Weekend buys

[Ohio Rusty]

Went to a big outdoor flea market/gun show on Monday. I didn't find my KelTec pistol I wanted, but I did get some Ok deals on .380 ammo from several different sellers. I picked up some primers today. I found a box of 1000 winchester small pistol primers for $22.99 ($2.29 a pack) and it came home with me. I thought that was an OK price as the gun shops in Columbus Ohio are selling the same primers for $3.79 a pack !! The prices of everything seem inflated. I also got from a yard sale 9 baggies of 50 empties each .... 6 bags of 38 special, and 3 bags of 357 magnum. I discovered that over half of the 38 specials have a live primer in them !! They are also bell mouthed and look like a blunderbuss on the end. It seems the fellow that sold them must have tried his hand at reloading and didn't do well. I've been working the mouth of the case back to normal and resizing the case. I paid a penny a piece for the brass and nickle cases, so that was an OK deal also. I do have a question ..... Do I have to use magnum pistol primers in .357 reloads, or is it OK to use the standard small pistol primers I bought? Just waiting for my order from midway so I can get on with more casting and reloading. I'm anxious to load some Trail Boss in those .38 cases and send my cast boolets down range. The only thing I currently have is 125 gr. RNFP's and 148 gr. wadcutters. I also have a .360 round ball mould and I'll be trying out some 38's with round balls just for fun. True plinkers !!
Ohio Rusty

[cattleskinner]

It depends on what kind of powder you are using, but yes you can use standard primers. Some kinds like H110 call for magnum ones to ignite the powder better. I've used standard primers with Unique, Longshot, Lil'gun, and 2400, no problems yet.

~Amos

[Shepherd2]

Check your reloading manual and see if they recommend magnum primers for a given load. I've loaded a truck full of .357 rounds with a lot of different powders over the years and haven't used a magnum primer yet.

I was in the local gun, tire, grocery store over the weekend and picked up 1000 large rifle primers for $22.00. Didn't need them but the priced seemed good from what I've been reading. I also got a can of 2400 powder for $22.00. The can I bought several months ago was $17.00.

[454PB]

If it were me, I'd go ahead and load those primed and belled cases. Shoot them up as plinkers. Removing live primers is not one of my favorite tasks. I either fire them (makes a mess in the firearm), or throw a heavy towel over the press as the primers are punched out gently.

I have thousands of sized and belled cases in my loading room. I leave the priming for when they are actually loaded, but like to have them sized and belled before hand. That's probably what happened in this case, except the owner primed them as well.

[Ohio Rusty]

I'm sorry ... I neglected to mention I'm NOT removing the primers. I removed the decapper from the die and I'm working them back down to the correct sized case again, with the primer still in them so I can just reload them with powder and boolet. Many of the primers are high primers and were never seated deep enough to begin with. They won't fit in the shell holder of the Lee hand primer, so I'm seating them flush to the bottom of the case with my bench vice. My old reloading trick for when I didn't own a reloader. The issue with the belled mouth is they were flared out a bit too much. I don't need the case mouth to be that wide in order to accept a lead boolet. It will also add life to the case mouths if I don't stretch them to far for bullet seating.
Nickel coated cases have a limited life span as compared to brass cases I have been told.
Ohio Rusty

[crabo]

Rusty, I try to stick to powders in my pistols that do not require magnum primers. I've used a lot of 231, #2, WST, #5, Unique, and 2400 among others. I am trying to keep things simple. I try to do the same for large pistol also.

We have a shop that had Mag Tech primers on sale for 78.00 per 5,000. I stocked up on those.

Crabo

[Sundogg1911]

I'd use the primered brass. I probably wouldn't use it to compete with, but for plinkin' you should be fine. :-)

[pumpguy]

I got some of the same thing a couple of weeks ago. I usually do not load 38s for my 357, but, since the deal included them, I took them. Had about 100 38s that had primers so I loaded them up and shot them. They worked just fine. I have also used regular Win Rem and Magtech primers to fire 15gr of 2400 behind 158gr WQWW. Never have had a problem and do not ever see unburned powder in the barrell.