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Old December 3, 2013, 03:54 PM   #1
Gray Ghost
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45 acp SPP v. LPP

Is any adjustment needed when using SPP in 45 acp loads? The loading manuals I have only show data using LPP's.

Thanks.
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Old December 3, 2013, 05:17 PM   #2
Nick_C_S
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Speer #14 reads: "In the past rew years, a number of factory 45 Auto cartridges were fitted with small primer pockets for lead-free priming. There is no safety hazard in reloading these cases with standard primers but the loads here (in the manual) were developed with standard large pistol primers. A small primer should have no trouble igniting a 45 Auto charge but may produce slightly less pressure, something to keep in mind with loading target loads."

That's all I know. Myself, I segregate my SPP brass. They're processed and ready for reloading. But I have no plan on doing so. So I'm not using them; but I'm not throwing them away either.
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Old December 3, 2013, 05:22 PM   #3
serf 'rett
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I'm with Nick_C_S thus far. Sidelining the SP 45 Auto brass until I get enough to justify loading.

Everything I've read has indicated there is little difference; i.e., many folks load them the same.
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Old December 3, 2013, 06:14 PM   #4
Misssissippi Dave
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I have found only slight differences in speed when loading the cases with a spp. For range use or general plinking I use the same load for both. I do add .1 grain of powder to my load when using them for competition. I don't want to be caught short on making the power factor. You do need to keep the two separated prior to loading.
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Old December 3, 2013, 07:31 PM   #5
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Thanks for the info. So far I've only come across Blazer brass with small primer pockets, are there many others?
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Old December 3, 2013, 07:44 PM   #6
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Some Win. brass has it, some Fed to I believe. I've loaded up the SPP cases and found no discernible differences in performance. I do not shoot handgun competition, just paper, so I'm good to go. I've only used three powders in my 1911, LPP or SPP: Unique,Clays and Universal.
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Old December 3, 2013, 09:00 PM   #7
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Some of the newer Blazer brass, WIN NT, and Federal Champion are the first ones that come to mind. Federal Champion is popular at Walmart. I believe there are a couple of others but they don't come to mind right now.
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Old December 3, 2013, 11:39 PM   #8
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Small primer .45

I picked up about 200 SPP cases at the range, and put them aside. My supply of large primers is dwindling, and they are very hard to find. However, I was able to pick up 5000 Tula small primers from Powder Valley. Loaded the cases with SPP and found no significant difference in performance. Now I can continue shooting .45 without worrying about running out of primers. Others have complained about these cases, but I view them as a savior.
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Old December 4, 2013, 06:40 PM   #9
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Like BigCheese, a few months back, I was glad I had SP .45ACP brass, because SP primers were all I could find. While I had a good stock of both SP and LP primers, I didn't want to use something I couldn't replace. The SP .45ACP brass gave me something to feed those hungry 1911s. Now it is a moot point since primers have come back around, but I still load both with the same loads and they seem to shoot the same.
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Old December 4, 2013, 07:39 PM   #10
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Indeed they do. There is NOTHING wrong small primer .45 cases. As I've said before; if no one wants them, I'll take 'em.
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Old December 4, 2013, 07:48 PM   #11
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I like the versatility of using either primer with the same load, may have to stock up on more spp's....
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Old December 5, 2013, 10:26 PM   #12
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Old December 6, 2013, 09:47 PM   #13
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I prefer the SPP 45's as I also load 9mm.
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Old December 6, 2013, 11:32 PM   #14
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Out of the 123 .45 ACP cases I got as range brass, 7 of them had SPP. They were split between Winchester, Federal and Speer. Since I clean the primer pockets, it is easy for me to see which ones have the SPP...the LPP cleaner brush just does not fit in it. Simple, but works for me.
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Old December 7, 2013, 08:19 AM   #15
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Do ya'll see a trend, i.e, spp brass is more widely used now?
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Old December 7, 2013, 09:19 AM   #16
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The majority of .45 brass is still using large primers. Non-toxic types of ammo will normally be loaded in cases with small primers. There are only a few others being loaded this way now. The majority of people reloading this caliber prefer to use large primers since that is the way it has been done for a vary long time.

I think it may take a very long time before you would ever see this caliber switched over to small primers by everyone. I doubt there will ever be a shortage of large primer brass in my life time. It is times like we have seen over the past year, when I'm glad there are both types available. When primers are in short supply, it is good be still be able to load some ammo with either type of primer so long as you have a stock of both types of cases on hand.

I'm currently getting low on small primer brass. I use them a lot when I am loading for matches where I am likely to not recover much or any of my brass. This is one of the main reasons I switched to shooting 9 mm in one type of match. It may be time to shoot a few more boxes of factory Federal Champion just to have the brass to reload.

.45 brass is normally lost long before it ever wears out. I have tossed very few cases I felt were no longer good to load again.

I can see if you load several different pistol calibers and they are all using small primers the small primer .45 brass may be the preferred type to use. This way you only need to stock one primer size. When you use a progressive press, you don't have to change the primer feed either. There are always positive things about many changes if you look for them.
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