Magnum primers in 9mm?

[1sailor]

I cannot curently find anyone within about 120 miles of my house who has any Small Pistol primers. Nobody even seems to know when they will have more available. Everyone seems to have plenty of Small Pistol Magnum primers though. Would it be safe to use them with a light load. I would be loading with 4.3 grains of 231 behind a 115 grain hard lead bullet. It's just a target round and I can even download another couple of tenths if necessary. I can order primers online but the hazardous materials fee is horrendous.

 

[505Gibbs]

If its truly a light load[and I have not checked any manuals for your load] I think you'll be fine.
You don't mention your OAL for this round - hopefully its on the longer side for a 9mm because these short OAL rounds obviously don't react well from a pressure standpoint if you remove case volume by shorter bullet depth.
Just my $0.02!

 

[JBnTx]

Where do you live?

Maybe someone can find you some regular primers?

 

[lpspinner]

In a pinch, if you're comfortable with your loading skills, then yes, provided you are loading on the light end of the charge and like 505Gibbs mentioned...keep the OAL on the long side. You don't want to increase that pressure.

 

[Titegroups]

Make sure you post some before and aft. pics.

 

[slugo88]

I loaded 50 some 380 rounds with mag primers just to see what they would do and they all worked fine. Havent tried 9mm yet but I probably will sometime, I personaly would not be afraid to do it. Charlie

 

[colt_saa]

I cannot curently find anyone within about 120 miles of my house who has any Small Pistol primers. Nobody even seems to know when they will have more available. Everyone seems to have plenty of Small Pistol Magnum primers though. Would it be safe to use them with a light load. I would be loading with 4.3 grains of 231 behind a 115 grain hard lead bullet. It's just a target round and I can even download another couple of tenths if necessary. I can order primers online but the hazardous materials fee is horrendous.

If you are in South Florida, I will help you out. I have plenty of Winchester SP primers on hand.

Shipping large quantity is the problem

Edit your profile and put your location in there so we can find you some local help

 

[Titegroups]

Haven't done it myself but you should be fine.

 

[1sailor]

I'm on the Oregon Coast, It's not the end of the world but you can see it from here.

 

[125JHP]

What about using small rifle primers? That is quite common in some circles.
I loaded up a few test batches with wolf, win, rem & cci and didn't have any problems and the velocity was the same as regular pistol primers.

 

[MichiganScott]

What about using small rifle primers? That is quite common in some circles.
I loaded up a few test batches with wolf, win, rem & cci and didn't have any problems and the velocity was the same as regular pistol primers.

I wouldn't do it. Aside from the fact the rifle primers are harder to ignite than pistol primers, there are other considerations. Go to the ShootingTimes web sight and look up "Mysteries And Misconceptions Of The All-Important Primer" written by Allan Jones, Speer's retired head ballistician. It's dated January 4, 2011.

He writes about when they tried to build a hotter primer for 9mm Parabellum and they got funny pressures because it blew the bullet into the rifling before the powder ignited. They dropped the project.

 

[125JHP]

Thanks I'll look it up.
IPSC shooters have been using SR primers for years in max+ loads but I know that doesn't say anything about pressure. I've been toying with the idea of using them if there is another shortage and I have to stock just one size of expensive primer to use in both rifle and pistol.

---
That was an interesting article and gives one something to consider when substituting components.
Although I did notice that the unnamed primer mix was experimental and not specified as like a magnum or rifle mix, it could have been anything. I would think a magnum primer might be more likely to act as described than a standard SR, but then I don't have the lab to find out.

 

[BlueOvalBandit]

Magnum in light loads = don't.... harder cups won't seal as good with low pressure and could result in breach face pitting. Same goes for rifle primers in pistol.

Breech Face Pitting From Gas Cutting Using SPPM In Weak 9mm Loads? - Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

When we use small rifle in ipsc or uspsa we are WAY above max loads

and contrary to the data fed small pistol magnums are different in some way to SP. The standard pistols crater really bad in 38 super loaded to major PF yet Fed 200 dont.

 

[shovelwrench]

The reason IPSC shooters run rifle primers(mainly in .38 super) is because you can load them much hotter then a regular pistol primer will handle. Rifle primers handle much more pressure then a pistol primer will before it flows/craters/shears if it happens at all...

As for using rifle primers in your 9, this is another cartridge that will handle more then the books will tell you.

Work your load up from suggested starts and be sure to use a chronograph. You should only see slightly higher velocities then what a regular primer would give you.

Problem being, THE PRIMER WILL NOT SHOW PRESSURE SIGNS !!!!!!

 

[Rule3]

A SP Mag primer generates a lot more energy than a regular SPP. It actually generates more energy than a small rifle.

In a high pressure cartridge like the 9mm I would not recommend using a mag primer.

zoom in to see the chart: