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b00mer

I have 2000 plus small rifle primers
can they be sub'ed in pistol if load is dropped 2-5%?

dtknowles

Man, I know how you feel. I had way too many small rifle primers and only a .22 Hornet that would use them and people were recommending small pistol primers for the Hornet, better accuracy. First I tried them in my Dan Wesson .357 revolver. Not one, of many tries went bang. Next I moved to 9mm's thought I had it going on when my Star popped three in a row. Later with loaded ammo I was lucky to get 5 bangs out of 10 tries. These were CCI, maybe you would have better luck if your primers are from a different maker and are softer. I now have a few hundred R-P 7.62-39mm brass that use small primers so the plan is to run them through my SKS.

Tim

jonk

Probably not. They are much harder than pistol primers and may be a touch higher to boot.

I'd see if you could to a 'wanted to trade' ad on one of the other forums and see if someone local wanted to trade or buy them; not worth shipping and hazmat for just 2000.

sandwarrior

EDIT:{point of the post}

NO. do not use small rifle primers in small pistol cases. Kinda like putting the wrong ammo in a gun...

I'd find some friends locally to sell them to. Or, keep 'em cool and use 'em. It isn't like they're going to go bad. Store them right and they will last 20 + years.

grizzclaw

I'm still using primers that my grandfather had from the mid sixty's.

bpost

Sorry guys, it works fine; I did that exact thing, ON PURPOSE with 5,000 rounds. I loaded 357 mags with CCI small rifle mag primers, 6.0 Unique and a 158 Cast SWC. All except two went bang.

These were shot in a 27-2 and a 686.

SHattrup

Another data point: IPSC shooters load to 165,000 power factor or higher and regularly use small rifle primers in .38 super, 9x23, 9x21 and others to prevent primer flow. They are harder than small pistol, so something light may not set them off. The previous poster with the .357 magnum showed another good use for them. Several companies used to make a standard and magnum version of their small pistol primers as well. Dimensionally, they are the same. They won't work in everything, but reloading is sometimes about experimentation anyway.

amamnn

I've done it too, but stopped after having had a couple of rounds fail to fire.