Large pistol primers in the 44 special?

[singleaction]

I have been using 44 special loads consisting of CCI 300 primers, 8.0 and 8.2 grains of Allant Power Pistol powder, and Lyman Keith bullets for almost 20 years now. I got this load from a Brian Pierce article in Handloaded in 2004. I’m about out of the CCI primers, and can’t locate any right now (haven’t seen any on store shelves for years now). I know where I can get federal, Winchester and Remington large pistol primers. Anyone have experience with these primers and my loads? A lot of folks say that the brand of primer does not matter in such pistol loads. I probably can’t shoot well enough to notice the difference when I’m standing on my own 2 feet, for sure. I am pretty anal retentive, and I would like the best accuracy possible. However, in these lean times, I can accept good field accuracy over the absolute best accuracy. I don’t know if Brian Pierce used the CCI primers because they were the most accurate, or if he just had a billion of them on hand when he was developing loads. That’s the primer he used, so that’s the primer I’ve used. Any informed advice would be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

[Deleted]

I dont find much difference in them in TX. Cold weather and slow powders is where it matters more. I do find cci300 to balance my standard loads most consistently. Ive shot a lot of winchester lp and always found accurate but they are most varied on my chronograph. But cant tell any accuracy difference at my average shooting.

[bigmuddy]

I notice in a lot of Brian’s articles he uses CCI or Federal primers. If you have a source for Federals I would substitute them for your CCI’s. Personally I Prefer Federal to all others.

Dan

[x101airborne]

Only time I worry about primers is when I am loading for a floating firing pin weapon such as an AR. Other than that I substitute primers for what I have. May be a little obtuse of me but I am not loading rocks and dynamite loads either so I think I can get away with a 500 psi variance or so. Rarely can I tell a difference on target.

[bigbrowndog]

When I was competing I used a lot of components so saving some bucks here or there helped. I predominantly used CCI prior to competing for all my hunting use. Once I started competing I switched to Win for my handguns, always chronographing to ensure velocity was consistent. In the late nineties when I started shooting 3 gun and multigun I was using much more, and primers got scarce. I tried Wolf primers and found that they provided the same velocities as the CCI that was being used in my rifles. Plus they could be purchased for 20.00 less per 5k. I switched to Wolf for all my competition loads, saving my stockpile of CCI for hunting loads. Throughout the years I’ve chrono’d to check velocity, the Wolf always remained consistent with what CCI provided velocity wise, accuracy was unaffected by primer selection. The only change I ever noted was in velocity with Win, and Fed standard and magnum small pistol primers. I used this velocity change to my advantage whenever I needed softer shooting loads or more velocity for falling steel pistol matches. I am still running Wolf primers in some of my rifle loads, but I am down to my last few 5k packs. The only issue I have ever had with Wolf over CCI, Fed, Win, primers is they do not run as smoothly through a progressive reloading machine. Federal pistol primers are favored by revolver shooters who run very light triggers because they tend to have a softer cup and ignite easier. CCI handgun primers tend to produce a larger hotter flame and so ignite difficult powders easier. In years past reloading manuals stated to use “magnum” primers for all ball powders, I do not recall seeing this statement much these days.

Trapr

[bradshaw]

To quite composer, musician, singer James Brown, “Use what you got to get what you want.”

Personal experiment is a component of handloading. When I ran out of standard large pistol primers in Louisiana for loading fast and medium pistol powders, I substituted mag primers without hazard.
David Bradshaw

[jeffh]

Mag primers here as well... Works fine if you experiment. One load got better with a mag primer over the standard.

For so many years, it was difficult o find 44 Special guns, so I shot a lot of 44 Mag and, naturally, just had to see what it'd do and had a lot of Mag primers left when Ruger finally made the 44 Special I'd been waiting for (Flat Top). Sold the 44 Mags and had primers left.

I have always used CCI, but that was when we could afford to be picky, so I've used some Winchester too. I have some S&Bs I have yet to get into, so I can't comment on those except that they have been excellent in the form of SMALL pistol primers. I suspect they should be as good in LARGE.

[singleaction]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Since federal primers have soft cups, I’m going to give them a try. I often do poor man’s trigger job’s (lazy man. Really), so the Federal’s might make ignition more consistent. Idle speculation, but it’s as good a reason as any. I won’t resort to magnum primers unless I have no other options. They are hard to find around here as well.

[bigbore5]

I've heard of a poor man's trigger job by leaving one leg of the trigger spring unhooked. That doesn't effect hammer fall.

What kind of trigger job are you referring to?

[singleaction]

Nov 25, 2023 22:22:47 GMT -5 bigbore5 said:

I've heard of a poor man's trigger job by leaving one leg of the trigger spring unhooked. That doesn't effect hammer fall.

What kind of trigger job are you referring to?

That’s what I’m talking about. I know it’s a trigger return spring, but I wasn’t sure if it affected anything or not. 

[x101airborne]

Nov 25, 2023 22:36:53 GMT -5 singleaction said:

Nov 25, 2023 22:22:47 GMT -5 bigbore5 said:

I've heard of a poor man's trigger job by leaving one leg of the trigger spring unhooked. That doesn't effect hammer fall.

What kind of trigger job are you referring to?

That’s what I’m talking about. I know it’s a trigger return spring, but I wasn’t sure if it affected anything or not. 

Yes, it does have an effect because it is another addition to the trigger pull weight and still has to be defeated with each pull of the trigger. I know it is adding ounces to pounds but it still matters. One hint though, with the leg off of one side it can still rub on the hammer strut spring and "could" get in a bind. Slightly bend the leg out toward the grip when you unhook it. It wont hurt anything rubbing on the grip and can still be bent back when you want to return it to position.

[singleaction]

Nov 26, 2023 10:08:40 GMT -5 x101airborne said:

Nov 25, 2023 22:36:53 GMT -5 singleaction said:

That’s what I’m talking about. I know it’s a trigger return spring, but I wasn’t sure if it affected anything or not. 

Yes, it does have an effect because it is another addition to the trigger pull weight and still has to be defeated with each pull of the trigger. I know it is adding ounces to pounds but it still matters. One hint though, with the leg off of one side it can still rub on the hammer strut spring and "could" get in a bind. Slightly bend the leg out toward the grip when you unhook it. It wont hurt anything rubbing on the grip and can still be bent back when you want to return it to position.

Thanks for the advice!

[sixshot]

Sometimes a chronograph can be your friend when changing primers, most times it doesn't make a difference unless you are shooting top end loads. Every competition revolver shooter I ever knew of shot Federal primers. My guns wouldn't set off any other primer.

[singleaction]

Nov 26, 2023 17:11:56 GMT -5 sixshot said:

Sometimes a chronograph can be your friend when changing primers, most times it doesn't make a difference unless you are shooting top end loads. Every competition revolver shooter I ever knew of shot Federal primers. My guns wouldn't set off any other primer.

I think I’ll get me one and try it out.


I love Federal 205M primers for my small rifle primer brass, and 155M for magnum pistol. Since Federal’s parent company was bought by a foreign (Czech) company last month, I’m thinking about investing in a lot of Federal primers. I imagine it will be business as usual for all of the Vista Outdoors subsidiaries, but you never know.

[bigbore5]

Yeah. Look at what a mess they're making out of Colt!