I have only ever used rifle primers in all my reloads since 1999. Thos was me tring to figure out reloading in the late 1990s with out the Internet pretty much by my self. After reading in more than 1 reloading manual that there wasn't a statical difference in performance between rifle versus pistol primers and that lot to lot variations effected primers than rifle versus pistol it's self seemed as if it would work. So I just stuck with rifle primers. During the primer shortage I did buy some small pistol primers because that's all I could get. Other wise I just use rifle. On paper the rifle primers are supposedly a few thousands longer but tolerances for both rifle and pistol primers over laps pretty good. Almost as if the ever so slightly longer primers go down one production line and the shorter ones go down the other. What say you?
Pistol Primers have a slightly Faster & Hotter Formulation because of the Faster Pistol Power Formulations used in Pistol Powders... The idea is that pistols need the Powder to burn on a larger Flame Front, because of the smaller Powder Loading usually associated with Pistol Cartridges, and the much shorted barrels associated with Pistols... The difference is very small, but can be measured... It has become much less critical as the industry move to Lead Styphanate as a Primer Powder, and for most Hand Loading purposes the difference is not significant... However for High Accuracy Ammuntion it is just one of MANY Variable Factors, that need to be considered, to make the uniform variations as small as possible, in ALL the specifics of a particular loading... You will find Magnum Primers are faster and Hotter than Standard Primers, for the same reasons...
Everything I have read about primers is that the large rifle primers are taller and have harder cups than pistol primers. With self loaders there is the potential for slam fires from a high primer. So... in the interest of self preservation I stick to what the recipe calls for. I'm scared of something exploding between my hands, I'm not done using them yet.
As long as it goes bang when you want it to . Had a similar discussion with my Dad about shot shell primers. He says as long as it's a 209 it will work.
What caliber,load,bullet weight? I use pistol in the 300 blk-out if that will help? Typically a magnum primer will only give you about 19ft. more per second, Woo Woo!
Magnum primers versus standard there is a huge difference. Just look up high speed pictures for mag and standard primers being set off. Don't ever substitute magnum for standard.
I accidentally used large rifle primers in some .44 mag loadings a few years back. The revolver jammed because the primers protruded from the primer pockets, even after fully seating them, and wouldn't always allow the cylinder to rotate. When I could get a round under the hammer, frequent misfires were a problem. Rifle primers have thicker cups and pistols don't have enough impact on the firing pin to reliably detonate the mixture. I stick to the published recepies
I have only ever used standard rifle primers in 45acp, 44mag, 38special, 357mag, 9mm, 380acp, 44mag, 5.7x28, 30carbine. Aside from that one brick of small pistol primers I was forced to buy during the great primer shortage. I have never loaded 44mag shells with anything but rifle primers and never had high primer problems. Part of the reason I bought the small pistol primers was I was starting to load 380. I figured I would load up 50 with small rifle and see how they did. Wanted to have small pistol primers incase the the rifle primers didn't agree with my little 380.
I load conservatively, When I load I choose to use the lighter charges and prescribed primers in my weapons and specials in stead of magnum for practice . While it may be true that modern manufacturers are using better steels , in the past shell expansion was a good indicator the chamber is over worked and eventually ends in lock ups and or ruptured chambers. This was of course more common in automatic weapons, but all other weapons are vulnerable . If I were buying a used gun I would want to see how dummy ,go/no go, rounds fit the chambers. If you life is that important to you, this stuff matters. if the gun is that important to you and you have the money to replace expanded chambers/barrels then go for it.
I've been reloading for a little over 40 years and haven't blown anything up. I give a lot of credit for this to SAAMI and the folks who publish reloading data and I try to stick with their recommendations. The only odd primer I use is small pistol primers in place of 209 shotgun primers in an inline muzzle loader. The 209 disturbs the charge and opens up the groups. The small pistol primer, in a .25 ACP case, using a modified 209 breech plug, provide consistent ignition and optimal groups. This wasn't my discovery. The Thompson-Center group did all the research on the how and why. I just did the necessary machining to make it work on my AR50 muzzle loader.
