[claybird]

Paul, since your the Guru of 45's maybe you can answer this one. I was cleaning some 45 ACP brass today and while picking the CC residue from the primer holes I found 5 cases with small pistol size primer holes. These are marked Win NT 45 Auto. Never ran into this before. Whats the deal here? Any ideas?

 

[uglydog]

That is Winchester's Non-Toxic ammo using a tin bullet. I haven't used it in anything other than 40 S&W which has a small pistol primer so do not know if it is normal or an anomoly for the .45 ACP to have a small pistol primer. I'd give Winchester a shout, if it is normal they should be able to tell you. My guess is they have a non-toxic small pistol primer but don't have enough demand to manufacture a non-toxic ammo using a large primer. For the .45 ACP loads that are made, a special run of small pistol primer pockets is financially more feasable.

 

[claybird]

Uglydog,
Thanks for the information on the small primer holes. I haven't reloaded any 45's for several years. I picked those cases up on the floor at the last trip to the clubs outdoor range. I know who was shooting next to me so I might find out what he was using.
The rest of the ones I have are a mix of Win,RP,Federal, S&B and a few military headstamps all of course with the large
primer hole. Probably a good thing that I spotted them before pressing in primers.
I have a Beretta 96 Centurion. Believe that model was only produced for one or two years,about 1995? or so. I'm not getting the accuracy from the Beretta's that I did with the Colt Commanders That I have kicked myself for trading off several year ago.. Maybe because my eyes are older.You think??

 

[uglydog]

Nah, I don't think it is the eyes but the gun. Seriously, several members of the Minneapolis Police Department that I am acquainted with carried them briefly. The gun seemed to have some problems with FTFs and FTEs along with so-so accuracy. The problems were common enough that the gun was disallowed for duty use. Hope yours is one of the "lemons" in that it works correctly.

 

[claybird]

Uglydog, I have to agree with you on the Beretta.I had a dealer friend tell me that they are not noted for accuracy. Since I no longer have the Colts. I' using a CZ75 Compact
in 9mm for a carry gun . I'm not a real big fan of the 9's but
the CZ action is similar to the colt. You know ,S/D ,cocked and locked and the safety works the same direction as the
Colt.Also have a S&W mod.60thats not too bad to carry. I would like to find a CZ75 or 85 in 40cal. to replace the Beretta.

 

[BigDog]

I've run into the WIN - NT cases too. They jammed in my Dillon press a year or so ago - and that was the first I saw any of them.

If you go to a gun store you can look at a new box of Win-Clean ammo and it'll tell you on the box it's a lead free small pistol primer. NT is non-toxic. I'd recommend you toss the WIN-NT cases out and not fuss with them. I still pick up a few of the Win-NT cases on my range. But they've raised the price of them around here - so people aren't buying them.