OK. Got the Lee Classic press... ordered my dies, tumbler, etc...

Searching through some load data for .38 & .357 I noticed some had listed using "small rifle" primers in their .357 loads.

Huh? I'd always assumed "large" & "small" pistol & rifle primers had dimensional differences. Is the designation more to do with the size of the jolt the primer delivers? I would guess smaller charges would want a smaller blast to set them off?

OTOH maybe a bigger primer might be good for shorter barrels, provided ya don't load to kaboom levels?

Just curious. I really have no intention of screwing around with anything close to hot. I'm going to be looking for a good target load that works in my gun & leave the home defense loads to Remington.:smokin:

Small and large refers to size.

Standard and magnum refer to their ignition charge.

I have been able to get great velocity from standard primers without pressure signs in pistols, even when using powders like H110.

Being new to reloading I do not think you should substitute a standard primer for a magnum primer or vice versa. Follow your load manuals, there comes a time when experimentation is nearly inevitable but it is not a good idea when the line between a gun and a grenade can be very small at times.

ETA: It is not so much the charge of powder that calls for the use of a certain primer, it is the powder or environment in which you are planning on using the powder.

all "small" primers are nominally the same size
large rifle primers are slightly taller than large pistol primers

"standard" and "magnum" refer to how hot the ignition charge is. A standard rifle primer should be hotter than a magnum pistol primer. This may vary among manufacturers, however. AFAIK, there is no quantified list of energy per primer, although that would be damn helpful.

Stick with what your manual tells you what to do, and cross reference one manual among others. What's worth more to you: a few extra hundred feet per second, or a gun that you know will not blow up?

"There are old reloaders, and bold reloaders, but no old, bold reloaders."

The guys using rifle primers in their .357s are probably loading fairly hot ammo.

For range/plinking ammo, I'd be using small pistol in everything... unless I found some small rife or small mag primers really cheap. Then I'd chop a few tenths of a grain off my load and work back up.

Speaking of small pistol primers...Who has them nowadays? I think I was able to find one source with ANY small pistol, and it was remington. Are they decent, or are most primers created equal?

http://www.wideners.com/

These guys are local to me, but will ship anywhere in the USA AFAIK. They seem to have wolf and some CCI in lately.

They've been so backlogged with internet orders since Nov 5, 2008, that they've shut down their face to face ops and hired a bunch of extra people just to deal with it. True story.

My .454 casull uses small rifle primers but it has an assload more case capacity than a .357 and it runs at a much higher pressure. I reload .357 also and have squeezed some snot slinging loads for them and have never required rifle primers. The difference between a small pistol mag primer and a small rifle would be much more than a few tenths. Is this published data, or something you read on a website?

Funny you bring this up. I was talking to my dad the other day and he mentioned that he has always loaded his .44mag using large rifle primers. I thought it was kinda odd, but I've shot a lot of his reloads and they seem to work fine. He does load them hot though.

Funny you bring this up. I was talking to my dad the other day and he mentioned that he has always loaded his .44mag using large rifle primers. I thought it was kinda odd, but I've shot a lot of his reloads and they seem to work fine. He does load them hot though.Large rifle primers and large pistol primers ARE different sizes and that practice should be discouraged. Small pistol and small rifle are the same size.

I've used SR primers in 357 for testing the hammer spring in my 357. They functioned flawlessly.

I do however recommend that you follow reloading published recipes before you start experimenting. You wanna get a feel for what you are doing so you know when you are trying to break your gun and not blowing it up out of ignorance

The OP was asking about .38/.357. I too am new to reloading and for this cartridge and the contradictions between small and magnum for this load are everywhere. One book says use magnum (think my lyman does), my lee book says never use magnum for any handgun (with one or two exceptions). How is new guy to know?

My first few loads I used magnum primers with titegroup (7.0grs) and lived to tell about it.

The OP was asking about .38/.357. I too am new to reloading and for this cartridge and the contradictions between small and magnum for this load are everywhere. One book says use magnum (think my lyman does), my lee book says never use magnum for any handgun (with one or two exceptions). How is new guy to know?

My first few loads I used magnum primers with titegroup (7.0grs) and lived to tell about it.

They can cause an overpressure situation that could be very dangerous depending on the load. The correct terminology is:

Small/Large
Pistol/Rifle
Standard/Magnum

Combine as necessary ie: small pistol magnum, large pistol standard, small rifle magnum.

Thanks for the replies.

AND for the good thoughts.:smokin:

Rest assured I have no intention of dumping somebody's "super-duper-pet-hyper-load into my gun. That includes messing around with non standard primers. Not really interested in max velocity. I'm more concerned with how close together I make those little holes in the paper. :D

I'm searching several different sources, including the Alliant website. I'm starting out with Bullseye because it seems pretty popular with both .45 ACP and .38/.357 shooters.

Surprisingly, the heaviest charge of Bullseye for .45 I've seen for a 230gr bullet is from Alliant. 5.7 grains...:eek: Most of the charts I've looked at go for about 5...

If it makes you feel any better, IRun ~3.7gr of red-dot in my .45 :laughing:

It makes a pound of powder last a LONG time. If I could only find some brass, I'd be set :shaking:

If it makes you feel any better, IRun ~3.7gr of red-dot in my .45 :laughing:

It makes a pound of powder last a LONG time. If I could only find some brass, I'd be set :shaking:

You must not be looking too hard cause I am seeing brass EVERYWHERE.

If it makes you feel any better, IRun ~3.7gr of red-dot in my .45 :laughing:

It makes a pound of powder last a LONG time. If I could only find some brass, I'd be set :shaking:

Brass ain't that hard to find and Red Dot is dirt cheap. if you buy the .lb then its like $16 per. a 1/2 keg or full keg brings it down to about $13 per

My personal 45 load is 20grain bullet over 5.3 grains red dot. very accurate. I could probably run it up 5.9 grains and be safe but its working just fine

My personal 45 load is 20grain bullet... :eek: :laughing:

:eek: :laughing:

Hey I was using my blackberry to post it so back off. Besides 20 grain bullets are the latest rage

I've found 200 grain bullets to be too cumbersome