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Many of us have picked up 45 ACP brass with small primer pockets and I have heard some folks wonder about being able to reload them. I contacted Federal about this as I have a big pile of both Federal and Blazer brass with small primer pockets. They replied "There is no safety hazard in reloading these cases with standard primers. The small primer (I was asking if I needed to use a small magnum primer for this service) should have no trouble igniting a 45 Auto charge but may porduce slightly less pressure, something to keep in mind when loading target loads. Avoid mixing small and large pocket cases when loading for accuracy." He also commented that they are using small primers in some of their promotional loads to help keep the costs down for the customers. I don't see any difference in price between these and ammo that has large primer pockets, retailers must be pocketing the difference in price.

John

And there is no difference in price at the retail level between large and small pistol primers.

Just wait until the next step...Electronic primers..!!!!
They have them already and could be modified to some crazy end.
Look what electronics did for cars...Very few people with the knowledge to work on them

Just thinking out loud...I have NO info of things to come.

AndyC wrote:They make those primers in small size because the brisance (shattering effect) of the new lead-free priming-compound in large pistol primers was a touch excessive and causing the primers to back out.

Annoying to have to hand-sort brass just to peer suspiciously at a primer-pocket, but there we are; the brass itself works fine if regular small pistol primers are used, by all accounts - I just get rid of them myself :)

I'll be reloading some 45's next week with some small pockets and will let you know. Obviously the first fires worked.

About 50 years ago there was a transition from large primers to small in the .357 mag round. Nowadays, it is 100% small pistol primers.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a similar transition occur with .45 ACP.

The 10 mm round really needs to transition to small primers. The case head is a design weakness, trying to cram a large pistol primer into a 10 mm case.

Ah, the perspective of history. Did you witness that yourself? My perspective on history is that the only time I ever saw a .38 spcl used was when my mother hit my father in the head with the butt of it for some never-to-be-spoken-of indiscretion. Perhaps for that distasteful reason when I came of age my first hangun was a .32 H&R revolver. Shudda kep it rather than trade it in on a 92F. Unwise choice, traded it for a S&W 5906. My wife has orders to bury it with me. But I think she likes it too much: "Now THAT"S a gun!".

I picked up some at the range a couple of weeks ago and reloaded them just for kicks. 230 gr FMJ, 3.7 of Clays. No noticeable difference that I could tell between small and large pistol primer. Used CCI for both sizes. Only had 6, not a viable statistical sampling and is all subjective (am not the best shot, no chrono, etc.....)

The only downside I found is they tend to collect more tumbling media in the primer hole to tap out (using crushed walnut shells). I'm one of those who like to decap and then tumble...

I have a lot of the small primer federal brass, and it is all I load in .45 anymore. Keeps me from changing from one primer to the other, and I only have to keep one size on the shelf. Works great for me. I'll take all the small primer stuff you guys don't want.

mjoplin wrote:I picked up some at the range a couple of weeks ago and reloaded them just for kicks. 230 gr FMJ, 3.7 of Clays. No noticeable difference that I could tell between small and large pistol primer. Used CCI for both sizes. Only had 6, not a viable statistical sampling and is all subjective (am not the best shot, no chrono, etc.....)

The only downside I found is they tend to collect more tumbling media in the primer hole to tap out (using crushed walnut shells). I'm one of those who like to decap and then tumble...

Time to stainless steel wet tumble :)

AndyC wrote:They make those primers in small size because the brisance (shattering effect) of the new lead-free priming-compound in large pistol primers was a touch excessive and causing the primers to back out.

Annoying to have to hand-sort brass just to peer suspiciously at a primer-pocket, but there we are; the brass itself works fine if regular small pistol primers are used, by all accounts - I just get rid of them myself :)

I'm sure if you throw them into a collection bin, there's plenty of folks here who'd be happy to pay shipping fees to take it off your hands periodically.

I hate the darn things. Gave away the first 100 or so I ran across in some brass I'd bought at a gun show. But, I've ended up with more, range pickups and such, so I'm just setting it aside and hanging on to it until I have enough to make it worth buying some small primers and loading it up. I do make sure now that any new ammo I buy has only large pockets. I'm certainly not going to buy some without checking.

There is one advantage to small primer .45 cases. If your other pistol calibers are also small primer like 9mm and .40 S&W, you only need to deal with buying one pistol primer type and the small primer system for your press.

.45 ACP is the only caliber I reload for any more that takes LP primers.

Jumping Frog wrote:There is one advantage to small primer .45 cases. If your other pistol calibers are also small primer like 9mm and .40 S&W, you only need to deal with buying one pistol primer type and the small primer system for your press.

Yep, that's the main reason why I use it, and now that I am also loading .38spcl for my R8 which has a Michulek spring kit in it I will only be using Federal primers in everything. I'll just have to stock one primer for pistols.

For those that aren't aware, Federal primers are much softer and will fire even with the lighter strike from the reduced spring.