I was sorting my range brass and found some Federal NT in 45 that have small primers. Sorting some more I found a couple of Fiocchi casing that also have small primers.

 

I am guessing these are from their lead free lines.

 

 

Why do they use small primers for the "less toxic" lines of ammo? Anyone have a clue?

I have seen a lot of brass that uses small pistol primers. I think it's an older design.

I think these are fairly recent for teflon bullets.

The small primer .45 ACP brass is from the various manufacturer's non-toxic lines. Along with lead-free bullets they have to use lead-free priming compounds in the primers. The lead-free compound (Dinol) is hotter than the regular lead-based compound, therefore a smaller amount is needed - thus the small primers.

 

Most manufacturers say these are non-reloadable, but a lot of people have been having good success with them. Some actually finding an increase in accuracy, although accompanied by a velocity loss of 30 - 40 fps. One thing to be careful of - some of the spp .45's have larger flash holes than normal. Not sure if this presents a problem, but I'd separate the brass by headstamp as there may be a performance difference between those with the larger flash hole and those with normal sized holes. In order to discourage reloading these, I understand that Federal crimps the primers on their .45 spp brass.

 

There is a great deal of experimenting going on right now with this brass. If you are going to play with it, work your loads up, don't start at the top. Some are experimenting with magnum pistol primers, but I believe the accuracy gains are with regular small pistol primers. This is a boon to those of you that load both 9mm and .45, as it means you don't have change over the priming system on your press.

 

Be careful. YMMV.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

pizza bob called it. You can work up a load and use it in the SP cases. I have some, but not enough to make separate batches. Keep them away, far far away, from your regular 45 brass. If you load on a progressive press, you already know why. When you are reloading at a reasonable clip, then one of these little bastards end up in your brass tube. Boy does that F up a good rhythm.

I have been playing with small primers for 2 years or so now. Shoots just fine with my target loads. I use the same load for small as I do large. The biggest issue is they are normally crimped pockets so you need to remove it first before you prime.

 

I do not have a buch loaded up because I do not want to get it mixed with the large, but when there was a primer shortage it was nice to be able to shoot my 45 with which ever size was availible when others could not.

The small primer .45 ACP brass is from the various manufacturer's non-toxic lines. Along with lead-free bullets they have to use lead-free priming compounds in the primers. The lead-free compound (Dinol) is hotter than the regular lead-based compound, therefore a smaller amount is needed - thus the small primers.

 

Thanks, that was what I was wondering, whether they were standard small pistol or some special type that is the same size as small pistol.

 

I only have a few of each so I'm not going to load them, I was just wondering what the deal was.