Rem 5 1/2 Primers for .380, 9mm ?

[zivadog]

Question Guys,

I accidently purchased some Remington 5 1/2 primers instead of 1 1/2 as intended. Did not notice this until I got home with them Seems that Remington does not mark the box as these primers being magnum primers.

Any one using the 5 1/2's for .380 and 9mm ?, these are the only rounds that I am loading at this time.

From my research seems to say that the primers are not necessarily hotter, they just have thicker cups to prevent piercing the cups and flowing for the larger higher pressure calibers. Some reading I have done seems to indicate that some folks think these are actually hotter primers ..... Did notice that the fine print on Rem 1 1/2 primers says not to use with .357 mag, etc

I tried to search the previous threads here on BS, not having much luck with the search feature.

Note: I haven't loaded anything with the 5 1/2's yet and everything I am loading is cast bullets in light loads for target and plinking.

Zivadog - Chris

 

[zivadog]

Update on the 5 1/2 Remington Primers.

I loaded 10 .380 rounds with some of these primers, just light target loads to check to see if I could use. Made a trip to Precision and found the following

I fired 5 from the old Beretta mod 84 and 5 from the LCP.

2 out of the 5 did not go off in the Beretta and 1 of these would not fire even when rechambered and fired again.

In the LCP 1 of the 5 would not light off, even when tried a second time.

Compared to some Rem 1 1/2, the strikes looked like they were not as deep on the 5 1/2's, would lead me to believe that what I have read about the cups being thicker on the 5 1/2's is valid, and that they were intended for .357 and the larger cartridges that use a small pistol primer. This can sort of be verified that the box for the 1 1/2 primers has a statement in small print about not using the 1 1/2 for .357 mag, etc.

Without a chrono or other way to test, I didn't notice any difference in how hot the loads were between identical reloads with the only difference being the primer, only indication was the hits left in the primers. They felt like soft target loads in both cases.

Wish that Remington would put something about "Use for magnum" or something to the effect on the box, would keep people from buying these for the smaller loads.

Maybe I helped someone else to avoid accidently buying these primers for the smaller pistol rounds.

Zivadog