[Cap'n Dex]

I got a new Remington R1 pistol yesterday, and on my way home, I stopped and picked up a box of Federal 230gr. FMJ ammo from walmart. The guy in sporting goods said it was pretty good stuff. I think I may have run some thru my Sig .40 at one point, I don't remember it being anything noteworthy either way. But I got home, and opened the box, and began loading my mags. The first thing I noticed was the bullets had small dents. I don't remember ever seeing FMJ bullets that haven't been fired looking like that. I am skeptical at this point. I went out, and shot some shots. I found a bullet in the backstop that was torn up pretty bad. The backside of the bullet was still intact, but it was also covered in copper. Ok, I'm thinkin these bullets are not FMJ but just plated. That would explain the little dents and such. The next thing I noticed was how the cases were primed. Small pistol primers. I've never reloaded for .45 acp but I sort of remember .45 having large pistol primers. What would be the motivation for using a small pistol primer? cost? I do plan on reloading for .45, would these cases even be worth keeping for that purpose?

 

[pdawg]

They will work fine for reloading, but it is a PITA keeping them separate from the LP primed brass. I give all my SP brass to a buddy who is retired and has all the time he needs to mess with them.

 

[Charlie Petty]

Since Federal and Speer are now both owned by the same company the odds are that the bullet is one of Speer's TMJ plated bullets so the copper may be a bit thin on the nose

There seems to be a trend toward using small primers in some .45 ACP loads. That started several years ago and is a cost saving step. It doesn't seem to hurt anything

 

[William R. Moore]

At one point, small primers indicated non-toxic ammunition. The specialized primers were only being made at that time in small pistol. If the ammo isn't labeled as some type of NT or "clean fire", they may have discovered that in this day and age, with current materials, large pistol primers aren't really needed.

 

[t-star]

the b/s for the justification of going to the small primer was that it produced a "hotter" flame, burning the powder more completely- b/c i shoot both 9 and 45, i've switched my 45 press over to sp took all of a couple of minutes, and i know most of the brass i p/u is mine- no havimg to worry over headstamps, etc

 

[Cap'n Dex]

That's actually not a bad idea, going all small pistol primers. Then I could just buy small pistol. I don't think I'd throw anything away tho, because I remember when small pistol primers were impossible to find, and large pistol was the only kind of primer you could get for anything. Just have to keep em separate, I suppose! Thanks, guys!