Hornady 44 mag, 240 gr XTP What size primer? they are not LP

[randyrat]

TI had a box of these Hornady 240 gr XTP empties. I must have shot them all a while ago. Thought i would at least use the brass, but they won't accept LPs. What kind of primers are they?

[runfiverun]

I heard tell of some medium sized primer holes on some 45 acp brass a bit ago.

[randyrat]

These say "Custom" on the box..I have not tried any other primers as I would rather throw them out. I'm just curious, because I have never heard of any 44 mag brass with small primer pockets.
I have ran into some of those 45 acp small primer pockets, I just chuck those into file 13.

[Maven]

I could be way off base here, but based on an article by Charles Petty about .45ACP cases in "Hand Loader" last year, the new lead free primers are smaller than usual. Maybe that's what you have?

[44man]

No idea with the .44 brass but we found SP brass in the ACP much more accurate in the revolver. Not much notice in the 1911. Just a tad better.
Maybe they found a full LP was too much with the new compound since even in standard brass, the LP mag is too much and moves bullets out too soon. Fed never used a mag primer in the .44 and I quit in 1980, just use a Fed 150. And all I use is 296.
However a full SP primer would not work good. Not enough fire.

[Guesser]

Call or email Hornady and maybe they can explain it.

[runfiverun]

the ones I heard about weren't small pistol sized either.
they were smaller than big and bigger than small.

[44man]

Yeah, I guess they changed something so don't tell me we need a third size primer! :dung_hits_fan:

[randy_68]

I've run into some brands that had crimped pockets. After removing the old primer the pocket needs to be reamed with a primer pocket reamer tool. That may be what you have or they could be a different size but I've never seen that before.

[Tackleberry41]

Theres a simple solution for them deciding we need yet a 3rd size of primers, not buy their ammo. S&B has a special primer they use in some of their brass. I bought several boxes of 7.62x54r with the silly idea I could reload them. But a rifle primer wont fit, so no more of that brand. Just as I had some S&B 22 hornet, with undersized flash holes, good for breaking decapping pins. Tossed them. And I ran into a bunch of 357 sig brass with undersized flash holes, had bought a 500rd bag of once fired to reload. So went thru the effort to drill them a normal size. And some Remington 357 sig I bought had undersized flash holes.

If they are going to develop these middle size primers, maybe use it in steel cased stuff.

[randyrat]

I don't normally buy 44 mag ammo, but i got them for a song...I did Email Hornady just today. I'll let you all know ASAP when they reply.

[molar]

It's large pistol. Their brass sucks. Take a chamfer/debur tool and lightly chamfer the primer pocket and I bet you'll be able to get a LP primer in there.

I detest Hornady brass. I had some new 6.5 Creedmoor brass the other day with primer pockets that had to be reamed before they would accept a LR primer. I also get loose primer pockets after just a couple of firings.

[44man]

I wonder if buying loaded ammo is different! I have bought a lot of Hornady brass and have had no problems.

[Kestrel4k]

I don't normally buy 44 mag ammo, but i got them for a song...I did Email Hornady just today. I'll let you all know ASAP when they reply.
Thanks for this - I handle/swap a fair bit of misc 44Mag brass now & again and am interested to hear what you find out.