Small rifle Primers

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Last Post 23 September 2022

Standard Member

alco posted this 20 September 2022

I loaded 50 rounds of 38 special using SRP. 48 of them fired with no problems. Two of them did not. The first one required one additional strike and the second one required 4 additional strikes before it fired. I was using my 686. The forty eight that fired OK had good deep firing pin strikes. The two that didn't had very light dents in the primers. What would cause a gun to have normal strikes and then all of a sudden two light strikes ?

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CBA Member

Eutectic posted this 23 September 2022

You did not specify single action or double action. The double action hammer fall is shorter and less energy. Single action may fire SRP and double action may fail. I have seen this in both S&W and Ruger revolvers. In the S&W the hammer spring tension screw at the base of the grip frequently works loose, slowly decresing hammer energy. I tighten mine and use Loctite to prevent this.

My single action Ruger Blackhawk will fire SRP every time, plenty of energy.

Primers vary in cup thickness/hardness and there is some variation in different lots of the same primers. Federal SPP primers have a reputation for softer cups, I don't know it this is true of Federal SRP.

Steve

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CBA Member

SkinnerD posted this 23 September 2022

I have an old Rossi M98 38Sp with a strong hammer spring. It will shoot Federal SPP fine.. it fails to detonate up to 20 % of Winchester SPP on a bad day. I would hate to have to feed it the harder cup SRP of any make. Talking to older guys than me at the range, most of them will not use Winchester SPP for that reason. If they had to use small rifle primers I suspect they would just up and quit. So I guess the real answer is your gun is designed to shoot SPP not SRP. Of course you can probably mod it to make it. But then you might expect pierced primers if you go back to SPP without reverting the mod. Primer supply sucks eh? Must be a biz opportunity right there...

John - New Zealand

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CBA Member

foesgth posted this 21 September 2022

When I tried SRP I had similar problems. They worked great in my '73 Winchester but I had results similar to yours in revolvers. I think the cups are just a bit too hard. Perhaps different brands may provide other results. I was using S&B primers. It would be interesting to know what brand the folks who have had success with this were using.

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CBA Member

Bud Hyett posted this 20 September 2022

A friend brought me a S&W Victory Model with a similar problem in double action. He was using factory ammunition.

Examination showed crud in the top of the trigger guard that interfered with the trigger pull. Cleaning this with bronze wool and Break-Free solved the problem. Also tightened the hammer spring a slight bit,

Then taught him the double-action grip.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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