I'm a casual shooter, maybe 400 rounds of 357 a month through a 6" 686. My plinking go-to load is 5.1 grains of Unique with a 158 grain lead RNFP or 158 grain Hitek coated SWC.
The reloading shortage caught me totally unaware until a week ago, and yes, I must have been living under a rock so was totally surprised to find sp primers unavailable.
I just picked up a couple bricks of CCI small rifle primers (p/n 400) that I understand are the same size as their sp primers. The difference is the thickness of the cup, maybe a little hotter.
I'm not even close to a max load and I think the hammer strike is enough to ignite consistently. I have enough sp and sp magnum primers for the hot loads so would not interchange on those. Anyone see any issues interchanging on the plinking loads?

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRIMER - A PRIMER ON PRIMERS
Primer Info & Chart + Milspec Primers for Semi-Autos & Other Primer Applications

CCI 400 -thin .020" cup, not recommended for AR15 use by CCI/Speer. Good for .22 Hornet, .30 Carbine. See Note 1 at the bottom of the page

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.

[QUOTE=bigedp51;140836027]CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRIMER - A PRIMER ON PRIMERS
Primer Info & Chart + Milspec Primers for Semi-Autos & Other Primer Applications

Thank you. Interesting article.

i + many others have been using small rifle primers for all pistol reloading for well over 50 years without one problem - only difference is cup material , standard [ non magnum ] have the same brisance in both rifle + pistol format - only problem would be in a pistol with a weak hammer or firing pin strike -

If your handgun provides reliable ignition of SR primers there is absolutely no reason not to use them in place of SP primers. I have been doing that for many years. I have one small 9mm pistol which is iffy with SR primers, never had a SR reliability issue with any revolver. Many years ago, I did some testing of SR vs SP primers in .38 Special. MV and grouping performance were identical.

I know a guy who loads nothing but SRP for handgun and rifle ammo alike and has done so for a very long time. He has never mentioned a problem and I have moved seen a misfire from his ammo.

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Thanks all. It's helpful to hear it from people who have already done it.

I'd recommend loading up at least 10 empty cases with SR primers. If all go pop, there's a high probability you won't have any reliability issues using them.

I've been pondering the same question lately. My brother left quite a stock of primers he couldn't include in a move across the country. No small pistol but plenty of small rifle.

I tried Federal small rifle primers in 32 H&R brass in an SP101 with a reduced power main spring and they all went bang. I plan to put them to work.

It's up to your guns firing pin, If it strikes lightly then don't use them. Otherwise, its good to go.