45 ACP primer sizes???

[Dave in NGA]

I haven't loaded any 45's in many years. So after a match I was policing brass and came across some Federal and Winchester brass with small pistol primer sizes. Is this stuff reloadable? Why the small primer sizes? Or should I just toss them out? TIA

[edpm3]

Absolutely reloadable. Don't know why some manufacturers go with small primers for 45 ACP, but for some people, it does eliminate the need for large pistol primers. For the rest of us, it means carefully sorting empty .45 cases so we don't end up trying to jam a LP primer into a SP pocket.

[Tuna]

I may be wrong on this but I think originally the small pistol primers were used for ammo that had no lead at all. None in the primer and no exposed lead from the bullet of any kind. If Ray comes around he may be able to shed some light on this.

[raymeketa]

Many handgun cartridges have a history of being loaded with both small and large primers. The 38 Special and the 357 Magnum are the 2 best known. The 45 ACP was originally loaded with a special size primer, just a little smaller in size than LP, to make sure the cases were not primed with LR primers. But most have been standardized as either SP or LP. . . Until recently.

Tuna nailed it. The small primers found in some of today's handgun cartridges are part of the "Green" generation. Lead-free, Non-Toxic, etc. Orginally, the green primers used Diazodinitrophenol, as the the impact-sensitive ingrediant, replacing lead styphnate. By now, it's probably been replaced with something having an even longer name.

[joem]

"The 45 ACP was originally loaded with a special size primer, just a little smaller in size than LP, to make sure the cases were not primed with LR primers."

Surprised that someone else has knowledge of this. A friend had 1K of these that I modified to take LP so he could load them. Good brass.

[raymeketa]

Us collectors know a lot of stuff. Most of it is trivial with not a lot of useful value.

Here's a box of the smaller sized LP primers. As you can see, they were still being used into the late 1940s.

Ray

[Sunray]

Winchester brass with small pistol primer sizes started out as their NT(Non-Toxic) primer brand. They said the brass was not reloadable, at the time. Instead of saying they weren't releasing NT primers to reloaders. Regular small pistol primers work just fine. Only issue is if you mix NT cases with regular cases.
"...Most of it is trivial with..." Yep. Hard thing being a fountain of useless information. Worse if you work with 20 something's who think they know everything. Telling 'em their education is lacking shuts 'em up quickly though. snicker.

[psteinmayer]

I have a box of 50 rounds of Fiocchi .45 ACP brass with SP primers. I have so much other brass that I never added it to my reloading supply. I'll hang on to them though... just in case.

[emmagee1917]

I reload both behind 5.3 grains of Win 231 . Can't tell any difference , work the same through M1911s , M1917s , M1928A1s , M1A1s , M50s , M55s , M3s , M3A1s .
Nice to be able to use whatever size primer I can buy. I usually take out an ammo can or two of one primer size so as to not have to sort them . I use a RCBS hand primer , so not a big deal if a piece of range brass gets mixed in . Many reloaders don't want to deal with two sizes , I've received lots of free , once fired brass that way.
Chris

[Timberwolf]

I load both, and use the same powder charge. I've noticed no velocity change between either.

The SP brass is prefered by revolver shooters. I use them at lost brass matches.