Small rifle primers in a handgun

S Mac

S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
My LGS has a few old stock primers, I have been buying a thousand or two most weeks for a while, CCI, Remington Federal. $20 per thousand. I have bought most of what's there except small rifle. The only thing I load small rifle wise is 223 and already have some primers laid back, my 223 is a Contender, so no a lot of volume needed. I am thinking of trying small rifle primers in my GP100 357. Any problem with that, other than possibly tying up the cylinder with a proud primer? 2 cents apiece versus 3.5.
 
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Small pistol and rifle primers are same height so no problem there.

I have not had issues with many small rifle primers in handguns but did have issues with some of the harder cup primers. The CCI BR and Rem 7 1/2 in particular didn’t give 100% firing in the GP 100.

Federal and standard Rem and CCI are most likely just fine.

For what it is worth my Win 92 in 357 mag didn’t like the harder cup primers either. The rounds that the rifle did not fire after 2 attempts were shot in the GP 100!
 
I don't know the technicalities other than the cups are physically the same size and rifle primers are always engineered to withstand much higher pressure (and require firmer firing pin strikes) than pistol primers. If your gun will pop them off, no reason not to use them. At $20/K I'd buy them on principle, as many as they have.
 
I loaded small rifle primers in 50 rounds of 357 for my GP100 as a test.
They all fired without issue in my gun.
Your results may vary.
load a cylinder full and try them.
If they all fire load a box and give them a try.
 
Maybe a little harder to set off in double action, especially if the revolver has had a trigger job. Some brands are a little harder than others.
 
I hope this one new, no trigger job needed, pretty decent to my notion.
 
I did prime a few cases, Win SR, what I have on hand. Seated normally, tip of my finger was that test. All popped. I had on odd case primed with a Wolf SP, the Win sounded with a bit more authority. ;)
 
I used to shoot Winchester SR primers in my 357s for heavy silhouette loads. By heavy, I'm referring to heavy loads of slow burning powder under lighter weight bullets that I used to flatten the trajectory of my loads for Field & Hunter Pistol classes, which are fired out to 100 yards maximum. Being an iron sight Luddite in those days (while shooting production class) I loaded very hot 110 gr loads to minimize sight adjustments. SR primers did work perfectly for me except in revolvers with lighter hammer springs, but it was necessary for me to develop my loads from scratch for safetys sake. I never did try this with faster burning powders, but I was using powders like H110, WC820, and the like. My particular loads were over published data, so I won't disclose them.

My GP100 shot them well enough to be competitive, but I was outclassed by the guys with Contenders in specialty calibers with high magnification rifle scopes. Their scopes alone cost more than my revolver did. I did generally win in Production Iron Sight class though. I switched to a 357 Contender my last year and shot the same revolver loads in Production Iron Sight class with great success.

For your situation, I'd probably stick with medium to slower burning rate powders in the range of Unique (for example), and experiment a bit to find what I like. I ended up with a bunch of Remington 6-1/2 SR primers a few years back and am still using them for heavy ball powder 357 magnum loads. One thing to remember is that rifle primers have higher brisance than SP primers and will change the way your powder ignites in the case. This could affect accuracy, and consistency slightly. As a side note, I know a number of guys who use SP primers in 9mm, 38 Super, and 357 SIG with no apparent issues, but once again, these guys did their load development to work with the changes.
 
I loaded a couple of cylinder full of a load I shoot in the GP100, seemed to match up well, srp vs spp. I think I will stock up the new old stock.
 
S Mac said:
I loaded a couple of cylinder full of a load I shoot in the GP100, seemed to match up well, srp vs spp. I think I will stock up the new old stock.
Click to expand...

I'd make him an offer on the lot instead of buying a few a week. Maybe catch a break on the price even beyond the $20/k?

I've experimented with SRPs in revolvers for about ten years. I tend to train my main focus on small rifle primers, because I can use them in the 223, 357 Max. and the 357 Mag in carbine and revolver. If I have small pistol primers, great, but I make certain I always have small rifle primers, which makes my meager primer budget go farther. Not suggesting this is "The Way," rather to share that Ive been using SRPs in revolvers for some time with no problem.

I've been "warned" that the SRP could launch the bullet out of the case before the powder got to burning, make a sudden stop at the forcing cone right about the time the powder hit its peak and blow up my guns. So, I tried to launch a few bullets with just the SRP and no powder. None overcame the crimp. Small sample, yes.

Not all revolvers will ignite them, but the SP101 and the new 3" 357 Charter Bulldog will reliably light even Wolf SRP Magnums, which really aren't magnums, they just have a thicker cup. Taurus 85 will NOT light these reliably, so I save SPPs for it. Ironically, pulling trigger in DA on the Tuarus is like setting a Connibear with one finger and it gives light srikes. The SP101 had a lighter set of springs than factory, and lit rifle primers just fine. The new Bulldog has a very light and smooth factory DA action, but reliably lights rifle primers. That's about the only thing that dog does well, but that's a post for another thread I dread because it will be LONG, even for me.
 
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