Pistol Primers for .375H&H

[leonArmani]

I have recently ventured down the reloading rabbit hole over the past year and have been trying to learn as much as possible amongst component shortages.

I am finally looking to reload for my .375H&H but unfortunately all I have on hand at the moment is Win Large Pistol primers.
I am not looking to be unsafe and do something stupid but I have heard of guys using these primers in their 45-70 cartridges for black powder and slower burning smokeless powders (If I'm not mistaken)

Is it even possible to fit a Large pistol primers into a .375H&H case and load it safely? Does anyone have any experience doing this or something similar? Even low preassure loads for target shooting would be amazing if it could be done.
If my research proves that it cannot be done sadly I'll just hold out until I can find the appropriate primers.

Thank you to all who took the time to read my questions!

 

[NTX]

I won’t get into the burn rate discussion but I’d be concerned with piercing the cup as they are pretty soft in comparison

 

[Fryeguy]

Midsouth had cci large rifle magnum primers in stock when I looked yesterday.

Please do not interchange pistol primers in a rifle case.

Please look in reloading manuals for safety precautions etc.

Just because it worked for someone in another cartridge case with a reduced load and they posted or wrote about it make worth trying.

 

[SRvet]

Errrrrr ……. Bad idea !!

 

[Hogpatrol]

375 H&H max pressure 62,000 PSI, 45 Auto, 21,000, your call

 

[Hogpatrol]

Good read here from Sierra why not to use pistol primers in rifle cartridges.

Primer Substitutions - Sierra Bullets

www.sierrabullets.com

 

[Surgeon1]

Big Fat No!

There are rifle primers and pistol primers for a reason, good way to have your significant
other always "opening your Ketchup bottles forever".

 

[Hogpatrol]

^^^^This^^^ and my concern would be a FTF at a charging buffalo or other animal worthy of the .375.

 

[Houston Bill]

NEVER substitute LPP for LFP. I use Large Rifle Magnum primers in my 375 loads

 

[Wyatt Smith]

Large pistol primer are actually shallower than large rifle primers. Meaning it won’t reach the bottom of the primer pocket.

 

[93marlin]

Don't do it! No question about it!

 

[Bullthrower338]

^^^^^^^^^^
See Above

 

[WellThatsNotRight]

Never substitute alternative primers. There are a lot of counterintuitive rules in reloading that even seasoned reloaders may be ignorant of. We are fortunate that most guns are strong enough to withstand multiple over pressure events.

True Confessions

Historically, metallic cartridge handloaders have believed they have wide latitude in load parameters—bullet type and seating depth, propellant type and charg

gunsmagazine.com

“Plinking” loads have probably blown up more rifles than red-line barn burners. Always follow a published (in a book) recipe and don’t be afraid to double check with the publisher if you suspect a typo.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

There’s a slight dimensional difference between rifle and pistol primers. Also, pistol primers don’t have the horsepower that rifle primers have because they don’t need to ignite the same quantities of propellant.

 

[leonArmani]

Thank you to everyone who replied.
To stay safe I won't be Messing g around with the pistol primers and I will just wait until Large rifle Primers become available again, not worth being unsafe.
I would rather stay on the side of caution and reload properly with proper components and minimize risk.

 

[Fryeguy]

Sign up for in stock notifications at all the trusted primers sources (midway, Sinclair, powder valley, etc). For a while you wouldn’t get the email in time to order while they were in stock, so you could always check daily. Primers seem to be available more as of late, and the last email notification I received the primers were still there when I visited website. I had just purchased some in a local store also.

You can always try regular Large RIFLE primers in the 375 to use until RIFLE magnum primers come around. I have been doing this in my 9.3x74R. Some manuals call for standard rifle primers and one called for mag primers. I tried them both with same loads in 2-3 different bullet & powder combinations. The standard large rifle primer did better accuracy wise in two or three loads. Speed was obviously significantly faster with magnum primers, but groups opened up more. But they were both RIFLE primers.

Big WARNING: if you substitute large rifle primers and work up a load that is accurate, then switch to magnum primers you absolutely have to reduce your load before shooting them. If you are at max with standard primers, the max primers will obviously put that load above max pressures. So watch what you are doing and remember you eyes, face and hands are pretty important and useful things. These are all things that the safety portion of your reloading manuals cover. I am just a regular joe and I have 25-30 years of reloading experience, but that doesn’t mean crap since I don’t have a safety testing lab with high tech equipment. So follow the manuals

Also there are some powders that just need more to ignite than others. So they may not do well with standard primers. Large case volume and the qty of powder means a lot, so watch it.