Small pistol Mag primers in std loads?

[velocette]

I have 900 SP mag primers for use in loading .357 magnum pistol ammo. Since I rarely shoot or reload for the .357 mag, I was wondering how much of a difference is there between mag primers and std primers.
Essentially I cannot find any std (or magnum) primers and want to use the mag primers to load reduced power .38 spl ammo. (essentially 3.2 gr of bullseye with 158 gr lead SWC) with mag primers. Any experience out there doing this??

Roger

[BillM]

I swear that I have seen this question on every forum out there in the last
month! There must be a BUNCH of mag pistol primers out there.

Yes you can. With your bullseye load, you will probably see a velocity
increase of 10-15 fps. You may also see your extreme spread shrink,
because of the hotter ignition from the mag primers.

[That'll Do]

The basic answer is, yes, you can use magnum primers instead of standard ones, provided that you take the appropriate steps.

The thread here touches on what to do when you switch primers (reduce your load slightly and work back up, like you should do any time a component is changed): http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...d.php?t=357279

[Stargazer]

I swear that I have seen this question on every forum out there in the last
month! There must be a BUNCH of mag pistol primers out there.

When the rush for ammo and components started the regular small primers went first. All that was left at the gun shop when I went by was some small Magnum pistol primers. So I got some just so I would have "something" to reload with. I think this is why we are seeing a lot of these posts this past month or so. I load a lot more lower powered practice loads than I do hot ones that "need" magnum primers. I will heed the advice and reduce the load when using these.