Respect Primers More

[HMTD Factory]

Tinkering with firearm primers is very tempting for explosive lovers of our like. Before you glue some primers onto your airgun pellets, wanting to have some fun, you have a letter to read. This letter is found in June 1993 issue of American Rifleman. From Darrell W. Norman of Fernley, Nev. to the editors.

Take Care With Duds

Editor:
I was making a letter holder from .308 and
.30-'06 brass, all of which had dented primers and was, I thought, fired. I figured
I was safe as I soldered them together.
I was heating one with a propane torch and heard an explosion. The primer, though dented, still had some priming compound intact. I felf a hot funny feeling in my right chest and when I lifted my shirt, blood was running from an entrance wound. It caused a weird sensation, and I felt a little faint.
At the emergency room, they took several X-rays to try to locate the primer. I ended up spending 24 hours in the trauma ward.
Later I had an allergic reaction and broke out in hives. More X-rays showed the primer 2 1/2" deep in my right lower lung. The doctor theorize that it was as hot as 1800 degree when it entered abd probably cauterized the flesh as it went. They decided removing it would cause more damage than leaving it where it is.
It doesn't seem like much, but it was very scary and could have been fatal if it hit my heart. So don't trust a dented primer--it may be a dud or just look like a dud!

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Why cartridges for letter holders? Appreciate it before civilians lose the right to tinker around with "dangerous stuff".

Now if it were a detonation of a fresh primer, instead of a crooked one, that entered Mr. Norman's brain, instead of his chest, Mr. Norman would probably be killed instantly. Now guess what will happen to his
propane torch that he dropped, and hadn't been turned off?

Remember a firearm primer is a two-piece assembly that comes apart readily into fragments when detonated. It could surprise people to see the primer breaks free from glue or whatever ways the user wanted to had them secured.

In a firing cartridge, the primer will try to pop out of the case's head, but backed by the bolt face. When the powder ignited, the cartridge pops back and seats the primer back in. So you can see that the friction of the primer pocket doesn't hold the primer when it fires, yet all fired cartridges had primers intact that people are fooled to underestimate a primer as a leathal projectile in itself.

[EventHorizon]

Good warning for the KewLs, the less accidents anyone has relating to any of our "hobbies" the better.

He should have removed the spent primer (using the correct tools, no pounding), then soldered them together, then taken some good primers, soaked them in water to remove the priming compound and inserted the empty cups. This is not only safe, it makes for a better looking job as well.

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"Chance favors a prepared mind" - Louis Pasteur
"Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope." George Burns
PGP ID 0x147CEF54

[Boob Raider]

a new thread so here is my problem. I can buy fired .22 cal shells (small ones) but I need a license to purchase primed shells. Is it possible to re-prime those fired shells I can buy from the army store and if it is .... how may I do it.

[Liam C.]

Yes it is possible to do it, but with the method I tried it's horribly time consuming and tedious work when you consider what you're getting out of it. Another consideration is there's no guarantee that you won't have misfires....

The method I used, which I originally got from an old Ragnar Benson book, was to thoroughly brush out and clean the brass (removing the firing pin dent from the rim as well) first.

Next, you remove the tips from a bunch of Strike Anywhere Matches and add just enough water to make a thin paste out it. Here's where your problems begin, IMO. I don't think that you're really getting a homogenous mixture when doing this, resulting in some shells getting a good dose of chemicals and others getting pretty much nothing but inert crap. Anyways, after you've made your paste you paint the inside base of the cleaned brass with it making sure that it's getting into the crushable rim. If the paste is too thick it won't want to seep in there. Then let it thoroughly dry out.

Once it's dry, you can reload it normally (with reloading powder) or use whatever improvised goody you have for it. Ragnar mentioned a 1/1 mix of sugar/chlorate so that was what I tried. I reprimed 30 rounds and reloaded with the sugar/chlorate, then proceeded to attempt to fire them all. Success was about 50% on the first run through. I then took the unfired ones and ran them through again and maybe 3 or 4 fired. I didn't try the rest a third time.

They can be reloaded, but you'll want to try a different primer mix for sure as the strike anywhere method isn't consistently reliable at all...

[irish]

Boob Raider,
when you say you can get small .22 shells do you mean .22 lr or mag rimfire rounds or centrefire cases like 5.56 NATO ?.
centrefires are easey to reload reliabley rimfires are not.

[zaibatsu]

You could spin the shells to get the priming comp. distributed evenly along the insides. But I think it's be better to reload centerfire shells.

[Boob Raider]

I was talking about. http://www.boomspeed.com/boobraider/22cal01.JPG and [/url] http://www.boomspeed.com/boobraider/22cal02.JPG[/url]
Anyways I think I am going to use the powder actuated tool blanks instead, with a teflon or Al slug crimped on them for my MAG LITE pistol.
But for curiosity sake ... what are the compounds used to prime cartriges ... esp .22 rimfire ?

[irish]

Those are .22 lr, not worth the bother of reloading go with the blanks.
I think the main comp of rimfire prime is lead azide mixed I presume with a binder.

[zaibatsu]

Lead Styphenate I think. Although I heard the Russians still use MF because it's the only thing that'll go off reliably at those temperatures.

[Liam C.]

I always thought it was Lead Azide as well, although I see no reasom why Lead Styphenate or MF can't be used too.

".....You could spin the shells....."

Ya know zaibatsu, I have a centrifuge and it never occurred to me to try that! That's so simple it can't help but work... :)


Boob Raider,

I agree with irish. I assume the MAGLITE pistol is a single shot. You'll have alot less headaches using the power hammer blanks, I believe.

[Boob Raider]

I emptied out one of the blanks ... took a while as the brass is hard. It cracks while being opened. Anyways ... here is a pic of the powder in it http://www.boomspeed.com/boobraider/Openedblank.JPG can someone ID the powder and tell me weither or not it is good for cartriges ?
Also I took one flare apart ..... the small hand fired one (pen sized) and I found only the flare comp and this cap seperated by a sponge in the polyethylene flare case. http://www.boomspeed.com/boobraider/Flareprimercap02.JPG and http://www.boomspeed.com/boobraider/Flareprimercap01.JPG Is that cap powerful enough to shoot out an ~ 8g flare 30 ft in the air ?

[irish]

bit hard to id any powder even looking at it first hand but it should be ok for what you want.
just be carefull for a few shots that it does not have too much pressure with a bullet.

edit= fixing my shitty spelling.

[Liam C.]

Take a look at the barrel size (thickness) on a powerhammer, and consider the size of barrel you intend to put in your mag-light. I'll say right now that that is way more powder than you need. Heck, I haven't even seen that much out of a .22lr. Also, it just looks like double base powder to me (look kinda like little paper circles?).

I don't remember which power load is yellow... Is that the strongest one?

Anyway, you probably already know what follows but I'll feel better saying it (so, no offense intended)... When you build your 'zeeper' do a lot of remote firing/testing. Start out using the weakest blank with only half the powder load in it (without projectile), to make sure your firing mechanism works consistently. Then begin testing it with projectile included, starting with the lowest load (as described above) work your way up in powder loads and blank sizes until the barrel bursts. If the barrel doesn't burst using the strongest load, that's cool too. Now you should have a good idea of the limits that your barrel type can handle. Then build another one and scale it back down a few loads. If it'll fire at least ten consecutive rounds without any barrel deformation, cracks, etc. it should be safe (for that size load) to hand fire... although if it was me, I would make yet another (fresh) barrel just like the previous two to actually put in the flashlight.

".....Is that cap powerful enough to shoot out an ~ 8g flare 30 ft in the air ?...."

With that particular powerload, I see no reason why not. It would probably do it with half that much powder, but now I'm guessing...

[irish]

Bit more info re primers plus some other interesting stuff on the MSDS from olin au,

http://www.olin.com.au/MSDS/htm/MSDS's.htm

zaibatsu is correct about the primer comp.

edit= fixing link.

[Boob Raider]

Is it possible to reuse primer caps. Lets say I remove the caps from the spent casings, wash them with hot H2O, clean them, and fill them with Pb-styphanate or Hg-fulminate. Then can I use these caps to reload shells ? Or does the cap undergoe some change (eg. position of the anvil) that it can't be reused. This is my only option to reload 9mm parabellums as I need a FAC to purchase primers.

[zaibatsu]

When the firing pin strikes the primer it dints the end and bends the anvil. You can reshape it, and there is something in one of the PMJBs about it. You could use the mix from matchheads as an impro primer comp.

[prespec]

If you have access to a copy of 'Hatchers Notebook' , there is a reference in there to an arsenal worker blithely strolling along , enjoying the sound made by several thousand primers rattling about in a steel bucket which he carried.

Shortly after , he was replaced by a smoking hole in the ground.

These things are dangerous and you will observe they are allways separated in packaging.

BTW.... Julian Hatcher was in charge of Aberdeen proving ground and several arsenals around the 1930's , and his book is an excellent source of info on many " I wonder what would happen if..." questions, related to firearms and explosives, even if a bit dated.

[nbk2000]

And you brought up a 4 year old post to say that?