Small pistol primers in 223?

[24VOLTS]

Hey Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has used small pistol primers in place of small rifle primers?

They are very close in size with exception to the height from what I can tell.
The small rifle primer is 3.07 mm tall and the small pistol primer is 2.97mm tall.
Which almost does not seem as if that small amount would make that much difference. The widith is the same and the anvil seems to be the same also.
I don't know what the difference in the compound might be.

So just wondering what your thoughts and experiences on this are ?

As we all know small and large rifle primers have doubled is cost if you can find them. I have small pistol primers and would like to use them if it is feasable.

Thanks,

Phill

[kelbro]

I have used them but only for BlueDot loads in a 223. No problems.

[Ekalb2000]

I would not do it. The small pistol primers cant handle the pressures. My 2 cents.

[GrizzLeeBear]

In standard loads - NO!

You WILL pierce primers. The difference is not so much in the compound, but the cup. SP primers have a thinner cup because pistols don't hit the primers as hard, operate at lower pressure and usually have less firing pin protrusion.

I will clarify a little on what kelbro said though, they will work for LOW PRESSURE loads. I have seen some reduced VELOCITY loads with powders like Blue Dot that were NOT low pressure.
If you want to use them for low pressure loads, make SURE they don't get mixed up with primed brass for standard high pressure loads.

[Hip's Ax]

If your thinking of using them in a semi auto its a double no no. I would expect slam fires big time.

[BerdanIII]

I know a benchrest shooter here who uses small pistol primers in the .223 Rem (and .22 Hornet) for full-power loads in his Contender. He says he gets better groups than with small rifle primers. I personally have used small pistol primers in the .22 Hornet for the same reason and had no problems.

[45 2.1]

I have a neighbor thats been doing this since the primer shortage in an AR. Nothing bad to date, but he realizes he needs to use loads that just function well.

[dale2242]

I use small pistol primers in my 22 Hornet. You must remember that the Hornet has a much lower working pressure than the 223. I would NOT use small pistol primers in the 223 unless you could be sure the working pressure is at or below pistol pressures...35,000 psi. Pistol primers will , no doubt, ignite 223 powders but have a softer cup and are not hard enough for full house 223 pressures......dale

[Rocky Raab]

Dale said it best. They will work (usually) but only in loads that do not generate pressures above pistol levels, which peak at about 35,000 for rounds that use small pistol primers.

It should be viewed as an emergency measure reserved for when damage to the gun or shooter are of less importance than being able to shoot at all.

[kelbro]

Yes, I should not have rushed and better quantified my response.

I would not recommend them for any other types of loads.

[Dave Berryhill]

Back when guys started hotrodding the .38 Super and shooting it with their Unlimited Class IPSC raceguns, primers piercing or flowing into the firing pin aperture was a problem due to the high pressures. The solution was to use small rifle primers in their super-hot reloads.

It doesn't make sense to me to go the other direction.

[MT Gianni]

As this is under cast loads I would work up a low pressure load with cast if SPP was all I had. I would not run a jacketed hard with them.

[corvette8n]

If it is for a semi-auto I wouldn't. Received an order of Wolf small rifle from

http://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=7283&dir=278|284|737

looks like they still have them in stock.

[24VOLTS]

Hey Guys,

Thanks so much for all of your repsonses. After reading everything I am not going to use the SPP. I did purchase a sleve of SRP today at a local gun show. Seems that the SPP are too much of a risk to use with jacked bullets. It was an idea and just trying to use what I have. I always enjoy the awsome information and expirence that is available on these forums.

Thanks,

Phill

[stephen perry]

Berdan
Your bud is not a BR shooter. He might shoot off a bench but with todays powders in a .223 which is not a BR cartridge anymore he couldn't load hot enough to shoot .1 and .2 groups at 100 yd and 200 yd which are the BR standard in BR today.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :brokenima

[BerdanIII]

Stephen Perry;

Not to start a flame war, but the gentleman I referred to is a benchrest shooter: 6mmBR, Stolle action, stainless barrel, giant effing scope, the whole nine yards. I do believe it is permissible to be a benchrest shooter and still own and shoot other types of firearms. The point I was making was that if he had been shooting small pistol primers in a .223 Contender for years with no trouble and excellent accuracy, it was probably safe to do so, too. I read about the use of SP primers in the .22 Hornet in Precision Shooting and tried them: there was a definite improvement in accuracy in my Contender.

[rickt300]

I recently accidently loaded some of my 223 deer loads with CCI 350 small pistol primers. The first 6 rounds were fine but due to my not paying attention I loaded the other 14 rounds with the pistol primers. I got primers sticking out far enough to make it hard to open my NEF single shot but none pierced. I figured it out in three shots. The clerk had given me one 100 pack of SPP's along with 4 more of what I asked for. These rounds hit way high on the target.

[Jeffery8mm]

rickt300, the CCI 350 is a LARGE pistol MAGNUM primer. Just to clarify.
Jeff