Converting .38 Special Brass to Accept Large Pistol Primers

One of the things I've preached on this blog is that when times are good, you should stock up on items that will be hard to get during a panic. One of those things is a good supply of primers if you're a reloader.

Last Fall, I bought a case of 5,000 CCI Large Pistol Primers. I use LPPs for loading .38-40, .44-40, and Magtech brass shotgun shells. If I ever get around to loading .45 Colt I'll use LPPs for them as well.

For loading .38 Special, .357 Magnum, 9mm, and .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum, I need Small Pistol Primers.

Guess who forgot to stock up on SPPs before the panic hit? Guess what is virtually impossible to find now?

<sigh>

Before the COVID-19/race riots/election year panic set in, I thought I had around 5K SPPs. In reality, I have about half that.

Shit.

So, a few weeks ago I wondered if it would be possible to convert .38 Special brass to accept LPPs. I did some research online and found that in fact, there used to be factory loaded .38 and .357 ammo which used LPPs.

Since LPPs may contain a bit more priming compound than SPPs, if you do this, reduce any maximum or near-max loads by 10% and work on up.

This page has a chart listing the minimum and maximum dimensions of both primers and primer pockets.

To modify the primer pockets I used a .210" chucking reamer with a stop collar on it to set the depth. The stop collar was made from 1/2" 6061 aluminum rod. It's held in place with an M4 screw I had in one of my miscellaneous parts bins.

To use it, I chucked deprimed a .38 Special case in the lathe and held the reamer in a drill chuck in the lathe's tailstock.

Note that because in a lathe the workpiece rotates, not the cutting tool, I don't need to be concerned about the stop collar being unbalanced due to the set screw sticking out.

I found that because of the small clearances, brass chips built up between the head of the case and the collar. I had to withdraw in several times per case to clear the chips with a brush and pick. It was slow going.

But eventually, I converted five cases to accept large pistol primers. To test, I seated CCI LPPs. They seated easily, maybe a little too easily. It might be better to use a .209" diameter reamer because .210" is the maximum for large primers.

I plan to do another 5 cases tomorrow and then load them will mild charges so I can test them on my next trip to the range.

During the Obama-era panic, some of the primer shortfall was made up by imported primers. I'm hoping that the same will happen this time around.

And you can be damn sure I won't be caught short again.