WPA primers

[Navy Six]

Attended a regional Cowboy Shoot on Saturday and a gentleman had a bunch of different primers for sale. WPA, which I assume are Wolf as they are made in Russia. There were about 20,000 large pistol magnums. The two guys in front of me bought 16,000 of them and my friend bought a 1,000 so I figured I better buy the last 3,000. I have used Wolf 209 shotgun primers with satisfaction in the past so I'm not expecting any problems. I did load up a few 44-40's with these primers and noticed they seated ever so slightly tighter than I'm used to. I later ran into the two guys that bought most of them and one joked " Had I brought more money you wouldn't have gotten those last few thousand". I couldn't pass these up as the seller was only asking $40 per thousand--seemed like the good old days. A few Cowboy matches left this year so I am curious to see how these primers work with my blackpowder loads.

[Hawg]

WPA are indeed Wolf. They're good primers but have a hard cup. I think even harder than CCI.

[Captainkirk]

There were about 20,000 large pistol magnums.

Ruh row...Dunno where you are getting you load data from, but my load data...for both rifle and pistol data...says ixnay on the magnum primers for both rifle and pistol .44-40 loads. Same deal for .45 LC

I did load up a few 44-40's with these primers and noticed they seated ever so slightly tighter than I'm used to.....A few Cowboy matches left this year so I am curious to see how these primers work with my blackpowder loads.

Again, check your load data.

[Hawg]

Magnum primers won't be an issue. They burn longer, not hotter. You might get a slight increase in MV but with bp loads it's not going to be enough to notice. The only place it "might" make a difference is magnum loads that are already at maximum velocity.

[Navy Six]

I have used both standard and magnum primers in all my blackpowder calibers(too many calibers to list) for at least 30 years. When I first started loading blackpowder I was following Mike Venturino's advice in various media outlets. Initially there were claims that the magnum primers burned a little cleaner, but as I mostly shoot Cowboy matches and go through at least 100 rounds per, I can't really substantiate that claim. Either way, I've never seen any indication that magnum primers posed any issues with either a full or reduced load of blackpowder.