SPP 45acp powder choice

[William Yanda]

Woke up with a brain cramp, does anyone have a favorite powder choice for 45 acp with small primer pockets. I understand that spp 45acp was introduced by manufacturers whose goal was reducing the lead from primers, and that operators of progressive presses hate it when a spp case finds its way into the run of lpp brass. My research to date indicates minimal difference in velocity between spp and lpp when compared with similar bullets and loads. I cannot find any reports of powder choice comparing spp to lpp brass.
Thanks for your responses.

[Petrol & Powder]

I can't give you a specific load for SPP 45 ACP casings. It's a fairly low pressure cartridge to start with so my guess (and this is just a guess) is that there will not be a big difference between large and small primers.

I can confirm that operators of progressive presses hate the SPP casings, well at least this operator does.
I attempt to cull out the SPP casings but occasionally miss one. Because the small primer casing doesn't cause a problem until after the casing has been sized, the casing in the adjacent powder station has been charged with powder when the stoppage occurs. That means you must be careful to avoid double charging that casing while you correct the problem. This is where having a manual index type press is benefit. The simplest solution when a SPP casing makes it into the press is to remove the SPP casing and the primer, advance the shell plate, place a new casing in station one and carry on.
I keep a coffee can on the bench for the SPP 45 ACP casings, when it gets full I give them away.

[Ed_Shot]

Back during the Big zerO panic when any primers were hard to come by I tested SP 45 ACP brass using SP Mag primers (what I could get at the time) against normal LP 45 ACP brass with a 200 gr SWC over Promo 4.5 gr. My chrony showed an average FPS of 2 fps difference between the two loads. My brass is all range pick up and I segregate the 45 ACP SP and LP after sizing and cleaning. I put the SP brass away for a rainy day.

[Love Life]

I made no load changes. I did a full work up with my preferred powder using both small pistol and small rifle primers. My best loads with SPP and SRP were the same as my LPP load. Guns functioned from the lowest charge to the highest. Never had any light strike issues using the SRP in the brass either.

I have a mess of LPP 45 acp brass I still use because I also have a mess of large pistol primers, lol. I plan to swap to entirely small pistol 45 acp brass...eventually.

[reddog81]

The powders used in 45 ACP are the same powder that work well in rounds such as 38 Special, 9mm, 40 S&W all which use small pistol primers. The small amounts of powder used in 45 ACP will work fine with SPP's.

[Rainier]

I usually use W231 with 230gr boolits in the .45 ACP. With that said, I loaded a batch of the SPP .45 ACP brass with the Lee 230gr RN, 5.0 grains of Bullseye and a Win small pistol primer. They shoot great and cycle in my 1911.

[Barman54]

I just use the same Recipe on either, no difference noticed, just have to keep them separated.
Barman54
Out

[Bazoo]

Some of the SPP 45 brass was Lead free ammo and had a larger flash hole.

[scattershot]

My general purpose load in either case is 4.0/Red Dot with the 200 grain SWC. I can’t tell any difference.

[Loudy13]

I use Trail boss with large primers and when I switched to SP it made no difference in group or velocity

[Texas by God]

I'm fixing to prep all my .45 brass; if I find any SPP I'll give them away. Newfangled pishposh.

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[Bazoo]

If availability starts becoming an issue with primers again, a stash of small primer 45 auto could keep you going easier.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I'll use them, but segregate them from the LP version. In fact, I'm presently loading up 500 SP cases using Casting Machine's 230 gr. RN bullets. Going to split them 250/250 Accurate No.5 & Unique. I don't change the powder weight.

[jonp]

My general purpose load in either case is 4.0/Red Dot with the 200 grain SWC. I can’t tell any difference.

Close to mine. I could not see any difference between spp and lpp in the 45acp with common target loads using several types of powder.

[Outpost75]

Small pistol magnum primers give the same velocity, using the same charge as large pistol standard primers, when loading fast-burning powders like Bullseye, TiteGroup or WST.

If using standard small pistol primers you will get a bit lower velocity. If a difference in the mean velocity which approximates the sample standard deviation really bothers you, then increase the powder charge about 0.2 grain.

[Ed_Shot]

Small pistol magnum primers give the same velocity, using the same charge as large pistol standard primers, when loading fast-burning powders like Bullseye, TiteGroup or WST.

If using standard small pistol primers you will get a bit lower velocity. If a difference in the mean velocity which approximates the sample standard deviation really bothers you, then increase the powder charge about 0.2 grain.

Exactly my experience. Although I have not tried them in SP 45 ACP brass I bet Small Rifle primers would provide the same performance as SPM primers....another option for a rainy day.

[William Yanda]

I would check the SR primer height very closely before substituting them for Small Pistol primers. Standing proud in a semi auto might lead to more excitement than I can handle.

[Outpost75]

I would check the SR primer height very closely before substituting them for Small Pistol primers. Standing proud in a semi auto might lead to more excitement than I can handle.

Small pistol and small rifle have the same cup height, but due to heavier primer cup using rifle primers in handguns may cause misfires.

Large pistol has a shorter cup height than large rifle. Don't use large rifle primers in pistol cases.

[Ed_Shot]

Small Rifle Primers and Small Pistol Primers have exactly the same dimensions. There is a difference in size between Large Pistol and Large Rifle primers. Lots of good info at this site on the subject. There is very little difference in any regard between Small Pistol Magnum primers and Small Rifle primers.