500+ Free Small Primer .45acp Brass

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uncle.45

New member
Hi, Guys!
I've seen a lot of SP.45acp bashing on forums, and I understand. I will always be a 1911 guy at heart!
That being said, I got over 500 pieces of SP Federal .45acp brass at the range today on top of my own brass that I always save.
Someone must have had a field day at Wally World, then gone out to shoot it all up. Probably kids.
I have decided to load it for plinking ammo just for giggles.
Without any bashing,(please) would you change your pet plinking load at all, or load it like usual, and go shoot it?
Should I expect any difference with a small primer other than going crosswise of 106 years of tradition that works?
Thanks everyone!
 
You might want to check and see if they are Berdan primed, if not, than you might
want to load just a few with (small) primers to check function with your (pet) load.
 
My pet load for 45 ACP (which also happens to be my all-time oldest pet load - 1985) is 5.0gn of W231 under a 200gn LSWC.

I would likely keep the recipe the same if I was to load it with SPP's. I would however, run 'em over a chronograph just to see how they actually perform (looking more for consistency, than actual velocity).

For the record - and not to bash - I keep my range pick up SPP 45 ACP brass. I prep them for reloading - as usual. But I have never loaded them. They are segregated and saved for the unlikely occasion where I may find myself shooting where I can't police my brass.
 
They are segregated and saved for the unlikely occasion where I may find myself shooting where I can't police my brass.
Click to expand...

Same here. I was about to throw my small-primered brass in the trash, but then the next weekend I did some shooting with cousins in a wooded area. I couldn't find back half my brass in the long grass, leaves, and weeds. So that's when I decided to go ahead and load up that small primered brass, and just save it to use for similar situations where I won't likely find it back.

I didn't bother to change my load for it, but I'm not picky about short range blastin' rounds. YMMV
 
This is a reloading forum, its not an opinion on cartridges.

Ask all the 45 ACP related questions you want.
 
I hate the small primered .45 brass. That said, I do what has been mentioned, save them until I have a hundred or so then load them for when I don't or can't retrieve them. Same load as with large primer, typically 4.8gr.231 with a 200 gr. SWC.
 
I have been switching over to small primer 45. I don't shoot that much 45ACP anymore but I still do occasionally. My pet load is within the standard deviation average of my SP results.

One of my range buddies loads 90% of his ammo but still buys factory loads just to compare with what he is loading. I have given him all of my LP ACP brass and he culls out any SP he get and saves it for me. I have just under 500 rounds of SP ACP which is about a years supply but I am always open to more.

The 45ACP and 44Mag are the only two LP pistol that I have now. I shoot the 44 even less than the 45ACP. The SP 45ACP makes for a quick change on the RL550 because I do not have to change the primer system out.
 
Just load up some pressure test rounds (10-20?), starting low and working back up (and possibly slightly beyond) where you're at now.
Test it. Go from there.
 
For reloading, I treat small primer and large primer cases the same. Using a 230 grain RN projectile, my range load comes right off of the Hogdgon load data website: 4.7 grains of 700-X.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol

I also use a 1.23" COL and a 0.468" case mouth diameter.

Thousands upon thousands of these handloads have been released down range.
 
What differences have you all noticed in your shooting when using a small primer? Is it an accuracy issue, velocity, recoil etc.?
 
They more than likely NOT Berdan primed.

No noticable difference.

If you don't want them you can always send them to me. I'll gladly make use of them.
 
Since I'm a beginner reloader, I'm gonna ask the stupid question, so please be easy on me. What is the difference between the small primer and large primer .45 cases, other than the obvious? Are they not the best for reloading, a lesser case or something? Holds less/more powder? Who makes them and what is the main reason they're made (small primer cases) opposed to large primer cases?
 
Zeroed said:
Since I'm a beginner reloader, I'm gonna ask the stupid question, so please be easy on me. What is the difference between the small primer and large primer .45 cases, other than the obvious? Are they not the best for reloading, a lesser case or something? Holds less/more powder? Who makes them and what is the main reason they're made (small primer cases) opposed to large primer cases?
Click to expand...
Mostly an annoyance, since .45 ACP has always had a large primer.

A guy will do like I did: I decapped all my range pickups, cleaned them, put them all in a big box with the rest of my once-fired brass, only to discover some small primered brass slipped in. Now I have about 2000 cases to go through to weed them out.
 
Every "real life", side by side test I've seen since small primed 45 ACP cases started showing up in reloader's stashes they are treated/loaded identically. The velocity difference I've read is 25-50 fps slower with small primers. I don't have enough small primed cases to reload a run, yet, but they will get my same load as my large primed brass...

I just might buy some to see for myself...

Later; I just ordered 100 small primed 45 ACP cases from Diamond K brass. I'll load up my two favorite loads with 200 gr LSWC and 230 FMJ and see what happens...
 
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Admittedly I haven't used any, won't knowingly buy any, nor pick up any small primer .45ACP cases. I simply don't see the point, though there must be one, for the makers, otherwise they wouldn't make them.

What is the plus side to them??? The only ones I can see are, #1) if you reload other pistol calibers, and ALL of them are small primer, I can see a reason to want small primer ACP cases to go along with them.

#2) the highly unlikely situation where you can get small primers, but not large ones.

Neither applies to me, and I doubt ever will, so the only thing they would do for me is screw up my loading process.
 
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