Primer question

[mtbugle]

Is there any problem with using rifle primers instead of pistol primers in 357 mag and instead of large mag pistol primers in my 44 mag. Do I need to back off a certin amount of powder or is the primers heat simular enough.
Thanks Don.

[Dand]

I'm not positive but I think rifle primers often have a harder cup and may cause problems for some handguns.
I also think that some brands of rifle primers might have a higher charge than hand gun primers.
But there are some handgun loads where rifle primers are called for to handle the pressure - 454 Casull I think for one.

I think I accidentally loaded some rifle primers in 41 mag once.  Caught myself in time to adjust the powder charge to the lower end of the recommended wt and fired them without problem.  I believe I was using a mid range powder like Unique or 2400 and not H110 or similar.  It's been a LOOONG time so I don't remember the details.  I wouldn't do it again on purpose.

Overall I think its not the wisest thing to do and the smaller the handgun case capacity, the less advisable it is.

Others more knowledgeable will probably chime in.  Might make a difference on brand of primer and powder, in combination.

[Doug B.]

I have used small pistol magnum primers vs. small pistol primers only after starting way low and working up. Not so sure I would purposely use the LRP's in a pistol however. I think I would carefully/slowly press them out and start over with what was intended to be used in the first place. I pretty much religiously pay attention to my manuals.

[Lloyd Smale]

ill go yes and no on this one. I was told by a guy that worked for cci that there small pistol mag primer and there small rifle std primer were at least at one time the same primer. So it probably will be fine. The no side of me says why? There isnt a shortage right now and you can buy about any primer you need and there only a few bucks for a 100 of them. Why not just use the primer that is correct. As a matter of fact I take it your a fairly inexperienced handloader. Im in no way trying to slam you but basicaly if you have to ask you probably dont have alot of experience and probably should be sticking to the exact same primer-powder combo listed in the loading manual your using.

[Grumulkin]

1.  With some handguns, some rifle primers ARE too hard to fire reliably but most will work fine.  The only rifle primers that gave me this problem were CCI primers.

2.  I've never loaded rifle primers in a 357 Magnum but have done so in a 44 Magnum.  Using CCI 250 primers (large rifle magnum), I had to adjust my H110/Win. 296 load downward about 1.5 grains.

3.  The why would be if one had a bunch of rifle primers he wanted to use up or to see if using a different primer would increase accuracy.  I did not see an accuracy improvement in my 44 Magnum so went back to using handgun primers in it.  On the other hand, my 357 Harrett shows a strong preference for CCI 250 primers.

[shot1]

If you do some measuring you will find that the primer cups on rifle verses pistol primers are different height. The pistol being shorter. If you try using rifle primers in place of where a pistol primer should be used you will have a high primer situation. ONLY USE THE PRIMER SPECIFIED FOR YOUR CALIBER. When you start wondering "what if" it can really turn out bad.

[mtbugle]

Thanks for all the replies. I am not new to reloading, but my experience has been rifle rounds. It seems that some say large diff to the tune of 1.5 grains of powder, to some saying same primer used at a mfr.
Yes caution is why I am asking as to peoples experience, not just jumping in. If anyone else has definitive knowledge one way or other please share. I do have lots of rifle primers and not so easy/fast access to pistol primers. I am also only currently trying the 2 calibers listed, so not trying to put a mag rifle primer in a 9mil. Am already aware of harder cups, but not sure about the diff in height, can some one be more specific on that one.
Thanks Don.

[Ruskin]

I use small rifle for my .38, .357, & .357max

[Lloyd Smale]

cci small rifle are the same height as there small pistol primers. You could use the standard small rifle primer as a mag pistol or a mag pistol as a std small rifle. Ive done both during shortages. Only 44 primer id be leary about using with light loads is a cci 350. there a bit hotter then most. Ive used winchesters interchangably and now they even mark the mag/std combination primers. Fed primers arent much hotter the ww so im sure the same could go for them if anything rem mag primers are even weaker the ww. Now that  i told you all these sins and im going to have to kill you