Happiness--A drill bit and shotgun primer

[nekshot]

MZL season is comming around and no caps to be found but local Wally has shotgun mzl primers so I buy a pak and go home rummage thru Bass Pro clearence stuff when its cents on the dollar and yup I do have a Knight expensive replacement SS plug that fits so I start to drill and now it goes bang !All is well, but I must get a tool to load the primer. With a little o ring on the primer the breech end of gun is almost as water proof as a bulls rear end going up hill!

[pietro]

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There's several different 209 primer installation tools on the market, whether or not you would like a single primer tool, or one that holds several 209 primers - all are inexpensive.









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[nekshot]

I want one like that red dog bone!

[Whitesmoke]

I understand you have modified an inline ,but wonder could something similar be done for a side lock.

Given, the poor availability of percussion caps down under here in the Antipodes,the situation is declining rapidly.

Our gunshops have no such problem with shot gun primers.

The major difficulty I forsee is in modifying the sidelock hammer to take a firing pin.
Has anybody else thought along these lines, or indeed is there a commercial solution already in place.

[Avery Arms]

I understand you have modified an inline ,but wonder could something similar be done for a side lock.

Given, the poor availability of percussion caps down under here in the Antipodes,the situation is declining rapidly.

Our gunshops have no such problem with shot gun primers.

The major difficulty I forsee is in modifying the sidelock hammer to take a firing pin.
Has anybody else thought along these lines, or indeed is there a commercial solution already in place.

Be careful a shotgun primer is dangerously powerful and not designed to be fired unsupported like that, in a normal shotgun the primer is 80% supported by the breech/bolt face and in an inline usually you have a massive striker that acts like a bolt and supports the back of the primer as it is being fired sort of like a sten gun or any other open bolt gun. Also a lot of sidelock hammers are not really proper steel that will tolerate drilling/welding etc they are often cast or sintered metal that tends to be very grainy and difficult to work with.

I would leave the gun alone and make some percussion caps you can get the tools from USA to make the caps from aluminum soda cans and you should be able to find the chemicals locally or use paper toy caps.

[nekshot]

whitesmoke there is a slick adapter for sidelocks to convert to MZL primers. It is safe but a little combersome according to some to load. Google it and you will find the out fit that makes them. I might get one of them.

[Whitesmoke]

whitesmoke there is a slick adapter for sidelocks to convert to MZL primers. It is safe but a little combersome according to some to load. Google it and you will find the out fit that makes them. I might get one of them.

Thanks Nekshot,
I was thinking there had to be someone with this item.The market for them is almost a captive one and someone had to be making them.
If its the one you thinking of.
Mag-spark from Warren Outdoors - doesn't mention a manufacturer- may be subbed out.
They do have a fitting chart which seems to cover most known nipple threads

$27.00 for a Nipple conversion unit
$13.50 for a spare cap- it looks similar to a tire air valve stem cap and appears to contain an inbuilt firing pin.

With USPS postage $17 .25 US to Oz and the conversion rate of 1.4 an nipple and spare cap runs to $81Au or so.

However on the bright side that's less than 6 tins of caps. I can see that being fiddly to refit a new primer but if those are the downsides it is muck better than not being able to burn powder at all for lack of caps.

[nekshot]

at least you can make the gun go bang!

[pietro]

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Many years (decades) ago, I bought/installed one of those adaptors that allowed the use of large rifle primers on my side-hammer T/C - but soon pitched it, because it was a PITA to unscrew it, R&R the primer, then screw the cap back on.

My vote goes to K.I.S.S.


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[Vann]

I am about to try to adapt my Encore's breech plug from shotgun to small rifle primers. Basically I'm just going to drill the primer hole a little bigger and just a hair deeper and use 25 Acp cases like the Variflame I breech plug does.

[newton]

I have/use a magspark. WELL worth the money. Never a hangfire, and its super easy to put a cap on. The difference between it and a rifle primer holder is that the 209 primers have a lip you can get a hold of. Rifle primers do not.

[pacomdiver]

I feel for you guys, I have a big muzzleloading shop close to me (Dixons Muzzleloaders , less than an hour and worth the trip just to check out the rifles hanging off the rafters) and cabelas is abt 20 min further, both have lots of them and powder in stock