Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Small Rifle Primers substituted for Small Pistol? .38 special

Almost out of small pistol and more small rifle than I will ever shoot.

I've done a little research and it can and has been done successfully but no load data available. Just wanting to run plinker loads with these primers in .38 revolver. I might just start with minimum and shoot the crono since reading the primers won't be reliable.

Anybody done this before and have any loads to share?

Good thread on that a while ago in the Handgun forum here: Testing Pistol Ammo Loaded With Small Rifle Primers vs Small Pistol Primers

The short answer is that SR primers work just fine in handgun loads. Use whatever plinker loads you normally use, velocities with SR primers will be very similar.

With moderate loads I have seen no appreciable difference between using CCI 400 SRP and CCI 500 SRP in several 9mm pistols.

You may have an issue with a revolver providing enough energy to reliably set off small rifle primers. Remington 6 1/2 have a reputation as the easiest to set off.

Primer Cup Chart

The following link is to an old thread on primer swaps.

Testing Pistol Ammo Loaded With Small Rifle Primers vs Small Pistol Primers

Thank you fellas, this is just what I was hoping for.

I used some small rifle primers (CCI 400) for 9mm & a 38 +P load in 357 brass. About 30% of the 38 cartridges didn't fire the first try but they did fire the second try. I contacted CCI and the response I got stated the 400 and 550 primers are NOT the same.