that's what I figured.

they call it a dummy round to remind you that you were a dummy for not doing it right

question on the .38's for you guys. My crusty old man friend test fired some of the .38 I loaded for him. 4 of 9 did not fire. he showed them to me and it looks to me like light primer strikes. It's possible I made a mistake loading them, but i find it pretty hard to believe that I messed up 4 out of the first 9 he fired. the primers did not detonate, so at this point it's too early to blame it on a bad powder or lack of powder. the primers were CCI 500

I think he needs to tune his hammer to strike harder. he is firing them from a smith and wesson 686. prior to trying these rounds, he has fired about 15 rounds of factory ammo through the gun with no problems. I fired 50 rounds of factory .357 through it, and there was once when it did not fire, but at the time I thought it was operator error.

if it looks like a light strike, that's the direction I'd go first. Is the gun new?

hard to tell exactly how many rounds have been through it because it was a private party sale, but i think the gun is about a year old or so. maybe less.

Someone on another forum told me that CCI's can tend to be harder, like the material that the cup is made of. Is that your guys' experience? If that's the case, what brand of primers tend to be "softer"?



I'm about to start stocking up on primers, I want to make sure I get something that's going to work best.



I just talked to my friend too, and he said he has his trigger tuned way down to a super light pull. Would that affect the hammer and by how much? Is it reasonable to want a light trigger pull but also sufficient power to detonate the primer?

SW told me that Federal primers are softer and more sensitive (they enjoy a good cry). If you look at the boxes, it's easy to believe. The Federal boxes are about 3X the size of Remington or CCI.

so i got the federal small magnum pistol.

do I need to dial back my load on the .38?

what if I use them for my 9mm?

i'll probably stick with the cci for the 9mm, but I just want to know for future reference.

I primed 200 cases of .38 tonight with the magnum primers. but I won't start loading until you assholes give me an answer. I demand attention.

lol. It depends how close you are to max loads. I would put max load about 10% less than published as a starting point.

cool. I'll start there.


remind me again where you get your amazing deals on huge purchases of primers?

I got mine, Wolf, from Wideners. They hardly have any left. The next best deal would be Tula from Powder Valley.

is it worth it? are they good enough?

I think so. I got mine for like $17 per k delivered. I have fired over a thousand so far and have only had one bad one and it was rifle primer in 9mm. Its good to practice tap rack bang! I wouldnt use them for defense ammo.They don't have a perfect reputation but I think they are a good value at the right price. If the difference is only a couple bucks then go American.

well, my benefactor (as I will now refer to him - the crusty old man who has me loading for him) decided he didn't want to risk it, so he sprung for the federal @ $26 per k, plus hazmat fee. he ordered 5k, which I will split with him (though not sure exactly how). we went with powder valley.

when I'm spending my own money, i'll get tula or wolf.

loaded 50 of the sierra 158gr JHC .357 last night with 8.0 grains of unique and an OAL of 1.580 inches.


also loaded 50 9mm hornady XTP JHP, 147 gr with 4.6 grains of unique and an OAL of 1.100 inches

and I have hit 500 rounds now. i'm only 42,320,000 rounds behind bentley

s*** son. I do 500 rounds in an hour....

Ha. Kidding. I figured up the other night, I just cracked the 5000 mark.

nothin to sneeze at. with my single stage, it might be a year or more before I get close to that

you can do a couple hundred an hour though, right?

Oh yeah. I can do 200+ an hour doing .223, and that is taking my time. Pistol I could do 400+ an hour. I did a run of .223 when I did that video, but I have been so busy that I havent loaded anything else this summer. I need to do 9mm, Im down to less than 200 rounds.

Less than 200? f***!

I go into a conniption if I have less than 1K!

Lol. I have components for 3k 9mm. I just need time to load the damn things! I shot up 1500 rounds in my last 3 outings.