.45 ACP small primer brass?

[Patrick L]

My father-in-law is forever picking up brass for me that others leave at the range. Today he was very proud to have snagged a whole box of .45 ACPs.

These are Fiocchis, and they have a small primer pocket. Has anyone ever heard of this? I was aware that some other calibers have been made with both sizes, but I didn't think .45 ACP was one of them. Should I pitch them, or load them as normal just with the correct primer?

[Johnch]

I was given several 1000 of 45 ACP brass with the small pistol primer pockets , Winchester I think

I also sorted out the ones from range pick up

IMO it loads the same

One of the guys that shoots bullseye that I know claims he only wants to use the small pistol 45 ACP brass because he gets better accurcy

John

[Shiloh]

I separate it out and scrap it. Although it loads and shoots fine, it is a PITA when it inevitably gets mixed in with the regular 45 ACP. Puts a chink in the production line when one is encountered in the progressive press.

Shiloh

[ANeat]

If I had a lot I would use them but like Shilo said, there a pain when you try to stuff a LP primer in one.

[shotman]

Get one in the mix on a dillon 650 and it makes for a bad day.
They are No tox . Some ranges require them.

[armyrat1970]

First I ever heard of 45ACP cases with SP primers. Glad for the post and WILL double check any range pickups from now on.

[lead-1]

It is good brass and works great for the guys who single stage or use LEE turrets for reloading so I don't think I would scrap it.

[Ctkelly]

Generally 45 ACP with a small primer pocket is some sort of "clean" load. Meaning a lead free primer. Winchester calls them WIN CLEAN. Federal, Speer, Winchester and Fiocchi all make something along these lines.

[evan price]

WinClean, WIN NT, etc. The non-toxic primers are supposedly hotter or something so they use a small primer. I have heard that if you reload them with a regular small pistol primer that you should use a magnum primer. Myself, I only get a few of them now and then so I sort them out and toss them in a deep dark corner of the reloading cabinet for a really rainy day.

[gasboffer]

If small primers will successfuly ignite .45 ACP, why can't they be used for other pistol and rifle cases? It would make life a lot simpler.

[beagle]

In my testing working on the loads for the article on Heavy Bullets for the .45 ACP in the Ruger Blackhawk, I stumbled on to a plus for the small primer .45 ACP cases.

I was very wary about approaching the upper pressure limits with heavy bullets in .45 ACP cases. I ran out of prepared cases for a load I was testing and ran in some with small primers.

Velocity remained the same for the small primers and extraction was easier and recoil seemed lighter.

From these results, I was encouraged to try more of these cases. I found that I could squeeze a couple hundred FPS extra out of a given load with pressures that to me seemed to be in line with what I was getting from from lighter loads with large primers. Now, I'm basing this on primer appearance (I know, that's not an indicator) and ease of case extraction.

Based on this, I think the small primed .45 cases definitely have a desired place in teh reloading scheme of things. I'll take all I can get./beagle

[frank_1947]

there are people looking for that brass win nt I imagine it sells well save it up and put on swappin

[Phat Man Mike]

I was told that the small primers are indoor range brass! and they are a PIA to work with! might swap them out to somebody else IMO.. :mrgreen:

[bohokii]

ive never had enough to make a dedicated run of sp 45acp

45 gap uses small too

i ran into one of those on a scrounge it was like finding a 380 in my 9mms something just didnt look quite right

i check the bottoms for win nt now i think ive only ever had about 20 of them and i just throw them out as i find them

[RayinNH]

I'd save them but do like Evan Price and stick them in a corner for that day when you've run out of large pistol primers and only have small pistol primers on hand...Ray

[Tom W.]

I had a box and they loaded and shot just fine.. I did save them for woods stomping, so I didn't worry about picking them up again... Kind of a relaxing feeling, not having to chase brass....

[alamogunr]

ive never had enough to make a dedicated run of sp 45acp

45 gap uses small too

i ran into one of those on a scrounge it was like finding a 380 in my 9mms something just didnt look quite right

i check the bottoms for win nt now i think ive only ever had about 20 of them and i just throw them out as i find them

What caused the extremely small type?