[thaddy1978]

I have 38/357 (I shoot both). Went to Cabela's yesterday and told the guy I wanted small pistol primers and when he handed me the box of 1000, I didn't even notice the "MAGNUM" in red letters on the box till I got home. Can I substitute 500 for 550's for both 38 and 357? Or should I try to send them back? I am within close driving distance.

 

[Mooseman684]

357 should use Magnum primers , You can use them on .38 special but you may have to adjust your powder charge down if you are using Max loads.
Ammo used in Cold weather works better with Magnum primers...

 

[gandog56]

What powder were you using with the .357 mag loads if you weren't using magnum primers?

 

[thaddy1978]

What powder were you using with the .357 mag loads if you weren't using magnum primers?

Green Dot, Unique, and Long Shot.

 

[samuel]

^Any one of the three can be used with standard primers under most shooting conditions.Look in the load book and see what is reccomended.If you have one type and the load is for the other,adjust powder chg 1 to 2 grns to compensate and check for pressure signs.

 

[Tracer]

sounds like a good excuse to go buy some 500's and keep the 550's for the 357 mag loads that call for them.this is how you become a 'real' reloader lol

 

[mikld]

sounds like a good excuse to go buy some 500's and keep the 550's for the 357 mag loads that call for them.this is how you become a 'real' reloader lol

I think the same way! A good excuse to go back to the candy store and buy more stuff...

If you want to use magnum primers with .38 Spec. loads, back off a bit (I'd go 5%) on the load. I have an Alliant reloading manual in front of me and all .357 Magnum loads listed use CCI500 primers (small pistol standard). Bullseye, Unique, Power Pistol, Bluedot, and 2400 pushing everything from 100 grain to 170 gr. Speer bulelts.

 

[Mooseman684]

my Speer data for .38 spec. says to use Magnum primers for the following powders...for regular and +P loads...
H110
296
2400
630
Blue Dot
HS5
HS6
HS7

 

[Bookman]

I always keep a few thousand magnum primers around for loading .357's with 2400 powder, but during the recent primer shortage I had to use magnum pistol primers for my .38 loads. They worked just fine. I had zero problems with magnum primers.

 

[thaddy1978]

my Speer data for .38 spec. says to use Magnum primers for the following powders...for regular and +P loads...
H110
296
2400
630
Blue Dot
HS5
HS6
HS7

So it would stand to reason, then, that 357 would most certainly use magnum primers for those powders as well. I would love to go back and buy the 500's, but money is a bit on the tight side. Cabela's does not allow returns on ammo or primers. Will a magnum primer do a better job at burning all the powder, vs. a small pistol primer. I know that someone said that magnums are better when shooting in the cold...Also, will magnum primers make a difference when shooting a 357 when it comes to powder position in a case/round?

 

[Mooseman684]

Yes, the .357 Mag uses mag primers for those too.
Magnum primers have a tad bit bigger flame for better ignition of Slow powders and better ignition in cold temps too...But they will work just fine for any powder in reality.Since pistol powders are pretty fast normally and the cases arent full, it should give a better and cleaner burn in the long run.

 

[DaTeacha]

Keep in mind if you are getting real picky about things and pushing the envelope, not all magnum primers are created equal. All my manuals specify which primer, both brand and number, is used to develop the data. Changing brands from published data is another reason and time to back off a bit and see what happens.

 

[thaddy1978]

Keep in mind if you are getting real picky about things and pushing the envelope, not all magnum primers are created equal. All my manuals specify which primer, both brand and number, is used to develop the data. Changing brands from published data is another reason and time to back off a bit and see what happens.

But what I'd probably end up doing, is starting all my loads at what Lee does in his manual...keep loads at roughly 10% under max, keeping things safe.

 

[Tracer]

remember to not go under the starting charge, I would use the 550's since money is tight. I would take the starting load data for a 38 load, try some,less than say two cylinders 12 or 16 maybe 14 on a 686 plus lol. in your 357, then you can tell us how much if any pressure signs you experienced as you worked your way to max. get busy were waiting ...lol

 

[thaddy1978]

remember to not go under the starting charge, I would use the 550's since money is tight. I would take the starting load data for a 38 load, try some,less than say two cylinders 12 or 16 maybe 14 on a 686 plus lol. in your 357, then you can tell us how much if any pressure signs you experienced as you worked your way to max. get busy were waiting ...lol

Ya know, speaking of pressure...I was depriming a bunch of 357 and was noticing some fairly flat primers. While most were simply flattened, a few looked sorta mushroomed. I thought, wow, I need to lay low on that powder. Then I got to looking in my Lee book. It states that while that could be a sign of high pressure, it could also be a sign of fairly soft primers and give a false negative. With these loads, I don't recall the exact numbers, but I was shooting plated bullets so I had to stay away from the maximums anyway, in order to keep the jackets from fraging on their way out the barrel. I didn't notice any increase in recoil, in fact, after shooting 150 or so (filled with Unique), and then going to some old factory Remington Super X (or whatever it was called), that latter felt like I was shooting a cannon in comparison. Also, of my reloads, roughly half had flattened primers, whereas many of the others had very rounded edges. What gives? Or would this be a better question for another thread?

 

[Mooseman684]

The reason I posted Speer Data is that they specify CCI 500 or 550 primers.

 

[Tracer]

in my experience you will notice ,in this order, recoil, blast , sticky empty cases and then funny looking fired primers.also in mho 550's in a .38 load fired in a .357 rated revolver is just a waste of magnum primers not dangerous.

 

[DaTeacha]

Severely flattened primers are usually a sign that something isn't quite kosher, but it's hard to tell what if all you have to work with is the appearance. When you start to get cratering around the firing pin indent, it's time to rethink things, but first examine the gun to see if the pin is a tight fit in the hole from which it protrudes.

With insufficient pressure, you can have the primer back out and it will jam up the action in a revolver. With normal pressure, the case comes back immediately after the primer and reseats it, so to speak. With high pressure, the primer cup continues to be pushed back after the case is back, the primer is fully reseated, and the firing pin is still forward, so primer metal flows around the pin, leaving you the "funny looking primers" or cratering.