What if????? you put small pistol primer in 223 case?

[Gr8shot]

I've reloaded all my life, started helping my dad, standing on a stool to reach the press. I've never heard anyone say they mistakenly put small pistol primers in a rifle case instead of small rifle. What would happen? What's the burn rate difference?
Accuracy? Danger? Chime in with your answer.
steve.

 

[Adam in WI]

Tag. What type of pressures can they take? Ok for .22 Hornet? .222 Remington?

 

[Twicepop]

Size wise there is no difference, the cup thickness is likely to be different (thinner for the pistol primer). I also think I've read where the priming compound is different between rifle and pistol primers. On the Accurate Shooter home page there is an excellent article about primers, read the whole thing.

 

[AJC]

Cup thickness and hardness is reported to be different. Putting rifle in pistol causes a lot of failures to fire. You may blow primers used in rifle.

 

[Walt Krafft]

You will very likely be piercing primers and possibly have some slam fires due to the softer primer. Don't do it!

 

[pirate ammo]

According to CCI/Speer the small pistol MAGMUM and the small rifle are the same, but thats only those
I've got the info on.

 

[Gr8shot]

so you could substitute small pistol magnum and small rifle and still be safe?

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

so you could substitute small pistol magnum and small rifle and still be safe?

No - I wouldn't Do It.
Substituting Small Pistol Primers where Small Rifle Primers are called for, I'd expect possibly some "hang-fires" if ball powder was loaded in say 5.56 or 223 Rem ammunition, and as was mentioned "piercing primers and possibly have some slam fires due to the softer primer".

Again, I wouldn't Do It.

 

[Dave Zander]

I've gone the other way, small rifle in small small pistol cases,9mm.
never had a issue. Wouldn't go the other way though.

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

I've gone the other way, small rifle in small small pistol cases,9mm.
never had a issue. Wouldn't go the other way though.

Have also done it on a Timber-Wolf pump action 357 magnum - Used Small Rifle Primers in place of small pistol as the cups on SR are stronger than Small Pistol.

 

[rwj]

From what I’m experiencing, small pistol primers are currently the hardest find! If you’ve got some, you may find someone very willing to exchange them for small rifle making both parties happy and safe!

 

[dellet]

Depends on the application and primer.

As has been noted CCI uses the same primer and I the other end of the curve is Remington where the small pistol 1 1/2 aren’t even suitable for anything over about 35,000 psi. Says right on the box, No 40 S&W, 357 sig or magnums. The small rifle 6 1/2 have a similar warning.

I use the 1 1/2 primer for 22 Hornet, 218 Bee and a handful of other cartridges where the actions or firing pins are weak and max pressures are low.

The answer as almost always is “It depends”

 

[Uncle Ed]

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PRIMER - A PRIMER ON PRIMERS
http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php?topic=56422.0

CUP THICKNESS

Different primers have different cup thicknesses. You can see the importance of cup thickness when primers are considered for semiautomatic rifles that have free-floating firing pins. This topic is discussed in greater detail in the post "MILSPEC PRIMERS FOR SEMI-AUTOS FAQ AND INFO" that follows the primer chart.

Handgun primers have thinner cups than rifle primers, making them easier to ignite with the typically weaker firing pin fall of handguns. Small Pistol primer cups are .017" thick, while Large Pistol primer cups are .020" thick. This is the reason using handgun primers in .22 Hornet rifle loads sometimes results in pierced primers in some guns. Obviously their substitution in the high pressure .223 Remington would not be a good idea.

Small Rifle Standard

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.

Below It is recommended to use primers with a cup thickness of .025 with the AR15 to help prevent slamfires.

Below a CCI 400 with a .020 thickness primer cup fired in a AR15. On the flip side of this I have read postings where the CCI 400 primer was used without any problems.

 

[1shot]

I was fireforming som 6BRX brass using the COW method. I was getting a lot F2F with CCI 450's so I tried some small pistol primers and they worked just fine. With that said, I wouldn't use them for conventionally loaded rounds.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[pirate ammo]

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.

That's the same info I got, and it's only for CCI as far as I know.