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Alternatives to known reloading items...need clarity

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As this ammo drought takes hold it got me thinking.  Are there any reloading items that can be used as an alternative to something that has become hard to source? An example would be X type of primer for Y type of primer or X type of power for Y type of powder.

During the last Ammo scare, I vaguely remember someone saying that they used small rifle primers to replace small pistol primers that were basically non-existent.   Since I was brand new to reloading and everyone preached keeping to known published recipes I never looked more into in.  So,  to all the more savvy experienced reloaders...is it true that you can use small rifle primers, like Remington #6 1/2 small rifle primers for CCI 500 small pistol primers.

is there anything else that could be substituted?  Modifying one caliber brass into something else?

thanks

 

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So timely! I'll be interested to see what the experienced reloaders chime in with. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I was gifted a vintage reloading press by my uncle, but I haven't even started using it yet... he's also a good source of brass/powder/primers to get me started. It seems an auspicious time to start reloading (what with the ammo prices increasing, supplies temporarily sold out, etc.). I can see the ability to "make your own" might be invaluable down the road - and making substitutions (where safe) might be helpful to people.

Great topic! Thx for the post.

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56 minutes ago, Mrs. Peel said:

So timely! I'll be interested to see what the experienced reloaders chime in with. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I was gifted a vintage reloading press by my uncle, but I haven't even started using it yet... he's also a good source of brass/powder/primers to get me started. It seems an auspicious time to start reloading (what with the ammo prices increasing, supplies temporarily sold out, etc.). I can see the ability to "make your own" might be invaluable down the road - and making substitutions (where safe) might be helpful to people.

Great topic! Thx for the post.

Maybe a new source of income, work from home.

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You could swap those primers... but the rifle ones are thicker and thus harder to set off. Consequently the other way around could result in pierced primers..  Reloading components are cartridge specific for a reason and generally designed around pressure tolerances. 

If you used #41 CCI Small Rifle... in a small pistol cartridge there is a good chance it wont go off.

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I always use CCI small rifle primers in place of small pistol primers — its rumored that the only difference between the 2 is the hardness of the cup

Substituting different brand primers is a little different — you can do it but you should work up your load again — you can’t  trust that different brand primers are they same chemical makeup 

I’ve been doing the CCI primer swap for a decade — never had an issue and I’m sure I was cautious with the 1st batch I made up — makes buying primers easier too

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I use CCI and Winchester primers interchangeably for rifle and pistol, but I've always stuck to rifle primers for rifle cartridges, pistol primers for handgun cartridges.  For match use, I keep the lots separated by primer brand, for practice I don't worry about it.  I've pretty much eliminated magnum primers from my inventory, as my loads don't require them, but would bring them back if that's all I could find.  Loads may need to be adjusted when going from standard to magnum primers.

I've been forced before to pick alternate powders before.   I start with a burn rate chart like this one Burn Rate Chart to see what powders are most similar to what I've been using, then go to the load manuals or powder manufacturer's web sites to get the load data.   For target loads, I'll also check various online listings of 'pet loads' known to be consistent and accurate.

I use mixed brass for practice regardless of the gun I'm shooting.  I'll use that same mixed brass ammo, after running it through a chamber checker, for any matches that are more about speed than accuracy.    For precision matches I'll separate brass by headstamp, but for most events I don't separate it by lot number.

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On 3/23/2020 at 9:07 PM, Bklynracer said:

Maybe a new source of income, work from home.

You need an FFL to manufacture ammo for sale. Big federal felony. Don't do it. 

 

As for the original topic, you can use small rifle or small pistol magnum primers  for ammo that requires small pistol primers. 

For small pistol vs. small pistol magnum, in general the difference is mostly the cup. It might make a bit bigger of a flash. Usually you'll pick up maybe 25fps at the chrono. I've never experienced issues pressure wise, but I'm usually solidly within SAAMI pressures for the cartridge. 

Small rifle definitely has a bigger flash.  Back off a bit and try it and work back up to your desired velocity. 

I'd stay away from the CCI 5.56 primers. Just because they are quite hard.

 Powder substitution is harder.  Occasionally you can get ahead of the scrum for scarce powder by working up loads for something with no load data for the cartridge you want powder for. However, this usually requires you to have easy range access and components to spare. 

For example, last big panic, amongst some of the USPSA type shooters who buy their components 10k at a time, they started using alliant e3, which to date still has no published pistol data from alliant.  But most pistol powders are also shotgun powders. 

 

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