can you make priming compound?

[valstietis]

@Marshall,
Thank you for all the hard work that you did developing workflows and making primer compounds available to us, reloaders
Finally it was a good time for me to start working on EPH 10 compound.
Attachment 198798
After making a mix I loaded one SP prime, placed it into an empty 9x19 brass, loaded that brass into my handgun and after a trigger press the pop was slightly weaker than from my standard Fiochi SP prime. To begin with, I was really happy to hear the pop , but rethinking my workflow I have now several questions.

1. Is the slightly weaker pop an expected behavior?
2. I noticed that some particles in the mix are larger than others. I tried to show it in the attached macro photograph that I took just now. I think this might lead to inconsistent mix ratios from prime to prime. How do you solve this problem? Do you grind the mix, grind separate components or do just nothing?
3. When producing Pb(H2PO2)2 I dried it under a regular tungsten lamp. I am afraid that drying temperatures might have risen to about 80 degrees Celsius (176 Fahrenheit) and degraded the component's quality, what resulted with a weaker pop. What do you think about higher drying temperatures?
4. Because I could not get pure PbO2, you told me that I can replace it with Ba(NO3)2. EPH 10 mix already contains 39% of Ba(NO3)2, so I dropped PbO2 from the mix and increased Ba(NO3)2 to 44%. Might this have a negative influence on the mix? Should I leave Ba(NO3)2 at 39% and just simply drop PbO2?
5. I did not have a pure alcohol solution at hand, so I used 40% alcohol drink vodka to moisten the prime. Might this have a negative impact?

I have not produced any more primes, just one and I obviously did not test them with my ammo reloads. Maybe everything would have worked fine. However before I begin reloading my ammunition in greater quantities your experienced insights would be really helpful.

Thank you one more time for your contribution.

valstietis

[valstietis]

@Marshall

Thank you very much for all help.

valstietis

[CupricOxide]

I stumbled upon an Idea and almost immediately thought of this thread , but alas given some consideration it may be impractical and a non starter.

Nano-thermite or super-thermite is a metastable intermolecular composite (MICs) , [note these terms are interchangeable]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nano-thermite

There are several mentions of research as a priming compound
"environmentally friendly ammunition primer"
here http://www.ipo.waw.pl/wydawnictwa/ce...l/Klapotke.pdf

At first I thought that this would be something within the scope of being "home brewed" and perhaps even simpler than some of the more advanced methods described here , however upon further reading the technical capabilities to produce the nano meter scale particles is beyond that of a amateur scientist .

However I feel compelled to share this discovery , hard to describe why , perhaps I seek discourse with people such as yourselves , and there are few if any venues where there would be interest in this topic.

If this reply is unsuitable for this thread than I apologize in advance , perhaps it could be a separate thread if anyone is interested in discussion .

The idea of being able to make a thermite type ignition compound from simple metals and metal-oxides that would be suitable for the reloader was (is ?) one that I felt should not be a stone un turned . This concept is very new to me and I am still trying to wrap my head around it and whether or not it would be possible to approximate in the lab . So there is a bit of a challenge to this .
I would rather present this idea to the group and have it sputter out than never giving it a chance to begin with .

[rodrigocirilo]

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[Traffer]

Your system is very impressive. Unfortunately (maybe my fault) I cannot quite understand several of the things you speak of. Matrix for the press to get the cup and anvils? Those cups look like they are new. Are you drawing (making) your own cups? If so where are you getting the anvils?
Also, are you grinding the match heads dry? Or are you wetting them first? If you are grinding them dry, you are very lucky that none have ignited on you. It sounds like you are saying that you cut the scratch area on the match boxes with a paper punch and use the circles of that scratch chemical to place on top of the ground match head material? Then place the anvil into the cup pushing it through the paper circle? Some very good ideas here. Very good indeed. If I understand it correctly. And what is a button presser? Some sort of a push punch? I hope you can understand my questions.
As far as toy caps, the brand that work well are the roll type caps made in Germany. The brand is Legends. They are sold at Walmart.

[32 ballard xl]

Tried to see video - video not available. I wonder why.

[rodrigocirilo]

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[elmacgyver0]

I doubt if I would ever do this, but I do find it fascinating.

[rodrigocirilo]

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[Traffer]

Rodrigo,
You really have something here. There are a lot of people, including myself who would love to be able to make those primers the way you do. Thank you very much for sharing. Once a person gets to the point of making everything else for reloading, the primers become the hardest, most expensive part of the operation. You have made a big advancement in the way we can do that now. Please continue to share with us your methods and processes.

[ofitg]

Is there any substitute for antimony sulfide?

RC, thank you for sharing your work. Very Interesting!

One of our forum members (named "Wicket") has made tin sulfide as a substitute for antimony sulfide.

If you cannot buy antimony sulfide, you might visit a rock shop which sells mineral specimens. Antimony sulfide occurs in nature as a mineral called "Stibnite".

[rodrigocirilo]

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[rodrigocirilo]

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[rodrigocirilo]

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[Traffer]

For anyone out there who wants to know how to extract priming compound from toy caps, I made this video. Keep in mind that this primer is corrosive. Also keep in mind that when it is dry it is extremely sensitive. I have had this stuff go off when scraping it on paper with a playing card. Never use it in batches bigger than you are willing to have go off in your face.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8i6wn72tqr...00001.MP4?dl=0
Attachment 208249

[Traffer]

I am going to try and document the different processes of reloading 22 LR that I use. Here is a video of filing aluminum powder from a computer hard drive. I also describe how I use the powder in the reloading process.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2y4h3lxjk...owder.MP4?dl=0
I want to apologize for this video being cut off here. I didn't realize it would make you download it to see the whole thing. But if you do download it it will show you the last 1/4 or so of the video. Which has the more important part of the video on it anyway. I will edit this video soon. But now I am waiting for a new motherboard for my computer, because it died yesterday. (I am using my laptop in the mean time)

[GONRA]

Traffer - GONRA's pretty sure "toy caps" are red phoshorus
(maybe with a little Sulfur seeking better shelf life)
and Potassium Chlorate (some gum binder added).
WAY too sensitive to "scrape off" and fool around with....

[Duckdog]

Being wet like Traffer's doing, he should be OK... right? Now that I see how he is doing it, it makes much more sense to me. I have a bunch of roll caps, but I have even more H48 mix!

[Bert2368]

@All,

I have recently undertaken to create a searchable text version of Albert and Oelberg's "Primers for Small Arms Cartridges" book that they published during WW2. If you would like a copy, it is available for free at the following link.

http://www.aardvarkreloading.com/res...%20Oelberg.pdf

Thank you kindly for providing that!

On the last page, the authors give instructions for ordering Vol. 2 of the series, covering the making of the metal primer components and the tooling to do so. Dies, punches, cups, anvils... For $.25 - Cheap! (I do miss Mad Magazine).

Do any know if the sequel was written? If so, is it available anywhere...

I don't think I would ever be doing this, but I'd certainly like to know what the authors came up with.

[john.k]

Im a bit OT,but I would like to know the final steps for a melted sugar powder.Grain size?.....can it be used as a tablet in say a 45/70 size case,or does it need to be granulated.......what size granules.......and finally,is the stuff touchy?........The only local advice is to test in a strong gun......The holy black is nice,but this stuff is so simple to make,clean too,it seems very attractive.