Primer Question

[mikea46996]

O.K I have aquestion for the more experienced reloaders out there.

I have been reloading about 5 years and love it, I don't save any money but I shoot more so.

Anyway I was loading a batch of .40s&w and ran out of small pistol primers, called my local shop and they are out but the guy said they have small pistol magnum in stock and that they would work fine. My question is, Does he know what he is talking about or just trying to make a sale. I really don't want to damage my pistol or blow myself up. Would I need to change my load?

Please Help!!!

 

[Old Syko]

In a 40, Mag primers are not recommended but can be made to work. The problem is that they can't be used as a direct replacement. You'll have to reduce your load and work up all over again. There is a significant power difference in SP and SP Magnum. Your load manuals will explain this in some detail. Take the time to look it up read the manual again. Never change any component, (primers included) without reducing your load and working up.

 

[BeeRian]

If your current reloads are loaded "hot" then I would suggest backing down the powder charge down a bit and test fire them that way. If your reloads are already really "light" then try the mag primers out with your current powder charge and see how it goes.

For example, my target 40 reload recipe is a 155gr plated bullet with 4.5gr of Unique using CCI300 primers. Its a really light load, and if I came upon some mag primers I'd still try them with that same 4.5gr of Unique.

 

[mikea46996]

Guess I'll wait and try to find some SP because I sure as heck don't want to change my load. I run these through a CZ40B great gun too bad they are no longer in production it is a combo effort from CZ and Colt.

My loads are a little on the hot side 165gr JHP with 5.7gr of Alliance Green Dot using Federal primers.
The CZ loves them, my lil brothers Block(Glock) throws them all over the place. I still have to work up a good load for his.

Thanks for the info guys. I need a scource for about 10,000 primers so I don't run out again

 

[Old Syko]

Powder Valley, Inc.

 

[mikea46996]

Powder Valley, Inc.

Out of stock just like everybody else....Thanks for the link though.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Primers and caps are becoming hard to get.

 

[Old Syko]

Out of stock just like everybody else....Thanks for the link though.

Keep checking. They get new stock quite frequently but a few hundred thousand at a time don't last long.

 

[mospeada]

Unless your load is near max, you should be fine unless you're loading super accurate match ammo. If this is target ammo, it'll be fine.