White River Energetic SP Primers - REVIEW

[Tall John]

Hey Cowboys,

 

I’ve now loaded and fired 200 WRE Small Pistol Primers in 38spl; using 2.9, 3.0 & 3.2 grn of TiteGroup under Slippery Bullets 125gr HT coated FP bullets and fired them in the heat of summer and now the cold of winter.

 

2/3’d went thru my two NMV Bisleys with ZERO FTF’s and 1/3 thru my UBerti 1873 Comanchero with one FTF on each of two different range Dates. One of which I think was operator error as it went bang after re-hammering.  (my Comanchero is a finicky bitxx with anything other than Federals so I may just need to adjust my hammer spring 1/4 turn)

 

My only negative comment is that the are a little “stiffer” to hand prime than Federal SP’s. 

 

(FWIW, I’ve had four FTF’s from a single 250 count bag of .357’s from Choice Ammunition and I’ve still got some of those left so a 98% ignition rate isn’t totally abnormal in my very limited experience.)
 

at $47/k or $235/case plus $15 Hazmat and $20+/- shipping at REPUBLICAMMUNITION.com, these are the least expensive AMERICAN MADE primers out there!

 

I think Midsouth has WRE LRP’s for $79/k with Free Hazmat thru midnight tonight (12/8). I have no experience with them.

 

YOUR experience may be different but I’d like to see more of us do more testing with WRE’s as a way to signal to Vista that there’s another saloon in town!

[Tall John]

My Choice Ammo FTF’s…

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

1 hour ago, Tall John said:

My only negative comment is that the are a little “stiffer” to hand prime than Federal SP’s. 

I bought 100 Large Rifle to prime a few cases I needed for some non-CAS loads.  I have a KM hand primer which is all steel and a good quality hand primer.  The first two or three were very hard to seat.  Then it got stuck like the primer had caught a rough edge on the shell casing or the edge of the primer punch.  Had to basically squeeze it in a small vise.  The seated primer looked fine.  Same for the next several rounds.  Two or three hard but seated with hand pressure.  Then one was stuck and had to be muscled in and so on.  They all fired but are definitely harder to seat than other primers I usually use.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

[McCandless]

 

2 hours ago, Tall John said:

Hey Cowboys,

 

 

Now we need to know if the NMVs had standard or lightened hammer springs, and if lightened, what are they rated? 

[Tall John]

The springs in my Bisleys and Conanchero are definitely not stock. Prior owner installed them

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631]

They are made in both gold and silver color? (as your pics show)

[Kid Rich]

1 hour ago, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

They are made in both gold and silver color? (as your pics show)

Looks to me as if the gold ones are Choice ammo. kR

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631]

1 hour ago, Kid Rich said:

Looks to me as if the gold ones are Choice ammo. kR

Ohhhhh, gotcha.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

OP, on the Rugers, put a #10 AN washer at the bottom of the hammer spring.

[Tall John]

14 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

OP, on the Rugers, put a #10 AN washer at the bottom of the hammer spring.

 

“AN”?

[Dakota Rambler]

58 minutes ago, Tall John said:

 

“AN”?

American National (Standards Institute)

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

2 hours ago, Tall John said:

 

“AN”?

Very common in aircraft use.

Good bolt house will have them.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Any #10 washer will work.  You certainly do not need aircraft quality for a shim.

 

The washer ID has to be able to slip over the spring strut.  The OD has to be narrower than the width of the gripframe.  On old Vaqueros and all Birdshead models the OD has to be 1/2" (.500) or less.  On the New Vaquero plow gripframe they are 7/16" wide (.437) or less.  I just took the strut to ACE with a caliper and bought a bunch of washers to fit both.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933

[Tall John]

It’s funny,  the previous owner used fishing snaps to shim the springs in my NMV-Bisleys.  I have new spring sets to install but am waiting for Boogie to short stroke and tune my std Nmv’s befor I tinker with my Bisleys!

 

yes the pics with the gold primers are of FTF’s from Choice Ammo.  I spoke with Jon, CEO of Choice, on Monday and we determined that the Lot# of the bag of ammo I purchased had Servicio primers which are not as soft as Feds and the FTS’s were likely due to my lightened springs.

 

he also told me that everything being produced this and next year will have federal primers. I was keeping a bag in my cart for new shooters at matches.  He offered to replace them but I’ll just use them in some other guns at upcoming plate shoots.  Really impressed that he was the one that responded to my “contact us” email.

 

good guy!

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

I also bought White River primers at Republic Ammo, seeing they were made in the USA. I've tested these White River SP primers (50 total) in my OM Vaqueros, with 3.0gn Titegroup and 105gn Chey Cast TCFP bullets w/out any issue. I have lightened springs in my Vaqueros, but they are not short stroked. All of them went off w/out issue. I used the other 50 to load my rifle rounds with 125gn Bullets by Scarlett and 3.2 gn of TG. I've not gotten to the range to see how these perform in my Cimarron '73 ......TDB

 

  And I agree, even with cleaned primer pockets these are a little harder to seat on my Dillon SDB.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

On 12/10/2024 at 10:44 AM, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Any #10 washer will work.  You certainly do not need aircraft quality for a shim.

 

The washer ID has to be able to slip over the spring strut.  The OD has to be narrower than the width of the gripframe.  On old Vaqueros and all Birdshead models the OD has to be 1/2" (.500) or less.  On the New Vaquero plow gripframe they are 7/16" wide (.437) or less.  I just took the strut to ACE with a caliper and bought a bunch of washers to fit both.

AN washer is a bit thicker and smaller OD than a standard washer.

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

Stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse yesterday and they had these primers in stock.  Same price as all the others.

[Tall John]

That’s a ripoff.  Here is the best source.

 

https://republicammunition.com/product-category/primers/whiteriver/

 

 

[Scarlett]

On 12/8/2024 at 2:27 PM, McCandless said:

 

 

Now we need to know if the NMVs had standard or lightened hammer springs, and if lightened, what are they rated? 

I have shot almost 500 in my Jimmy Spurs 73 and My Harlan Wolf 73 and my Jimmy Spurs NMV with lots of work. I had ZERO FTF and no trouble searing them in once + fired Starline Brass. 
 

Hugs!

Scarlett

[Scarlett]

15 hours ago, Tall John said:

That’s a ripoff.  Here is the best source.

 

https://republicammunition.com/product-category/primers/whiteriver/

 

 

The price you quoted above is for OEM (original equipment manufacturers). I read on their website earlier that they had “sold all of the retail primers for 2024” and that remaining stock was for ammo manufacturers. 
 

Hugs!

Scarlett

[Tall John]

Yeah, well they are selling them to individuals.  I bought 3,000 last week

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

If no one else mentioned it. They show non plated small pistol primers that they say seat easier using progressive presses and are a little softer. Also their regular sp  primers. .

 

[Scarlett]

On 12/9/2024 at 6:01 AM, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

They are made in both gold and silver color? (as your pics show)

The silver are nickel plated. The gold are unplated.  The unplated are said to be softer.

 

Hugs!

Scarlett

[Scarlett]

20 hours ago, Tall John said:

Yeah, well they are selling them to individuals.  I bought 3,000 last week

I clicked on the link you shared and there was not an add to cart… 

 

Hugs!

Scarlett

[Eyesa Horg]

There is for me after you click "options" a couple times. I didn't try hitting the add in full disclosure!

[Blackwater 53393]

2 hours ago, Scarlett said:

The silver are nickel plated. The gold are unplated.  The unplated are said to be softer.

 

Hugs!

Scarlett

This makes sense because the plating process causes “brittling”, making the plated metal item harder.

 

The nickel plating itself is an actual buildup of metal on the plated item, increasing the overall thickness/size.

[Tommy Reb]

Shot a match using White River SP unplated primers.  Pistols were Ruger SS 32 H&R's and rifle was a Pedersoli Lightning 357.  All guns have lightened hammer springs but reliably work with Winchester primers.  Of course one match is not enough to draw absolute conclusions, but here is what I found.  Relative primer indentation suggests the cup hardness is somewhat harder than Federals but somewhat softer than Winchesters.  I realize cup hardness is not the only factor effecting primer sensitivity, but they all did go bang.  Also, I did not notice any significant difference in the effort required to seat them.  But, again, these were the unplated primers. 

 

So, based on the one match, looks like they are going to work for me.  I'm glad, since I bought 5k.  Your mileage may vary, but I wanted to share my experience, limited as it may be.

 

TR

 

[Tall John]

I was going to buy a case so WRE sp’a but found a case of Winchester SP’s from americanreloading.com for $279/case or $55.60/k delivered which were cheaper.