Small primer 44 magnum

[Mongo Safari]

My son and I picked up a handful of 44 mag cases at the range today. Four cases are marked S S and have small primers. Do you know who made S S cases?

Last year while policing my 45 ACP brass I picked up some Blaser, Speer, Federal along with my R-P brass. We found some of the FC, and all the Speer and Blaser had small primers. I tested a few rounds with my Bullseye load and CCI small pistol primers. They worked fine. I just need to keep the large and smalls cases separated. I'll save the small primed cases, cleaned and put away for a time when large primers go extinct for a while.

 

[TJm15.38]

I've seen small primer .45 ACP (Blazer and a couple of others), but I have never seen small primer .44 Mag. I don't reload .44 Magnum, but I do reload .44 Spl. These days I discard the small primer .45 brass; I would probably do the same with .44 Spl if it had small primers.

 

[robertrwalsh]

Silly & Stupid ??

I have never seen any large bore revolver small primer cases.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

Silly & Stupid ??

I have never seen any large bore revolver small primer cases.

The 454 Casull uses a small rifle primer. always has

 

[sparkyvega]

Interesting...I wonder if these are SRP?

My son and I picked up a handful of 44 mag cases at the range today. Four cases are marked S S and have small primers.

 

[The Norseman]

Great Thread. Thank you for sharing your
find on the 44Mag with a Small Pistol/Rifle
Primer, and also taking the time to post a picture.

I find it interesting. In all my years reloading
I have never seen 44Mag with SPP. I've
reloaded brass, aluminum, and steel cases.
I also reload 45ACP SPP. This is intriguing.

I would definitely use them, for the logical
reason Small Pistol Primers and Small Rifle
Primers can interchangeably be used.

I read before and believe it; Small Primers
support higher cartridge pressure and the
same as Revolver frame mounted firing pins,
along with durability.

The Best to you and your Endeavors.

 

[stansdds]

This is the first I have seen of a small primer 44 Magnum case, but I am not surprised. Given modern primer compound, there is little reason for large primers in handgun brass today. Going to all small primers does make for better logistics when it comes to manufacturing ammo.

 

[cracker57]

so what about the load data that calls for a magnum primer?

 

[vetz76]

My son and I picked up a handful of 44 mag cases at the range today. Four cases are marked S S and have small primers. Do you know who made S S cases?
View attachment 794694
Last year while policing my 45 ACP brass I picked up some Blaser, Speer, Federal along with my R-P brass. We found some of the FC, and all the Speer and Blaser had small primers. I tested a few rounds with my Bullseye load and CCI small pistol primers. They worked fine. I just need to keep the large and smalls cases separated. I'll save the small primed cases, cleaned and put away for a time when large primers go extinct for a while.

Look here: https://cartridgecollectors.org/headstamp-codes/ probably Israeli Military Industries.

 

[bedwards]

I have some 44 mag IMI brass I just recently bought. I better check it for small primers.
The 454 Casull uses small rifle primers because of the higher pressures.

 

[Reloader Fred]

I didn't see small pistol primed 10mm brass mentioned by anyone. I have quite a few of those, along with 10,000 rounds of new, never fired, Top Brass 10mm LP cases. In my collection, I've got a .45 acp loaded round with a headstamp of 1957 that contains a small pistol primer, which I believe to be a Berdan primed case, so they've been around for awhile. I've yet to run across the SP primed .44 Magnum brass, but I'm not collecting brass like I used to.

In the SP primed .45 acp brass, I found an average of 50 fps less velocity with SP primers vs. LP primers with the same load, but the point of impact didn't change at 25 yards from the bench. That was from both 1911's and a very accurate Ruger Blackhawk 6.5" revolver. I know some people who have switched entirely over the SP .45 acp brass, as that was the only LP caliber they loaded and it simplified things by only needing one pistol primer for all their pistol calibers.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Hal H.]

I would like to meet the genius who decided it would be a good idea to change the primer size on the 45 auto after 100 years. He obviously doesn't reload. Now every time that I get small primer 45 brass they go right into the trash.p, where they belong.

 

[Yendor357]

It's just not that hard to separate S from L primers.

Brass should be recycled, not trashed.

 

[Turn4811]

I swapped my 45ACP all over to SP a few years back and I have finally shot up all of my LP. Most of the brass I got from a friend. I had been shooting that old brass for 30 or so years and the opportunity to get further away from LP was there coinciding with replacing scared wore cases with something newer. I am through collecting brass for 44 so that is not an issue but having it show in 10mm? It is a good thing all of my 10mm brass is Starline.

 

[stansdds]

so what about the load data that calls for a magnum primer?

Use small pistol magnum primers would be my guess.

 

[bigggbbruce]

Use small pistol magnum primers would be my guess.

Or small rifle

 

[David Sinko]

I have never used a magnum primer in any .44 Magnum load. I use 296 only in loads with bullets 300 grs. and heavier and standard primers work just fine.

 

[M29since14]

I've never seen small primer brass in .44 Magnum and didn't expect to, though I think it would work fine. I like the SPP .45 Auto brass and will take any that anyone cares to be rid of. I have used what I have off and on, depending on my ability to get large primers, and have not seen anything like 50 FPS difference in velocity with either of the two powders I use (WST and 231). I cannot detect any substantial difference in either velocity or accuracy.

 

[ken158]

so what about the load data that calls for a magnum primer?

Small magnum primers are available and frequently used in .357 loads

 

[HamBoneZ]

You should watch using small rifle in place of small pistol. It's not just a matter of size, it's also a matter of primer hardness. Rifle primers may not fire in a pistol the first try, especially in lower calibers like 10.

And using a match grade pistol primer in a semi auto you can also run the risk of a ad double strike because of the softer primers. I've never had this happen but I have tried the rifle in the pistol cartridges. I've had to double, triple tap to get to fire.

Better of using what they are made for and be safe.

 

[venomballistics]

I've encountered the stuff. When I accumulate enough to make it worth my time, I'll see how far up the food chain the stuff will let us go.
I don't mind this in 45 auto. burn rates, case volume and charge weights seem to keep the cartridge within the pay grade of a small pistol primer.
Up here in big bore magnum land, I have some concerns

 

[SASFixer]

My son and I picked up a handful of 44 mag cases at the range today. Four cases are marked S S and have small primers. Do you know who made S S cases?
View attachment 794694
Last year while policing my 45 ACP brass I picked up some Blaser, Speer, Federal along with my R-P brass. We found some of the FC, and all the Speer and Blaser had small primers. I tested a few rounds with my Bullseye load and CCI small pistol primers. They worked fine. I just need to keep the large and smalls cases separated. I'll save the small primed cases, cleaned and put away for a time when large primers go extinct for a while.

If I acquire small primer 45 ACP cases I separate them from the abundance of large primer 45 ACP cases, they go into the scrap brass. I load on a progressive press, one small in the batch of large is a BAD thing. With "Czech Group" now controlling Federal, CCI, Blazer, RP, and Focchi. I expect finding large primer brass will gradually diminish. I am 77 YO, I don't expect to run out of large primer 45 ACP brass in the near future.

 

[HamBoneZ]

I load progressive as well, to put in perspective I have one container of 45 sm primer probably around 100 count, and around 10k large primer. The one round that gives me the most grief is 10 with large and smalls. I haven't done any 44 mag in small primer or 460 for that matter.

 

[Dan W. Cady]

I would like to meet the genius who decided it would be a good idea to change the primer size on the 45 auto after 100 years. He obviously doesn't reload. Now every time that I get small primer 45 brass they go right into the trash.p, where they belong.

Please send them to me as they are much easier to prime using my Dillon 550!

 

[Hal H.]

It's just not that hard to separate S from L primers.

Brass should be recycled, not trashed.

But the question is…. WHY?

 

[Outpost75]

But the question is…. WHY?

Nontoxic lead-free primers for indoor range ammo are only made in the small size.

 

[rockquarry]

You should watch using small rifle in place of small pistol. It's not just a matter of size, it's also a matter of primer hardness. Rifle primers may not fire in a pistol the first try, especially in lower calibers like 10.

And using a match grade pistol primer in a semi auto you can also run the risk of a ad double strike because of the softer primers. I've never had this happen but I have tried the rifle in the pistol cartridges. I've had to double, triple tap to get to fire.

Better of using what they are made for and be safe.

I've used small rifle primers in place of small pistol primers with no negative effects, but my revolvers are as they came from the factory, unmolested, no extra light triggers. The SR primers are about the same thing as SP magnum primers. Accuracy and velocities are also about identical to that produced by SP primers.