Primer Holes

[SharuLady]

Mods: I am not sure if this post is in the correct forum. If not could you move it to the correct forum. TYIA

Some time back I purchased some 45acp LPP cases at a Gun Show. While examing, cleaning & starting to do prep work on them I found some of the cases had a larger primer hole than the others.
Is this something that would be normal or would it be unsafe to use them?
Other then the larger primer holes they seem to be fine so far.
Any info would be appreciated.

TYIA, SharuLady

[tradbear55]

I have reloaded tons of 45 acp with LPP and I have noticed that some manufacturers tend to have larger flash holes than others. I would load them and shoot them. 45 acp is a very low pressure round. You should be fine.

[Mk42gunner]

Probably had lead free primers originally. My understanding is the lead free primers don't have the same brisance as the normal lead styphnate priming mix, so they use larger holes in the brass to get as much fire to the powder as possible for reliable ignition.

Everything I have read says that normal primers work in that brass just fine, with no problems in the .45ACP.

Robert

[mdi]

Are the "primer holes" you speak of the "primer pockets"? Perhaps you are talking about the flash holes?

[SharuLady]

tradbear55 TY for your reply. I probably erred calling it the primer hole, I should have said the “flashhole”. The primer pocket appears to be fine.

[mdi]

OK! In that case I'd refer to Mk42gunner's post...

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'm sure we knew the hole you meant. People aiming at extreme accuracy with rifles sometimes drill the holes to a uniform diameter, but I can't see this making a bit of difference with the easily ignited .45ACP.

[SharuLady]

Mk42gunner


Probably had lead free primers originally. My understanding is the lead free primers don't have the same brisance as the normal lead styphnate priming mix, so they use larger holes in the brass to get as much fire to the powder as possible for reliable ignition.

Everything I have read says that normal primers work in that brass just fine, with no problems in the .45ACP.

Robert

Interesting, I had not seen or read anything about this before. So would this present a problem in the loads if I am not using the same primers as they may have used? I don't wish to blow up my Kimber or cause any injury to myself!

[SharuLady]

Are the "primer holes" you speak of the "primer pockets"? Perhaps you are talking about the flash holes?

TY for your reply. I probably misstated calling it the primer hole, I should have said the “flash hole”. The primer pocket appears to be fine. The larger size of the flash hole is what I had concerns over. I did look into the cases to see if any burrs were there that needed to be cleaned up but there were none. I checked the other cases with the normal size flash holes & there was some burrs. So I am assuming that the *suspect* larger flashholes had been cleaned & that they had opened up more than normal.

[SharuLady]

Ballistic,
TY for your reply and the information.

[gwpercle]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but you will find some 45 acp cases that use small pistol primers. Watch out for those. It is fine to reload them, you just have to use small pistol primers.
Gary

[376Steyr]

Just to complicate things even more, some indoor practice ammo is powered by the primer only, with no powder, and requires the flashhole to be bored out.
http://www.speer-bullets.com/products/components/plastic_training_bullets.aspx

[SharuLady]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but you will find some 45 acp cases that use small pistol primers. Watch out for those. It is fine to reload them, you just have to use small pistol primers.
Gary

Ty for your reply and yes I am aware of 45 acp cases that use small pistol primers. I did get some of those as well. Plan to use them as plinking or target ammo.

[SharuLady]

Just to complicate things even more, some indoor practice ammo is powered by the primer only, with no powder, and requires the flashhole to be bored out.
http://www.speer-bullets.com/products/components/plastic_training_bullets.aspx

TY for your reply, info & link. I had not read or heard about this before. Maybe that could explain the larger flash holes I came across.

[Walter Laich]

the multi sized primer pockets just adds one more step of separating them before priming. Not a big deal if you have the time.
I wait till I have 50 or 100 and then change out priming systems on my Dillon

[country gent]

Also the primer holes were sometimes drilled out larger for wax bullets or the speer plastic bullets that only used the primer for power. The lead free 45 acp ammo I have seen were all small primer pockets but did have a slightly larger flash hole. With a set of number drills check the flash holes between "normal" and the large let us know the diffrence in them. Use the shanks and find one that fits the next size dosnt in both. Might be interesting information to have.