Just found some remington primers and I have a few ?'s. What is the difference between a 1.5 and a 5.5? They are both marked small pistol so Im confused. Thanks

1-1/2 = small pistol standard
5-1/2 = " " magnum

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0003182210751a.shtml

Great...the wife called me and said they had primers so I had her grab the maximum rationed amount [400] of small pistol primers std. not magnum. I needed 1.5's! Shat. What do they use for a lg pistol magnums? Sm Rifle primers? Also what calibers use small pistol magnums? Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Al James:
Great...the wife called me and said they had primers so I had her grab the maximum rationed amount Thanks!

"RATIONED"? where do you live?

Oregon-These Remingtons are the first primers of any make that I have seen in probably 6 months or so. I know it sucks.

Al,

Only caliber I use small pistol magnums is for the 357 Mag.

My loads for 9mm, 40 S&W, and 38 Spl all use std. sm. pistol

9mm 40s&w 38 357 some of the most popular

quote:

Originally posted by vinnyg:

quote:

Originally posted by Al James:
Great...the wife called me and said they had primers so I had her grab the maximum rationed amount Thanks!

"RATIONED"? where do you live?

Vinny, the rationing is being instituted by dealers. They're almost all out of primars, so when they get some in, they only allow customers to buy a set amount, so that more people can get some.

I was fortunate this week, after calling every day for weeks on end, one of the local shops got in some large rifle primers. Customers were limited to buying a maximum of 1,000 per customer per day. The store got 25, 000 primers in. I went in and bought the limit one day, and went back the next morning to buy the daily limit again, so I now have 2,000 large rifle primers.

My problem is I only have a little over 100 large rifle magnum primers, so I still need to get them when they finally come in.

Al, I had the same question, as I just did the same thing - small pistol primers have been hard to find in central Virginia.

However, check this thread out, currently on p. 6 otf this forum, with last post on July 8.

[URL=https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2511043/m/5521055211]

can I use small MAG pistol primers

I think it will ease your mind. Sounds like downloading slghtly will head off problems.

I'm taking my reloads to the range Tuesday, and will report if there are any problems.

I wouldn't worry at all about using regular small pistol primers. I've been reloading pistol cartridges since the early 1950s...mostly in the .357 Mag, 9m/m Luger, and .38 Super.

I have NEVER used a magnum small pistol primer in all those years, and have never had ignition problems, primer leaks, or any of that stuff...and my powder charges came from the old recommendations of Elmer Keith who, as some may recall, wasn't exactly a pussy when it came to tipping the powder horn.

There's nothing wrong with the maggie primers, I just never bothered to buy them.

As I also loaded many, many .38 Special and .38/44 rounds, I just used the regular primers in all of them, magnum and non-magnum alike.

Small mag pistol priemrs re really only needed for certain powders. Slow ball pwoders like AA#9 & H110 really need a mag primer. There is as much as 100fps drop off in vel. if you don;t use the mag primer w/ those powders. So I only use them for heavy 357amg & 357sig loads. You can use mag primers std. powders, but you may want to reduce the charge 3%-5% to get approx. tha same vel./pressures. It is very powder specific though.