Questions on Loading Small Primer 45 ACP Cases

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  • Bill2905

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    A couple questions about small primer 45 ACP cases.

    1) For those who use these cases, do you make any adjustments to the load data due to difference in primer size?

    2) Will once-fired cases of this type typically have crimped in primers or are they like traditional non-military primers?

    Thanks
     

    EyeCarry

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    Others with more experience in .45 will be along I'm sure. I have not shot or reloaded a whole lot of 45.
    When I chrono'd small pp against large pp reloads I could not see a difference when using the same powder/charge/proj. weight/ o.a.l.
     

    Leo

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    I have reloaded a lot of small primer .45acp cases. None were crimped in. Some of the Winchester "NT" (non toxic) ones have a huge flash hole. I do not use those. I use the ones with a normal sized flash hole. Seems like a lot of them are Speer.

    As far a powder charges, I do not change them and they chrono with similar numbers. I did have a light, bullseye load with Clays powder that was irregular. Normal charges of AA #5 , TightGroup, WW 231, Unique, Hodgdon Universal, etc all were fine

    When I first started,. the .38 spl was the king of indoor bullseye competition. There were "Match" primers that were only available in small pistol size. You could special order "Match" .45acp cases that were set up for the small primers, of course they cost a lot more.

    Not all 1911's hit the primer perfectly centered. Those pistols will have problems with small pistol primers. If your pistol hits pretty much center, they will work fine.

    Good Luck
     

    charley59

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    Have reloaded SP 45ACP brass and have not changed my powder charge. I haven't chrono'd any of the SP reloads to compare. Have NOT found any with a crimped in primer.
     

    88E30M50

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    I’ve done a bunch of SPP .45 and have never adjusted the load. None of my 1911s or Glocks have had issues running them due to offset FPs. One thing I like to do is to save a bunch of the cases, then I load those for winter shooting. When shooting at a snowy range, most of the brass gets lost and this is the perfect time for SPP .45 brass. Leaving that stuff on the range does not make me feel bad like it does when I leave .45 LPP brass behind.
     

    Beowulf

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    I make no changes to the load data, used to buy the small primer brass cheap because no one else wanted it.
    Yup same here, on both counts. Other than finding the primer pockets more finicky for some reason, I haven't noticed any difference to the LPP cases.

    Though, I'm regretting the SPP cases at the moment, since I happen to have a lot more LPP on hand, so I'd rather use LPP and save the SPP for my .38 and 9mm. Oh well, I'll pick up a few at a time and build a stockpile that way. People are still just throwing them away. A little sorting and a little tumbling, and it's free brass.
     

    BigRed

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    Step one: Get rid of SPP 45acp brass.

    Step two: Acquire no SPP 45acp brass.





    Stuff works fine....I got tired of separating the two for reloads and dealing with the occassional SPP that would get missed and trip up the press. Since then, no SPP 45acp anywhere in my stock.... and no regrets.
     

    2in1evtime

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    Step one: Get rid of SPP 45acp brass.

    Step two: Acquire no SPP 45acp brass.





    Stuff works fine....I got tired of separating the two for reloads and dealing with the occassional SPP that would get missed and trip up the press. Since then, no SPP 45acp anywhere in my stock.... and no regrets.
    Load it up and when you don't want to or can't pick up the brass then your not out your lpp brass:whistle:
     

    DadSmith

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    Oct 21, 2018
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    A couple questions about small primer 45 ACP cases.

    1) For those who use these cases, do you make any adjustments to the load data due to difference in primer size?

    2) Will once-fired cases of this type typically have crimped in primers or are they like traditional non-military primers?

    Thanks
    Should be no problems. You are only igniting 4-8gr of powder. It should be just fine. I use large primer, but I'm storing small primer cases away until I get enough to load up. I may ask for 500-1000 cases of SPP 45acp brass next time SugarCreekBrass has some on hand.

    So far I've not ran into primer crimped cases on large or small primed 45acp cases. 5.56x45 and 7.62x51mm almost always have crimped primers.

    On a side note. I'm running into SPP 10mm cases now as well.
     

    MrMunster

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    I remember reading an article in Shooting Times within the last two years on this topic. Pretty sure it was written by Lane Pearce. He ran objective testing and concluded he could use the same load data without issue.
     

    Bill2905

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    Should be no problems. You are only igniting 4-8gr of powder. It should be just fine. I use large primer, but I'm storing small primer cases away until I get enough to load up. I may ask for 500-1000 cases of SPP 45acp brass next time SugarCreekBrass has some on hand.

    So far I've not ran into primer crimped cases on large or small primed 45acp cases. 5.56x45 and 7.62x51mm almost always have crimped primers.

    On a side note. I'm running into SPP 10mm cases now as well.
    I ordered 1,000 of these (once-fired) from Northeast Shooting & Target and will have them by Friday. Was going to paste the link for the item but now they are sold out.

    Northeast Target & Shooting Supply
     

    rb288

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    Dummy me ran out of large pistol primers a while ago and trying to find them has been, difficult.
    I had a bazillion small pistol primers so I got some small primer 45avp cases and reloaded them.
    Using the same loads as the large primer cases, absolutely no difference in the accuracy, function, or anything else.
    I have used both, interchangeably, at the same time and noticed no differences.
    Since I have a bunch of large primer cases, I will continue to search them out.
    But in the meantime, I can reload with small and not miss a beat.
     

    ScouT6a

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    A couple questions about small primer 45 ACP cases.

    1) For those who use these cases, do you make any adjustments to the load data due to difference in primer size?

    2) Will once-fired cases of this type typically have crimped in primers or are they like traditional non-military primers?

    Thanks
    Typically, you don't find straight walled pistol brass with crimped primers. The working pressures are not high enough to be of concern.

    No need to adjust data on .45 ACP, between SPP and LPP.
     

    999cs

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    When I found out about how some ammo makers starting switching to the SPP, I started separating them out from the rest. For now I have just set them aside. I guess when I eventually run out of LPP brass I can reload them, but trying to keep the SPP's for my 9mm stuff.
     
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