.45 ACP small primer vs. large primer

While I am fooling around with my wanna-be .460 Rowland rounds in my T/C Contender .45 Win Mag barrel - I have come across about 200 .45 ACP small pistol primer brass. I have deprimed, flash holes have been chamfered, and it has been briefly tumbled but could use another spin or two.

El Manual calls for large pistol primers but from what I am reading in the manuals and a couple of Handloader Magazines primer size does not really matter. Supposedly as long as you are using standard loads, the magazines say that either primer size is acceptable. SD is supposed to be less with small pistol primers. Small pistol primers release less of the gasses that the EPA wants to regulate indoors, so more of the non-toxic ammo is loaded with small pistol primers.

Since I am loading for a single shot 14" barrel, I do not have the worry about feeding issues from a magazine. My T/C Contender frames all shoot the .45 ACP brass fine either small or large primer.

I load on an old Lee classic single stage press, so I do not have the agravation of trying to seat a large primer into a small primer pocket in a progressive press. I have seen this several times on a Dillon 650 where it was cranking out .45 ACP as fast as you could pull the handle. Until a large primer got crammed into a small primer pocket, jamming the works up.

Almost all of this small pistol primer .45 ACP brass is either Speer or Blazer. I suspect the Blazer stuff might have been some of the newer non-tox ammo that Blazer has been selling.

By the way Hawcer, a LAR Grizzly, Whidley and Desert Eagle are right up my alley. I have never had a Whidley though I have shot a few. I had a .45 Win Mag Grizzly and a .44 Desert Eagle that got sold when times got tight. The Desert Eagle was OK but I loved that Grizzly. Would like another one sometime maybe with barrels in .357, .44, and .45 Win Mag this time.

It is a shame the .45 Win Mag never really took off commercially. Loaded into a gun that can take the power, it can give the old .44 mag a run for its money and is not too far behind the .454 Casull. One nice thing about the .454 and the new .460 S&W is that the newer bullets developed for those guns can also be used in my .45 Win Mag and a .460 Rowland if anyone has one.

Any thoughts on this small primer .45 ACP brass? It is a little irritating as all my other .45 brass is large primer. I have it sorted and can keep it that way. I am thinking of donating it to the local indoor range. Load it for my 1911 and leave it at the range next time I shoot there.

as much wild catting as you do seems to me that the small primer would be a good way to segregate a Wildcat round form others. ... thinking what wild cats come from 45acp brass????

.400 CorBon is the first that comes to mind but that round is sorta a factory round now. CorBon and SSK both load .400 CorBon ammo.

I was wondering if maybe the .45 small pistol brass might take a little more pressure but I do not wish to risk blowing primer pockets.

If I am going to crank the pressure up I may as well use either .460 Rowland or .45 Win Mag brass.

I am just wondering out loud what I am going to do with this brass. I picked it up from the LEO range so I am tempted to either blast & cast it or keep it. Not sure yet.

If you decide to "blast and cast", I wouldn't mind if you cast them my way ..

Well Eagle you are the first person to ask for the brass. I certainly would not mind casting them your way. Having to switch back & forth in the primer size is going to be a PIA.

I would rather stick with large pistol primers more for convience than anything else. Since I load a lot of .38 SPL & .357 for the old lady, I have plenty of small pistol primers around.

I read on another forum once (IIRC) that Frankford Arsenal once made a medium-sized primer .45 ACP to prevent the use of a large rifle primer. I believe that brass is pretty rare, and I have never encountered any. I only know of two sizes of primers and there for a while we could not make either size fast enough.

I still can't believe that some engineering god has not figured out how to make primers by machine rather by someone with a pot full of goop & a spatula.

Maybe use small rifle primers in the the odd small pocketed brass? It might help when using magnum type or slower powders....

My 450 Bushmaster uses small rifle primers and the same powders and bullets that are available and widely used on the 454 and 460 magnums.

just a thought...

My .50 Beo uses large pistol mag primers. When I bought it, on a WAG I assumed that it would take small rifle primers like the 5.56 does.

The .45 win mag uses a large pistol primer, and I have substituted a magnum pistol primer when using heavy charges of certain slow Winchester powders and/or I was hunting in very cold weather.

I probably have around 1,500 .45 ACP cases and out of all those these 219 cases are the only ones that are small pistol primed.

If they were .45 win mag or .460 Rowland I would keep them. I would probably consider using small rifle primers, but to me it is not worth messing with these few cases.

Some of my .357 max loads use a small rifle or a small rifle mag primer. I have been having some disappointing results using AA2015 in my .30 Herrett, 7mm Int Rimmed and .357 max.

I am off to the range this morning to try some min loads with AA2015 and mag small rifle primers in .357 max.

I also dropped a large rifle mag primer in the .30 Herrett and 7mm Int Rimmed, so lets see if I get less unburnt powder in the barrels. It is irritating to me to look down the barrel and see a trail of unburnt powder down the barrel.

Eagle would not mind sending these cases to you - do you have something to trade?

Not a deal breaker if you do not but would like to at least break even on shipping these and a bit for the sweat equity for depriming, chamfering the flash holes, etc.

that is what I would do trade brass for some brass you will use.... then both sides are happy... I trade off odd brass for me for brass I use all the time....

Thanks Scorge, PM sent.