Small Primer .45 ACP Brass

[wv109323]

I have enough small primer .45 ACP Brass that it I can reload it for practice ammo.
I noticed that the primers seated really easy. The brass is mostly Federal and a little bit of Blazer mixed in. I used an RCBS priming tool.
Has anyone else noticed this?

[I'll Make Mine]

Small primers are always going to seat a little easier than large. Do you have any other small primer brass (.357/.38, 9 mm, .380 or smaller, etc.) to compare?

[wv109323]

Yes, I load a lot of pistol calibers with small pistol primers. ( .38 Spec./ .357, .38 Super, 9mm). I use the RCBS Automatic Primer Tool. I noticed that the small primers of the .45 ACP go in with little to no resistance.
It feels to me that the small .45 ACP is much easier than other small pistol brass. I was writing to see if anyone else has noticed this and whether it could be a problem.

[I'll Make Mine]

If the .45 brass is easier to prime than your other small primer brass, it may indicate the head has expanded due to overloads or very long usage. You could use a ball bearing to narrow the pocket, followed by a primer pocket swager or other uniforming tool to get back to your preferred condition, but if the cases have expanded, you might be better to scrap them and start fresh.

What was your original source for the small primer .45 brass?

[Cottonpicker]

New to post comment, been online for sometime, and thanks to all for very informative forum.
I have been using Fed/Blazer SP 45ACP working up loads for Glock 21. Had ingnition problems with Win LP so thought I'd try Win SP. Problems are gone, and I've also noticed how easy the primers seat using RCBS hand prime tool. I've been working with 100 rds and have reloaded apprx. 5X. Having good results using this brass and have not had any primer issues so far. All primers have remained seated after firing. Seems to me if there was a problem I would have seen something by now. Brass is viable and I will continue reloading these cases.

[Ed_Shot]

I use a bench mount RCBS hand priming tool and have not noticed any seating difference between .45 ACP SP brass and 38/357, 9MM, or .40 S&W. I'm using WIN small primers right now. While I keep them seperate I use the same loads for both LP and SP .45 ACP brass and find no difference in function or accuracy.

[bruce drake]

I've got nearly 500 SP 45ACP brass set aside for my practice at ranges that don't allow pickup. They all seated a little easier than my LP brass but I've never had an issue with the primers backing out during ignition.

Bruce

[wv109323]

The brass is range pick-up. I am 99% sure that it is once fired factory ammo when I picked it up. I am on the 2nd reload of 4.1 gn. of Bullseye with a 200 gn. SWC. That is just a target load and I am sure there is no pressure issues affecting primer seating. I have not had a problem with the primer. It just seems that the primer has almost no resistance in seating. Both first and second seating of the primer was easy. The seating feels much easier than other small pistol primers. I was asking if anyone else has had the same experience or if anyone else has had a problem with primers backing out with small primer .45 ACP brass.

[WyrTwister]

I have enough small primer .45 ACP Brass that it I can reload it for practice ammo.
I noticed that the primers seated really easy. The brass is mostly Federal and a little bit of Blazer mixed in. I used an RCBS priming tool.
Has anyone else noticed this?

Had not noticed .

What I have noticed is they cause a ton of problems with my Lee LoadMaster , Id I do not 100% sort them from the " normal " .45 ACP with large primers .

If I sort them properly , no problem .

At the ned of the loading session , I de-prime them on the cast iron Lee turret press & inspect them . If any of the primer pocks look questionable , I ream them a tad .

I then swap out the large primer assembly for the small primer assembly , on the LoadMaster and procede to load them .

I am cheap & quite often load range brass .

God bless
Wyr

[Phat Man Mike]

I had a friend send me some Speer small primer 45ACP brass. I was first to reload it, It felt like the primer was a crimp style , but after I cleaned them up have had no problems at all. might have 4 or 5 reloads on them so far. ( I don't load super hot or barn burners for that pistol either ) I've checked around an read some bad some good about them.

[skeettx]

When I encounter them, they get tossed in the scrap brass bucket
Quite a pain with the Dillon 1050
Mike

[Bullet Caster]

Skeetx--save 'em for me. I'm trying to change over to all SP .45acp brass. Don't scrap them. BC

[skeettx]

But I do not know where you live??
Anywhere near Amarillo????

[skeet1]

Can anyone tell me why they ever started using LP primers in the .45 ACP? It would seem to me that if the .357 Mag can use a SP primer, the .45 ACP with much less powder to ignite should easily work just as well. The ones that I've shot seem to work just fine.

Ken

[R.Ph. 380]

Can anyone tell me why they ever started using LP primers in the .45 ACP? It would seem to me that if the .357 Mag can use a SP primer, the .45 ACP with much less powder to ignite should easily work just as well. The ones that I've shot seem to work just fine.

Ken

Tree huggers started squawcking about the lead styphenate in the LPP and the smaller "environmentally friendly" spp don't use the styphenate. Not sure what they're using, but it's supposed to cut down on the lead in the ait.

Bill

[skeet1]

I guess I didn't phrase my question correctly. Back when the .45 ACP first came out why didn't they use a SP primer instead of the LP primer? It just seems that the SP would be just a natural size to use or did they not have SP primers at that time.

Ken

[I'll Make Mine]

When the .45 ACP came out (in 1908 or so, as I recall, for the first version of the pistol we now call the 1911), it was on the cutting edge of cartridge design; all prior art for semi-auto pistols was 9 mm and smaller, which naturally used (Berdan) SP primers. With primer designs available prior to WWI (chlorate type only), the larger flame volume of a larger primer may have been needed to reliably ignite powder in the larger case volume of the .45 ACP compared to 9 mm Luger, 9 mm Bayard, 9 mm Mauser, etc. -- or it might simply have seemed like the thing to do, with the .45 Long Colt case family having recently converted from small rifle to large pistol primers (concurrent, I think, with the change from folded head to balloon head, then called "solid head" cases).

[skeet1]

I'll Make Mine,
Thanks, after I started thinking about this I started remembering that the .45 Long Colt, .44-40 and others had been loaded with large primers. It was probably just the natural course of events that decided that the .45 ACP should be loaded that way also, not to say that there is anything wrong with large primers.

Ken

[KYCaster]

Just speculation here, but is it possible that the first 45ACP was made from 30-03 brass?

Jerry

[I'll Make Mine]

Just speculation here, but is it possible that the first 45ACP was made from 30-03 brass?

Jerry

That or .30-06, distinctly possible -- and of course both of those use(d) large rifle primers. By the time the 1908 version of the Colt was into testing, they were purpose-making .45 ACP brass (thinner case walls and head than the rifle brass) but could well have kept the large primer due to using some of the same line to produce the brass.