I've got a couple of thousand large rifle and pistol primers but am low on small, which seem difficult to find. For sage rat and prairie god shooting next year I'm thinking of making brass for my 22BR, which uses small primers, out of 22-250 brass in order to use large primers. I'm happy with .222 velocities, which would be pretty low pressure in the BR case, and wondering if pistol primers would be a problem.

Any of yuou smart guys have a clue?

I could be wrong but I believe that large pistol primers max out at 40k psi and they are shorter in height. I drilled out a bunch of 375 socom brass, having the exact opposite problem as you, pretty sure they are rifle only now

I was shooting my Savage .243 today and for the loads I used CCI Large Pistol Primers with H380 and they shot great. I also use Small Pistol Magnum primers in my .218B with LiL' Gun and they also shoot great.

Hip

Answer to your primary question is, no.

unless your prepared to get real creative with your loads... no.
just my personal cut-off but 40-K is what I consider the ''safe zone'' for large pistol primers.
I do use a lot of large pistol primers in rifle loads with all sorts of calibers, but most of them are loafing along at about 2-K FPS or thereabouts.

the 22 cals are a little easier to get a bit more speed out of with the pistol primers, but I still limit the pressures down to that same 40-K zone.

you know maybe [shrug] maybe not,, But I ain't a fan of changing firing pins, or wiping hot gas particles out of my eyes.

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the firing pin having too much punch, but I'll start off slow.

My clue ? I don't think you will have any problems as long as you keep your pressures/velocities in the 222 range.

Large pistol primers are the same diameter as large rifle primers, but LPPs are about 9 thousandths shallower (.122 to .131), so not all rifle firing pins may reach them with enough umph to set off the cartridge. Conversely, LRPs in handgun cartridges may slam-fire if not seated deeply enough in the shallower pocket, and also have harder cups which may not set off with handgun firing pins. SPPs and SRPs are the same size and are much more interchangeable.

We do routinely use large pistol primers in black powder cartridges, due to the lower brsiance, however, not germane to your application. Just information.
The key is pressure and you will find out how far to go.