Small rifle primers vs small pistol primers

[Gibill]

Just got started reloading....had my small pistol primers in an orange primer tray and my small rifle primers in a green primer tray......well, it happened....upon picking up both trays to put in cabinet, they both fell and spread all over the floor......how do you tell the difference? They look exact!
Thanks for the help

[aa1911]

mmm, no good. I'm not sure how much difference there is between the two, curious myself, never really researched it.

[Alpo]

You can't. They look identical.

Rifle primers are hotter than pistol primers, and rifle primers have a harder cup than pistol.

Putting rifle primers into pistols could mean misfires because the weaker pistol hammer did not pop them. Putting pistol primers into rifles may mean pierced primers, with both more pressure in the cartridge and a heavier firing pin spring.

Pick them all up, prime cases with them and then shoot the empty cases, thereby popping the primers (many people say soaking them in oil will deactivate them, but that has been disproven. The only reliable way to make primers NOT dangerous is to pop them).

Accept the fact that you have wasted those two hundred primers, and get on with your life. It's really easier to toss that six dollars than to stress about it.

To prevent this in the future:
Leave them in the box until ready to load.
Do not have both rifle and pistol primers on the table at the same time.

And, if you wish to ignore those two pieces of advice, use Winchester SP primers. Winchester primers are brass, while everyone else's are nickel plated. Pretty easy to tell them yellow ones from them white ones.

[woolleyworm]

Are they both the same brand? Looking at the anvils may provide an answer. I have left primers in my flip tray on rare occasion, I put 2 rubber bands on it, when and if I do. Along with the cardboard from the primer box.

[JLA]

if they are CCI the pistol primers have orange filament under the anvil where the rifle primers will have yellow.

And for future reference.. Dont remove them from thier sleves until you are about to use them.

[Gibill]

All well taken advice.......thanks for the insight.....I contacted cci and am anxious to hear their response........the difference in color of filament is really slight JLA. I couldn't see it with these old eyes....my son sorted them out for me.....using lighted magnifying glass. I may have mixed a few small rifle primers when priming some 9 mm rounds...".what would that do if fired in our 9 mil pistol? I measured both rifle and pistol cci primers....they are exact measurements both ways. I weighed them and the weights are not consistent. All in all I saw the pistol weight to be 1 grain lighter on average. But saw some rifle primers weigh same as pistol primer.

[JLA]

rifle prime ris much hotter. As long as youre not near max charge then I see no problem shooting them. I wouldnt hesitate to do it anyway.

[woolleyworm]

If you're only talking about 200 primers that got mixed up, then I'd toss them all. Under $10 just isn't worth having any problems, especially if the spp's got mixed in with the srp's.