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Large or Small Primers? What's the difference?

RickAnderson

RickAnderson

Custom
I had made a bulk purchase of .45ACP, Federal American Eagle. I noticed all of these rounds came with a much smaller primer than all the other brands of .45ACP that I have.

By bigger/smaller primer, I mean the diameter of the primer cup.

Why? Is there an advantage or disadvantage to the size of the primer cup?

f796f2ccd5d24c15790edb5c3fd47844_1.jpg
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It seems to only matter if you reload.
You must keep the large and small primer cases separate especially if you use a progressive reloading press.

This is as good an explanation as I have seen:

www.shootingtimes.com

Fact or Fiction: Small vs. Large Pistol Primers in .45 ACP - Shooting Times

I don't know if you've noticed, but several of the major ammunition companies are loading some of their .45 ACP ammo using Small Pistol rather than Large Pistol primers.
www.shootingtimes.com www.shootingtimes.com
 
RickAnderson said:
I had made a bulk purchase of .45ACP, Federal American Eagle. I noticed all of these rounds came with a much smaller primer than all the other brands of .45ACP that I have.

By bigger/smaller primer, I mean the diameter of the primer cup.

Why? Is there an advantage or disadvantage to the size of the primer cup?

f796f2ccd5d24c15790edb5c3fd47844_1.jpg
422753870efb87aed68dc8f1a7579122.jpg
Click to expand...
i had this very same discussion at the mom/pop gun/bait store i hang out at. the reloader and another customer who reloads said that basically Federal "experimented" with small primers, for whatever unknown Godly reason (long before the covid pandemic) . they just kept (and still do) make ammo with small primers, AND large primers as well.

i know, i have BOTH types of Federal ammo on hand.

i reload my own ammo as well, and when i go to the range, i deduct new ammo out of my inventory, so i already know what size primer of Federal i am taking.

as a result, when i sweep up the brass (mine and others at my port?), when i take it home, i MUST separate the large from the small primers.

i clean and polish them separately as well, and put them into separate containers. i DO NOT reload the small primed cases, BUT i want to keep them, "just in case" i cannot get large primers. any "overages" of small primed 45's, i toss them into my recycling bucket, so i am basically wanting to keep enough small primed cases that fit into a 2 pound coffee can. (then toss away the rest).

but only "the Gods" of Federal can really answer..."why on earth did you's guys do that"...?????
 
Perhaps they save $0.0002 with a small primer over a big primer, and that adds up over 100's of thousands of rounds? That is the way Corporations think....

I haven't noticed any difference in shooting, and I prefer Federal cause I have yet to suffer a dud with them, while I have had several with some of the cheap brands. They tend to be more powerful than the rival brands as well. My firearms seem to run more reliably with Federal than other brands.

Federal .45ACP has the highest Muzzle Velocity I have seen of all the popular brands.
Also 9mm seems to have the highest MV, with only Winchester offering 9mm NATO at the NATO MV. NATO hops up the 9mm, but its still short of a +P round.

To my surprise, Federal is one of the lowest MV's for 10mm. I went with Blazer 10mm that is one of the highest MV's, usually blazer is middle of the pack for MV.
 
RickAnderson said:
Perhaps they save $0.0002 with a small primer over a big primer, and that adds up over 100's of thousands of rounds? That is the way Corporations think....

I haven't noticed any difference in shooting, and I prefer Federal cause I have yet to suffer a dud with them, while I have had several with some of the cheap brands. They tend to be more powerful than the rival brands as well. My firearms seem to run more reliably with Federal than other brands.

Federal .45ACP has the highest Muzzle Velocity I have seen of all the popular brands.
Also 9mm seems to have the highest MV, with only Winchester offering 9mm NATO at the NATO MV. NATO hops up the 9mm, but its still short of a +P round.

To my surprise, Federal is one of the lowest MV's for 10mm. I went with Blazer 10mm that is one of the highest MV's, usually blazer is middle of the pack for MV.
Click to expand...
thing is though, they still have to produce brass shell casings in small primer pockets.

so in theory the cost of making the brass is the same, it'll be in the cost of machinery.

"They" (Federal) would have to either switch out each machine on the line from large to small primer pockets, or have a whole set up for each.

we can only go on assumptions at this time.

me personally, i could give 2 flips on primer size. i buy, i shoot, i reload, wash, rinse, repeat.
 
If you're reloading I'd get the spp only because they're more available. Watch out for flash hole size also, especially in RP headstamp cases (Remington). When depriving the standard pin size will be to big. Otherwise in 45acp there's go for it.
 
i use both small and large ..i dont set traps to log speed , but i have never had an issue with small primers in 45acp, except it requires me to change the primer tube on my dillion machine for the cases with small primers.
i segregate the cases of 45 acp into two piles, a small primer and large primer. I bet i have 20 containers of large primer cases versus 2 with small primer cases
 
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