powders. I have been using SR primers for decades and am very happy with the results. Usually easier to find as well. With the loads you are running you are quite a ways from max so even with the small pressure variable you will be fine. I use TG with SR primers in my 357s as well and they perform admirably. You will have no problems with that combo.
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You might have some trouble igniting Winchester primers with a lighter hammer spring. I had one or two failures to fire per cylinder in my stock 686 back when I used only Winchester primers.

Have you tried SIR mailorder? I found plenty of Federal primers there a few weeks ago.
 
"...Is the usual practice to effectively start from scratch and..." Yep. If you change any one component you need to work up the load again.
 
Small rifle primers take higher pressures than small pistol primers before bursting due to the thickness of the copper, bit harder to fire in a worn out gun though.
 
If your shooting a revolver stay away from winchester primers there large pistol do not work properly in my 44 mag
Click to expand...
Been using Winchester primers in revolvers (std 9mm, 38Spl, 44spl, 45Colt and magnum, 357, 44mag and 454Casull) for years without a problem. Only problem was a result of light strike, not the fault of the primer. They may not be as soft as Federal but theres a reason some folks wont use Federal.
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I have loaded over 50,000 handgun ammo with winchester they work fine in 1911's, sigs, in 45 ACP and 40S&W...they however do not work every time in the 44mag and any Smith & Wesson revolver, the dont work because of a light strike... there is nothing physically wrong with the primer since they always work in semi auto's

I also use winchester in 223 and 308 never had any issues... only problem is light strike in revolvers that causes them not to work every time... I have switched to federal for testing purposes because CCI was un avalible at the time.
 
works fine when you #### the hammer but when you go to shoot fast double action it only works about 50% of the time the gun is a 629 44 mag
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm going to stick with Federal.

So a followup question... I see some people use "harder" primers, knowingly. Why? If there's a 1-in-1000 chance you're going to fail to detonate that primer, why take the chance? Are they cheaper? I'm sure I'm missing a variable or some consideration here...
 
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