Federal Small Pistol Magnum Primers #200

Small Pistol Magnum Primers

I’ve been using small pistol magnum primers in 38 Special for my 2.7-3.0g target loads of red dot, bullseye, wst, etc. for more than 20 years. This is because I was also loading 357 mag rounds and didn’t want to deal with two different primers. When I shot double action with my Python, other brands of primers didn’t always go off. That’s why I switched to Federal primers in the first place. Back when the internet was just getting started. Some people say that when using a mag primer, you should drop back a couple or a few tenths of a grain of powder. I don’t know because I never use regular primers for.38 caliber.

The small pistol magnum primers are my favorite primers for 9mm and 38 mid competition loads.

When I use a chronograph to compare them to small pistol magnum primers, I always get smaller ES and lower SD.

The max speed is either the same or a bit lower, which is interesting.

These are NOT the maximum loads or even close.

been able to find many Fsp standard primers, but have located small pistol magnum primers.

Is there any reason to avoid using the magnum primers with reduced .38 Special or reduced .357 loads?

I had a small herd of these in the closet back from the last component shortage. So I decided to start loading them in my .40 minor loads. The targets and steel plates can not tell any difference. I always use magnum primers in my .38 special loads.