Magnum primers

J

Jeryray

New member
I ordered 5,000 primers from Powder valley. Thought I ordered Federal match, guess I was not paying attention. I received Magnum match.

Don't know what to do now.

These are for use in (9mm and .38)

Help?
 
The 38 won't mind because of the long case. Just knock your loads down 10% and work back to matching velocity. The 9 mm may experience some velocity consistency issues from the primer unseating the bullet before the powder is burning well, but check with your chronograph to see if the velocity SD is actually worse or not. Sometimes it's actually better. The 10% reduction applies to the 9 mm, too, though I've never actually seen more than 5% charge difference and sometimes it's backward due to the bullet unseating and you actually need more powder to achieve the same velocity with the magnum prime. Get out your chronograph and see.
 
Thanks for the reply, I would much rather exchange them, but don't know if is possible, with all the hazmat rules. I am in New York City...
 
If it is a mistake, call Powder Valley and see what they say....

Or maybe you are better off buying a s&w 357 and chalking it up as a learning experience!
 
My LGS did a swap for some new primers I couldn’t use. Worth a call to see if they’d help you out
 
Jeryray,

Exchanging them will be costly, if it's even possible. What you do is: go and buy yourself some HS-6 powder which is suitable for both .38 and 9mm and pretty much requires a magnum primer to burn well.

Don
 
Yup, HS-6 loves a mag primer, and is an excellent powder for both calibers.
Go back to starting data, and work up, HS-6 really smooths out twords the upper end and will be very consistent with the mag primers.
 
They should be fine, and might possibly work better. (Federal small rifle primers work too. I used to use them in everything) But like the others said, you'll need to work up the loads again because the pressures will be different; probably higher.
 
Mag primers.

I personally found a 25 fps difference between reg primers and mag. If you have a chronograph take the max and min load and find the load in the middle. Load up 20 reg primer and 20 mag.

Run them over the chronograph and check the speeds. If there is no significant change in velocity or pressure signs. Load them up.


Dan...
Use LRMP in 45/70 for all my loads. (LRMP was much easier to find during the shortage.)
 
"...pretty much requires a magnum primer..." Not according to Hodgdon. CCI 500's used to test their 9mm and .38 Special HS-6 loads. Not that it really matters. The worst that can happen is you might see slightly higher pressures. None of which will cause any grief.
I'd still be inclined to call Powder Valley. As they mucked up your order.
 
"...pretty much requires a magnum primer..." Not according to Hodgdon. CCI 500's used to test their 9mm and .38 Special HS-6 loads. Not that it really matters. The worst that can happen is you might see slightly higher pressures. None of which will cause any grief.
I'd still be inclined to call Powder Valley. As they mucked up your order.
Click to expand...

Just because you can use something, doesn't necessarily make it a very good choice. There are several handgun powders besides HS-6 that benefit from using a magnum primer, among them W296/H110 and IMR4227. Oh, and Jeryray admitted he "was not paying attention", so I hardly see how Powder Valley "mucked up" the order.

Don
 
Just because Hodgdon uses standard primers in their testing doesn't mean it's the best primer for the job. They use magnum primers for testing all 357 powders, inlcuding Clays, HP-38 and others that have no need for a magnum primer.

HS-6 works best with a magnum primer. Proven by those of us who actually use it.
 
I concur w/ Hammerhead and USSR. HS-6 is my favorite "do it all" powder in 9mm, 38 +p and up to medium power 357 Magnum loads.

It just runs better with a magnum primer, prefers heavier bullets too, and if in a revolver a firm roll crimp also makes for a more consistent SD and ES.
 
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