Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters substitute small rifle primers for small pistol primers

There was a thread that ran a few weeks ago but I didn't need to read it so I thought.....I WAS WRONG

quick question.....can I use small rifle primers in lieu of small pistol primers? FWIW I'm shooting .38 special loads in a .357 magnum handgun.

They will work. I run them in full power 327 Fed Mag loads.

I would work up with rifle primers just to be safe.

Is the primer pocket deep enough to accommodate the rifle primer?

All small primers are supposed to have the same dimensions.

Correct, it is the LRP that is taller

Tikkanut,

There is a bunch of horseschidt there--which is typical of many Internet essays--which are often a collection of old BS.

One is the advice about not touching primers with your fingers because the "oils" will deaden the priming compound. ALL modern primers are sealed against such stuff. In fact you cannot usually "kill" primers even by soaking them in oil for a few days.

“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck

I would like to see a more complete answer to the OP's question.

I doubt if anybody is going to officially endorse using either small or large rifle primers in handgun loads, but I have seen it done several times by several people with both (even though the large rifle primers have slightly different dimensions than the large pistol primers) and it has never resulted in any problem, except a few misfires in revolvers with a light hammer fall.

One guy I knew had a S&W Model 1917 revolver that had been Bubba-ized and reamed out from .45 ACP to .45 Colt. It had excessive headspace and he was using fairly hot reloads with large rifle primers. He figured that primers were primers, right? He had fired several hundred of them (many of which required a second strike to fire) before I counseled him to change his ways. Both he and the revolver survived with no apparent damage.

Personally I would use rifle primers in a handgun only with light to mid range loads, and only if my supply of pistol primers had been used up and I couldn't get more. But if it meant the difference between shooting and not shooting, I would choose "bang".

yup, that's exactly what it's come to. I have five thousand small rifle primers and no small pistol primers. I didn't see this one coming so we find a way to "go bang"

I just fired two rounds of .38 special and two rounds of .357 Magnum using small rifle primers.....they both worked nicely.

Only problem that I could foresee is that the rifle primers have a heavier cup to withstand higher pressures of rifle loads so a pistol might not have a heavy enough primer strike to detonate but it sounds like you don't have a problem with that. The 357 Max uses small rifle primers because of the higher pressures.

I just checked with a Hodgon loading source and confirmed it. However their data used a small rifle magnum primer. I've been reloading 60 years and have never heard of such a thing...

During the obama years, I became concerned about running out of small pistol primers. I had ( and still have) plenty of small rifle primers.
I did some experimenting with CCI 400 and Winchester srp; using them in 9mm and 357 magnum and 45ACP small pistol primer brass.
Guns used were 3 S&W M&P 9mm pistols, an M&P 45, an RIA 1911 9mm and a S&W 586. Probably 100 9mm rounds fired, 50 357s and 25 45s.
Had zero problems of any kind. All loads were just above minimum book loads. So if I run short on small pistol primers, I have no qualms about using small rifle primers in any of my pistols.

This is the only problem I can see as well, particularly with "tuned" handguns that have lightened hammer springs.

LOVE IT !!!!!!!!

To complicate this thread even more I have many old cartons of Federal 200 Small Rifle primers............obviously any newer Federal small rifle primers are 205's and the 200's now are small pistol magnums ??????????????

Apparently Federal thinks they are all interchangeable !!!!!!!!!!!

Midway blew out Rem 6.5s couple years ago. Cheap. Which means I bought a bunch.

Been loading Rem 6.5s in 9mm and .38 Spl. Wife's Smith 67 and 640 ignite them fine. They have not had trigger jobs, tho.

Not much difference in chrono'd velocities at same charge as SP primers. But haven't tried every SP and SR primer. In every pistol cartridge, with every powder, eieio. Everyone knows the drill. Back off, work up cautiously.

Folks with NFA toys appreciate the thicker cups in their open bolt guns. That was the impetus for buying the 6.5s. Thought I loaded a pic somewhere showing typical primer hit from my Uzi vs the G-19. Must be another thread.

SR primer cup thicknesses vary. Have only used 6.5s and WSRs so far.

For what it's worth.

I had partial boxes of Rem. and Winch. SR (86 primers total) and thought I'd try substituting them for SP primers Monday in my unaltered 4" .357 Mag GP-100......I did not change my normal powder charge or bullet.

I was shooting off bags at the freshly painted 25 yd. 8" steel gongs.

Of the 86 rounds 80 fired without a problem but 6 rounds would not fire the first or second time.....I did notice that 'ALL' 86 primer hits were noticeably lighter than when using SP primers.

I also did not notice any accuracy or recoil difference and if anything the SR loads shot as accurate or slightly better than my load using SP primers.