Do you guys know who make brass with the small primer pockets? Or if some one has 5 or 10 the wouldn't mind selling.
My handy rifle in 7.62x39 miss fires sometimes and I would like to try the small primers. Who knows, Might work.
The 7.62x39 misfires I've gotten in the past seem to be unaffected by primer size
With small primed R-P cases I will get the occasional misfire with CCI's when fired in my CZ527. The problem lies with the CIP chamber my rifle has being slightly longer than my SAAMI spec dies. CCI primers being slightly harder aggravates this problem. The fix turns out to be neck sizing only leaving the fireformed shoulder untouched.
I don't know if this might be the case with your handi but it might be worth investigating. When fed into your chamber underneath the extractor how much below the breechface is a full length resized case head?