magnum pistol primers in light 38 spl?

[kamloops67]

hello all,
my shooting buddy and i went halfers on a box of 5000 small pistol primers, when i got home i realized they are magnum primers .cant return them... book recommends magnum primers for 357 cases with certain loads and certain powders . can i use with 3.5gr bullseye or 3.8gr 231? what would i be risking if i tried? i shoot these mainly in CAS using new vaqueros. does anyone have any recommendations?
thank you-mike

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Magnum primers will burn a little longer and a little hotter than standard primers. They will not create a nuclear explosion so the risk is low. As long as you are not at the top of the pressure limits using a magnum primer is safe. Of course, like when you change any component in a recipe you should drop back on the powder charge a bit and work back up for safety. I'm guessing you will generate the same velocity with 3.7gr W231 and a magnum primer that a 3.8gr W231 load will generate with a standard primer. (if you're loading a 158gr bullet)

 

[MichiganScott]

All of my light .38 Special loads use CCI-550 primers. When I started reloading way back when, I tried to keep my inventory down by having one type of primer. Back then I used a lot of WW-296 in .357 Magnum.

I have tried CCI-500 primers since, and found that the magnum primer seems to give better accuracy in some of my lightest loads.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Magnum primers will work . A commonly followed rule of thumb is to back off starting loads a tenth of a grain or two and work your load from there. They may/may not have some effect on your final recipe.

 

[kamloops67]

thanks guys, i didnt think it would KB but i wanted to ask to make sure

 

[Nevada Ed]

Lots of shotgun reloaders go to the f209a to save powder and being hotter, makes for a good "Winter" primer to prevent misfires.

The mag primer in pistol load works the same, you can save a little powder and work up to your best loads with safety. It works great with ball powders and I have Alliant powders that also work well with it along with the slow imr 4227 powder.

Enjoy those primers.

 

[alwslate]

With your light charges of fast powder a magnum primer will probably
increase your avg. velocity by about 5 fps and decrease your extreme
spread. Use them and don't worry.