I am new to this site and a fairly new reloader. I have foolishly reloaded small rifle primers, CCI into 9 mm brass. 4.1 grains of Win 231 powder was used and 124 grain bullet seated. I have a Ruger P85 and Smith and Wesson M&P 9 compact. Can I use these reloads in these guns or should I ditch the reloaded ammo. Foolish error on my part. No excuse. Would appreciate honest feedback.

Since that charge weight of W231 is light for a 124gr jacketed bullet and not the max for a 124gr lead bullet you can safely shoot that ammo. The only problem you might have is too light a hit on the primer to ignite it but that probably won't happen.

Welcome to the forum.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Welcome to the club. We've all made similar mistakes, glad you caught it early. They would probably be alright, but why chance it. Buy a bullet puller.

I can not agree. Small rifle primers are very little if hotter at all compared to a SPP. There is no reason to pull those bullets with the charge he used in that ammo. A SPM primer is hotter than a SRP.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I concur. SRPs should work just fine in the 9mm.

They should be ok IF your gun will provide the necessary primer strike to detonate the primer.

Bruce

I loaded a whole brick(1000) of S&B SRP's in .357 mag & .38 spl.........What problems?.......No problems.

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S&W Accumulator

I agree with ArchAngelCD, your guns should deliver a sufficient strike to ignite the primers, so go ahead and shoot them.

That said, you should learn no less than two lessons from this experience:

1. Create a set of written reloading procedures that you use as a checklist for each step in your reloading, and
2. Include a step that requires you to verify that only one type of primer - as well as what type primer it is - is brought to the bench at any one time.

Good luck.

Since you say that you are a new reloader, I am going to take the time to echo this:

• Buy a published reloading manual. Read the chapters at the front (the ones everyone skips as they rush to see how hot they can make their loads) that will tell you how to reload safely,
• Read those chapters a second time.
• Having read them, reduce what you have read to a written set of procedures you will follow EVERY time you reload.
• Print out these procedures and use them as a checklist each time you reload.
• Keep a copy of this checklist for your records.

To sound like I'm quoting the Bible, "Do this and ye shall live."

Depending on what brand/type of 124gr bullet you used, according to Hogdon's website that's not a max load, as has been stated, so any extra pressure added by the rifle primers shouldn't be a problem.

.

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Waiting for the break of day

Was on another website awhile back. The same topic came up. A reloaders was recommending to use/buy only 1 primer for all the small primer needs.

He stated he has been using sr primers for everything for a couple of years now. People asked if he noticed anything different when using the sr primers for the 9mm's. His reply was "No except for the small ring I'm getting on the slide around the firing pin hole."

The hard sr primers weren't sealing the primer/flash hole with his light 9mm (lower pressure than 223rem/556) and was flame cutting a circle into the face of his slide.

Shooting a couple 100 will not hurt anything.

I've always heard that the small pistol and small rifle primers have the same compound but the rifle has a heavier cup. That goes along with what others have posted: that pressure will be ok but you may have ignition problems.

But why ask some anonymous guy in Virginia? Call CCI at (800) 379-1732 between 7am & 7pm central Monday through Friday and get an answer from the people that are the experts.

Lenny First WELCOME to the sight!
We all can make mistakes but it takes a Big person who will tell people about it so they do not make the same mistakes So Thank You for the thread as I will be a New Re-loader soon myself and I now have 1 more thing to add to my caution list!

Great thread and Great advice

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9mm Shield

Absolutely. I have tested .38 Special loads extensively using SP vs. SR primers, no difference in MV or SD. I use SR primers exclusively for .38 Special, .357, and .38 Super, and have for 40 years. The only concern is whether your gun has a light primer strike. If your gun will fire a dozen straight loaded with SR primers, you are OK.

Send them to me!!!

That P85 is pretty rugged and I'll bet doesn't have some sissy firing pin strike. I think you'll be OK shooting them up.

thats true all you need is a spark to ignite and the powder goes boom. i have used standard primers in place of magnum primers for 44 mag and they work just fine and i have used mag primers for 45 acp aand all is well.

I won't take ammo with me to the range that I know was improperly made. The question is not 'Will it shoot?' The question should be 'Is it right?' If not, as in this case, learn from your mistakes, break the ammo down and then do it right.

The goal should be to make ammo that equals or out-performs factory rounds.

It really is that simple.

I specifically load SRP in my 357mag.. I load SRP, if that's what box I grab, in anything with a small primer pocket.. none of my guns object.

I have both eyes, hands, all my fingers and no damaged guns...

My goal is to load range fodder and SD ammo that costs half or less than factory ammo.

During the Small pistol shortage in the early 2000 years(and we are just getting out of the powder shortage...what's next?)I've shot thousands rounds of .38Spl and 9mm sparked by SP primers.I've done it after a guy said that after speaking to a guy at CCI,he's been told that SP and SR primers were exactly the same save for the packaging.But it just ain't so with LP and LR primers since the latest have a higher cup.I've stuck to these recommendations without any problem.
Qc

it is right or it wouldt shoot 1in groups at 25 yds from my Tussy Custom.
load a case with a standard primer and one with a mag primer no bullit or powder get in quiet zone fire both aand you will see they are the same. you may ask why, dont ask me ask the manufacturer, he will prob give you some mumbo jumbo which you will believe. but you can paay extra for the mag primer cause it will make you feel warm and fuzzy

Following recommended loads with recommended components has always made me feel warm and fuzzy, but I have been known to stretch a few things a little over the last 40 years.

Lacking a ballistics lab, I do tend to stick to "the books".

I even checked the balistics and accuracy of the 44 mag using standard and mag
primers, they were both identical. no difference

small pistol primers are even being used for 45 ACP now, with great success, a few years ago the forum gurus said tht would not work. but its working fine,WOW, imagine that

Not true. The primer composition may be identical but the cup thickness of the SR primer is a little greater, typically about 0.003" (or greater if comparing military SR primers to SP). Therefore, SR primers are slightly less sensitive to firing pin impact than SP. Regardless, the ballistic results are identical for both SR and SP, the only concern being that there is some small chance that a handgun with a weak firing pin strike might experience some FTFs using SR primers. I have never had that happen with revolvers.

Well, on the SKS forum, a few years ago, a guy spoke to a guy & was told:

NOTE 1: According to Speer/CCI Technical Services - Both the CCI 550 Small Pistol Magnum and CCI 400 Small Rifle primers are identical in size. Both primers use the same cup metal and share the same cup thickness. Both primers use the same primer compound formula and same amount of primer compound. They can be used interchangeably.

CCI SPM (not SP) are the same as SRPs.

This chart is from an old reloading manual (Speer?) & it shows something different (you might need a fly's eye to read it; Cntrl + = larger). No doubt things change. What's true today may not be tomorrow. As always, it's best to start with a reduced load & work up, just in case, when changing components.

.

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Waiting for the break of day

A friend of mine did the opposite. He mixed in several hundred SPP in a 1k run of 5.56. He called CCI and he was told by their Tech Support that the SPP has a lower pressure rating and that of the SRP and they would suffer a high rate of pierced primers if he shot them.
He took the entire lot apart and de-capped them.

^^^ This. Putting the shoe on the other foot, it is often advisable to use SRPs when you load your handgun cartridges for a rifle. Those heavier primer strikes will tend to poke a hole in the lighter primer cup of a pistol primer.

Primer sensitivity is determined by using an industry-standard drop test, essentially by dropping a steel ball on a standard firing pin from different heights. The exact method and the mathematics involved are a little difficult to explain simply, but in essence, the minimum drop height (which establishes firing pin impact energy) for 100% fire (all fire) is slightly higher for SR primers than SP primers due to the slightly thicker cup metal used. And that's probably the only significant difference between them. Dimensions are identical. Military SR primers (for the 5.56mm) use thicker primer cups than commercial primers to prevent any possibility of slamfires when used in automatic weapons, and are even less sensitive. Slamfires (due to firing pin inertia) were occasionally experienced during the very early period of the M16's service, and after some study, it was decided that, among several other alternatives, less sensitive primers would help solve the problem. So the Mil-Spec SR primer cup was made about 0.003" thicker than the commercial SR primer cup, combined with a lighter firing pin.

Listen closely, they work just fine, after at least 20,000 rds of useing these i believe i know. i dont care about a cup comp, they work just fine or every ammo manufactuer would not produce small primers in a large pistol case. i know 2 police dept that issue
this ammo. Good God wake up

I used Remington #8's in .357 mag and .38 years ago when cash was short and never had any problems.

Eddie

Shoot it and enjoy. We learn from our mistakes not our victories.

I just ran into a good buy on primers in a local estate auction. Not
quite a full brick but 900 Winchester SR primers for $10 seemed like
a good deal to me. They will most likely all be used in 38 and 357
handloads.

I had a similar dilemma last year when all I could find were Magnum SP primers -- and I got similar responses to my query on the forum. They can be used in "regular" rounds, and I could not tell the difference (it might be discernible using a chronograph; magnum primers presumably make the round a tad hotter). But as long as the load is not pushing the limits, in practical terms it made no difference.

The one suggestion in another post, above, to set up a documented checklist process to avoid errors makes sense. I have a few extra steps in my very basic re-loading efforts that I added based on experience! One step I follow religiously is to put powder in an entire tray of shells, check about 1 in 10 for correct weight, and then look into each shell using a small LED flashlight -- just to make sure they are all full of powder. Guess why? Harrumph. I don't have that problem anymore.

I hate to pull bullets, and lack the patience to do it carefully to preserve shell and bullet. I tend to use a pliers. But I do recover the primers. And they always work later, even though the de-primer pin worked against the anvil to push them out. And its a kind of a miracle of manufacturing technology that I have never had a dud primer in the past 10 years of reloading.

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S&W Rover

So you're saying the LR primers have a deeper cup? Thanks for posting that. It is one of the questions I wanted to ask. Since it is OK to substitute SR for SP, I was wondering if LR primers could be substituted for LP. Sounds like the answer is NO, and that is also good to know.

I only reload pistol rounds for my handguns and pistol caliber carbines. I don't reload any rifle-only cartridges that would take an LP, so I have no way to find out except to ask more experienced reloaders. Either that or buy some just to see if they would work - and I don't like that idea. So thanks for posting the info.