Do you seal your primers?

[Wayne Smith]

I ended up conducting an unintended experiment over the past two weeks. I had some 44-40's loaded with compressed Goex and the MAV bullet, primed with the RCBS hand primer, loaded on my RCBS JR3 press with Lee dies. Bullet was lubed with my own concoction of beeswax, anhydrous lanolin, and God knows what else. I think there was a tablespoon of Murphy's in there at one time, but not sure. Nothing fancy or expensive.

After shooting some of them with the Boy Scouts I dumped the empty cases in the vibrator along with my usual cleaning process of 3mm ceramic balls, `1/3 cup of water with a few drops of Dawn detergent. You guessed it, a loaded round was revcovered from the mix about 4 hrs. later.

Now, this is the 44-40 - thin walled case, light neck tension, unsealed primer. Not one's first choice for testing the waterproof qualities of a loaded round, right?

I figured, What the hell, the worst could be is that it won't go boom, right?

Went to the range on the fourth, it went Boom just like all the rest.

So why do people buy primer sealer?

[USARO4]

I think the military seals the primers on its ammo due to the extreme conditions it could be used in. They definately want it to go bang every time it's fired. I've personnaly never seen a need for sealing primers used in the much more benign conditions I shoot in.

[Bass Ackward]

Primer sealer? What's primer sealer?

[Old Ironsights]

I use it... for anything I plan on being submerged for a while.

However, I've found that it's not usually the primers that leak, but the taper crimp.

Roll crimps don't leak as easily, but I've had primre-sealed Factory .32acp (Stainless NAA Guardian "swimming-trunks" gun...) go dead after swimming in Lake Michigan. Sealing the Crimp fixes that.

[Dale53]

I have hunted in weather too foul for most anyone who has any sense. Since I have not often been accused in "having sense", I have been out in weather that is not fit for man nor beast. I've never had a problem with primer failure caused by getting wet, but I DO seal my primers when hunting in bad weather. I use nothing more than finger nail polish. It is lacquer, after all, not dissimilar to what the military uses. It only takes a minute or so to seal a fifty round box and does no harm. It COULD help...

Dale53

[Blammer]

nope, and I don't usually go swimming with my ammo, but if I did I'd probably seal them.

[monadnock#5]

I'm going to pick up some Dykem Layout Blue, and maybe a bottle of the red too. It will be applied to the case/primer seam. Sealing the primer will only be a side benefit though. My main interest is in keeping the .45/70 brass for my 1895 Marlin and Ruger No.1 separate.

I forget which Forum member it is that I have to thank for the suggestion. The topic came up in a discussion on .45 Colt loads.

[blackthorn]

I use various colours of nail polish to seal primers but truth be told I dont think it is really necessary. The main reason I seal this way is so that I can use different colours to identify different loads. I also colour code for age of the reloads so that I use the oldest first. The seal is just an added benifit. When sealing, I dab a bit of polish on the primer and then swipe the primer over a restaurant napkin. This gives me a brightly coloured ring around the primer. I did find that in one of my revolvers leaving the dab of polish to harden without wiping it caused the cartridge to bind up the cylinder.

[Ricochet]

If anyone does want to seal them, I'll bet a little diluted LLA would work very well. Wouldn't be as pretty as nail polish, of course. And seating bullets thickly coated with still-tacky LLA should seal the case neck as well as the asphalt sealer the military uses.

[Old Ironsights]

nope, and I don't usually go swimming with my ammo, but if I did I'd probably seal them.

So, whaddaya do, leave your gat on the beach with your towel? ;)

I carry 24/7... even under water. [smilie=1:

[dromia]

When I used to stalk for a living and me and my kit could be wet for days I always put nail varnish on the primer and around the crimp, even on factory ammo.

I never had a bad experience with un sealed rounds so don't know if it did any good but it was extra insurance with very little effort.

Hairy arsed Stalkers and Ghillies going into Highland chemists and asking for nail varnish turned a few presbyterian eyes though. :-D

[utk]

Do a Google search for George & Roy's Primer Sealant and you will find a couple of commercial sellers.

Urban

[Jim]

I was once told by a retired Seal that the reason the military seals the primer and bullet is that if a bulk of ammo that is relatively warm becomes unexpectedly submerged in cool or cold water, the cooler temterature causes a slight vacuum in the case and could draw water in through the slightest hairline crack. Makes sense to me. I've seen wrist watches ruined in the same manner by jumping in the pool before remembering I was wearing one.