I have a fair quantity of Large Magnum Pistol primers. What are the ups and down of loading them for a 45 ACP?

Thanks

They should be fine unless your loads are near max,then you might back down and work your way back up.

+1 for arjay's comment. Keep the load tame and they'll work fine.

The bulk of the large pistol primers I've used are Winchester WLP; Large Pistol for Standard or Magnum pistol loads. I've used these in both 45 ACP and .44 Magnum. When you change the primer you have changed the load, so start on the conservative side and work up.

The last time we were hung up on reloading supply's about 4+ years ago I e-mailed CCI about using mag primers in standard loads. They told me it is not recomended but let me know the mag primers were 30% more powerful than the standard one's. Use caution there's no gap between the cylinder and the barrel to let some of the pressure out on a 45 auto.

__________________
Bob
Sic Semper Tyrannis

Magnum primers will burn a little hotter and a little longer than standard primers. They will not create a nuclear explosion. Like said above, if you are not at the top of the pressure range you probably won't notice any difference.

Winchester WLP primers are rated for both standard and magnum loads and most reloaders who use them don't even realize that. They don't adjust their loads and there are no ill effects. If it was dangerous you KNOW the Winchester lawyers would be all over it!

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Not 45, but I recently tested mid-range 357 (158 LSWC/Unique) loads with regular and magnum primers.
Shooting them across the chrono, the average velocity was very close, but the mag primer loads had a much larger SD and were noticably less accurate.
But, no wild pressure/velocity swings and certainly no danger with them.
As stated, if you're loading near max, back off and work up again.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Taroman,

Can you tell me your load data for the .357 mag using Unique and magnum primers? I need to load a batch of 158gr LSWC using CCI-550 primers. Thought of starting at 6.0gr of Unique.

Start lower, maybe 5 grains.

My Hornady 7th ed. Lists 5.0 maximum with their swaged bullet. Cast you can go much higher, naturally.

Richard Lee's manual says "do not exceed 6.0".

Depends on what you want to do with it, of course.

I finally settled on 4.7/900 FPS as a "cowboy" load for my SAA. Puts them all into the same hole.

Winscester small pistol primers gave the best groups.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Per an Alliant loading manual, the recipe for the .357mag using a 158grain LSWC and Federal 200 (Small Magnum Pistol Primer) primer is: 6.8 grains Unique @ 1.580 min OAL. Yields a muzzle velocity of 1,295ft/sec. 6.0 grains should be safe and minimize leading.

I usually use Green Dot and run the 158 LSWC around 960ft/sec to keep away from potential leading.

What is the difference in the primer numbers.
Example: 200; 500 etc?

Thanks,
Jim

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Are you asking why CCI named theirs 200, 500, etc? The same reason Remington named theirs 1-1/2, 6-1/2, etc.

And it's because, uh, er,... I got nuthin'!

Sorry Man, we're both gonna have to wait until someone smarter comes along.

Hummmmmm, to me either have large or small, not numbers. I don't get it. Oh well, if it doesn't mean anything then I won't worry about it.

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When you produce multiple versions of the same size primer product coding simplifies life Primer Usage Chart

Now I understand, I thought it had to do with certain types of loads.

Thanks,
Jim

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