.45 acp

[IDPA Mike]

I bought my 1st 1911 today.
I also bought a case of .45 with the gun. It is On target ammo, which is reloaded ammo.
My question is, should I save the brass for reloading?
The 1st box I opened has small pistol primers.
I can only assume the whole 1000 rounds is small primers.
Is there a disadvantage to small vs. large for .45 ?
Thanks, Mike

 

[Golddiggie]

I've only seen .45 ACP rounds use large pistol primers. What brand cases are they?

If you don't want to save the brass, I'll take them.

 

[IDPA Mike]

I've only seen .45 ACP rounds use large pistol primers. What brand cases are they?

If you don't want to save the brass, I'll take them.

The ones I've seen are Winchester Federal and Speer, so far.

 

[Fixxah]

Save them but keep away from large primer brass. They don't play well together.

-tapatalk and Devin McCourty blow chunks-

 

[mferruccio]

Small primers are lead free, possibly the future of ammo production. I shoot both and can see no difference. As above, save them but keep separate.

 

[zbomb]

I've had a couple packs of Federal value pack that have used small primers. They seem to be the exception as most of the fed value packs I've seen are large primer.

 

[Greschner 4]

I bought my 1st 1911 today.
I also bought a case of .45 with the gun. It is On target ammo, which is reloaded ammo.
My question is, should I save the brass for reloading?
The 1st box I opened has small pistol primers.
I can only assume the whole 1000 rounds is small primers.
Is there a disadvantage to small vs. large for .45 ?
Thanks, Mike

What did you purchase? (and why?) Looking for one as well.

 

[willbdavis]

I used to have huge pile of small primer .45 ACP brass. It was all federal. Works fine as a reload using small pistol primers. That being said, it won't play well with large primer brass in your reloading process. Too much of a hassle for me. I got rid of it.

 

[radioman]

I have 2000 brass cases with small pistol primers waiting for reload. Also Ive fired over 1000 with spp that I reloaded. I think this is the way things are going. If the manufactures can save .05 cents a round and charge you the same price there going to do it. I find no difference in how they perform.

PS-- I've seen spp 45acp's in Federal, Speer and one other I can't remember.

 

[M1911]

Small primers are lead free, possibly the future of ammo production.

There are lead free primers (though rare). There are small pistol primers. I've never seen anything that indicates that small pistol primers are lead free.

 

[usp45ct]

I cant answer your question about the brass but I am curious to know what you bought for a 1911.

 

[NickW85]

No difference other than a WTF moment when your trying to put a large primer in a small primer pocket.

 

[herdbull]

The OnTarget ammo is really good quality and the brass is fine for reloading but make sure you sort your brass by primer size. I made the mistake of not sorting and it was a pain since the primers didn't fit and were too distorted to use in regular cases. Could have been worse and glad none of them blew up in my face.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Save it for reloading Mike. It shoots the same as large primer brass.

The trick is keeping it separate. For me, the small primer brass is a PITA because it's mixed in with my large primer brass and brings the reloading process to a screeching halt when a small pocket shows up over a large primer.

For clarification: The small primer .45 ACP brass from the factory comes with non-toxic (lead-free) primers. Not all small pistol primers are lead free. In fact, I've never seen non-toxic primers for sale by themselves, just in loaded ammo (I'm not saying they're not available, just that I haven't run across them).

 

[M1911]

The trick is keeping it separate. For me, the small primer brass is a PITA because it's mixed in with my large primer brass and brings the reloading process to a screeching halt when a small pocket shows up over a large primer.

Been there, done that, and cursed the evil that is small pocket 45 ACP.

For clarification: The small primer .45 ACP brass from the factory comes with non-toxic (lead-free) primers. Not all small pistol primers are lead free. In fact, I've never seen non-toxic primers for sale by themselves, just in loaded ammo (I'm not saying they're not available, just that I haven't run across them).

Thanks for the info.

 

[Chris.Cal]

I don't mind the .45 with small primer pockets. It's one less thing to have to switch over on the press when I do a caliber change. (providing I'm loading something with a small pistol primer already)

 

[IDPA Mike]

I cant answer your question about the brass but I am curious to know what you bought for a 1911.

S&W 1911 Pro series. 45 AUTO
it came with 8 mags , a dawson magwell and arched mainspring housing, grey pirahna g10 houge grips.

 

[highlander]

45 ACP brass that I've seen with small primers are Winchester,Federal,Blazer,CCI and Fiocchi. I load both for both types of primer and no real hassle other than keeping them seperate.

 

[drgrant]

If you have small primer .45 brass separate it out and load it on its own run if you have enough to justify it. Use it as throwaway brass or trade it to a revolver shooter. (They like that stuff because supposedly small pistol primers light off easier. )

-Mike

 

[Gammon]

I spoke with a top revolver competitior who claimed that small pistol primers were easier to ignite and thus more reliable in a wheel gun with a custom trigger.

 

[SSW]

S&W 1911 Pro series. 45 AUTO
it came with 8 mags , a dawson magwell and arched mainspring housing, grey pirahna g10 houge grips.

Sounds like you have a nice 1911!! Enjoy it!!

 

[swampy]

Even if you don't plan on loading small primer 45 brass now I'd save it all. I'm guessing all 45 ammo will eventually make the switch to small primers as lead free primers are used more frequently.


Aren't the Tula primers supposed to be lead free? I don't know if I have any packaging left from the ones I tried but I seem to remember them being free of something.

 

[jasons]

Seems like the small primer .45 brass is getting more popular. I used to get a handful per batch at most (like maybe 2%,) but the most recent batch I sorted was probably close to 10%. With big names like Federal and Speer making it now, it's only a matter of time before everyone else starts to as well.

All in all I think it's a good thing. One less type of primers to find and stock. (.45 is the only large pistol cartridge I load at the moment.)

 

[Madisonian]

Interestingly to me, no one has hinted as to the performance of large versus small pistol primers. Is there really no difference? Performance? Cost?

 

[M1911]

Interestingly to me, no one has hinted as to the performance of large versus small pistol primers. Is there really no difference? Performance? Cost?

Cost for small pistol is a couple bucks less than large pistol.

 

[TonyDedo]

Hang onto it, if you collect enough you might be able to sell it or trade it for different brass.

Good luck!

 

[IDPA Mike]

What is a good bullet weight for target / IDPA completion ?
If I can find any

 

[Gammon]

200 gr is a good all around bullet. Cast lead H&G #68 SWCs are excellent and feed in most guns. I would stick with the round nose profile in coated and plated bullets. I have had a lot of feeding problems with plated SWCs. Round nosed bullets don't make those nice SWC "cookie cutter" holes, but they are, by far, the most reliable.

 

[M1911]

What is a good bullet weight for target / IDPA completion ?
If I can find any

I've always used 230 gr RN, usually plated as FMJ is stupidly expensive in comparison.

 

[Dan S]

What is a good bullet weight for target / IDPA completion ?
If I can find any

If you need to make a power factor, go with 230 grain bullets and a proper charge of Clays. It's very soft shooting. No power factor, 200 SWC with Clays.