Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Large rifle primers in .44 magnum carbine?

I'm working up loads for a Rossi M92 .44 magnum 16" stainless trapper carbine that I carry for security while fishing and hiking near salmon streams in BC. With a near max load of 22 grains of W296 behind a Hornady 265gr. jacketed bullet, and CCI LP mag primer, function, velocity, and accuracy are all OK. Pressure seems OK too, extraction OK, with reasonably rounded primer edges, but I notice that a small part of the edge of the primer extrudes into the ejector slot. No pierced/leaking primers so far, but I don't like it.
I am wondering if substituting the harder / thicker cup large rifle primers would be a good way to eliminate this concern. I realize that large pistol primers are a tiny bit shallower than rifle primers. Rifle primers do not seem to protrude below flush in my .44 mag Starline cases. I have used small rifle primers in my Rossi 92 .357 magnum before with no problems, so adequate firing pin force is not an issue with the harder primer cups. Your thoughts?

Pistol round =Pistol Primers. . " I don't like it" shows you have concerns. Really, would a drop of 1/2 a gr or so of W296 affect your self defense capability. I'd
look there first.

Large pistol primers and reduce your load. Use H110. Quite frankly you don't know what pressure your load is generating. Whatever indicators you cite are not indicators at all.

Dropping powder charge makes no difference, the primer mark shows up with all charges, it does the same thing with lower charges. I started at 20 grains, and tried 21,22,23. The Hornady book shows a max of 22.3. I have seen good published data that shows Horn 265 / W296 loads as high as 23 grains.
Of course I do not know what the pressure is, that would require a pressure barrel or transducer and computer equipment.
The primer mark also shows up with factory .44 mag 240 jsp loads, and does not with factory .44 special loads or light cast .44 mag loads. But that's not what I want to carry in the bush.
Any other suggestions?

I'd say give it a try. If it works, it works. If not, you're only out the price of a box of 100 primers.

As with any change of components I would recommend dropping back 10% at least and working back up.

What happens if a stray piece of brass,not Star line gets mixed in and you don't know it? High primer then.

I run small pistol primers in my .445 Supermag in Starline cases.

Maybe I'm too concerned about a tiny deformity in the primers. here's what it looks like, 20 grain charge on the left, 22 on the right.

I answered my own question by doing more internet research. I found this on the Cast Boolits website:


"Well the problem with the marks on the primer is the fact that the ejector is machined into the bolt face almost half way across the case head. The ejector is supported by a spring which needless to say is far more flexible than a solid piece of steel. When firing the pressure exerted on the primer overcomes the force of the ejector and causes it to extrude back into the ejector, which for these purposes is unsupported. Simply put, the ejector spring compresses and allows the primer to flow back slightly.

All that sound really bad, but in actuality it's really only a problem if your concerned about the look of your fired brass."

end of concern.

Glocks do something similar due to the large firing pin slot in the bolt face. Normal there, too.

I agree with the advice suggesting that the .44 Magnum is a pistol round and therefor should be loaded with pistol primers no matter if the round is being loaded to shoot in a rifle. Rifle primers have a hotter flame of longer duration than pistol primers and could cause pressure problems.