Reloading primers with toy caps - results

[AndyC]

Oh, very neat - thanks!

For additional info, these were the caps I bought on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VN763XX/

1,200 caps for $6.50 (free shipping) - would make up to 600 primers ("up to" because you may pop a few accidentally). Very inexpensive and might be handy to keep on-hand just in case...

I sure hope the use of these doesn't become any kind of norm as it would, of course, mean that our country is going down the tubes - but rather have this ability in one's back pocket than nothing.

Also, I'm aware that others have done this before me and all due credit to them - I just wanted to quantify numbers, velocities, etc and make them public.

[kevin c]

Neat stuff, and thanks for the numbers and purchasing info especially.

I'm guessing the same could be done with small pistol primers, or is cutting down the caps to fit problematic?

[AndyC]

I haven't tried SP yet - I'll get to it at some point, but ex-wife going through leukemia right now cuts into a lot of my free time.

[sw282]

Good to know ammo is still available for my 1955 Mattel Fanner Fifty

[Four-Sixty]

I did this with some 45-70 cases a couple years ago. I dropped a freshly primed case to the floor by accident, and the cap was set off. Yes, I had flattened the dent in the primer cup. So, if you go this route I would strongly suggest testing your primed cases for safety's sake.

Then, a couple years after the prior panic I bought a boat load of primers on sale. I still have a couple rolls of the caps I bought, but they won't be used for reloading primers.

[elmacgyver0]

The last time I did this was over 50 years ago.

[Markopolo]

i purchased a bunch of the german made "magnum" toy caps durring the last shortage. never did get around to using them, but they are sealed up.

[max it]

So where do you get toy caps these days?


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[ofitg]

AndyC - I came across a video on a different forum - the guy seems to be doing the same thing you are doing, except he is adding a pinch of fast powder (from a .22 cartridge) between the two caps. When he test-fires a shot with the re-cycled primer, it sounds practically instantaneous -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WRW...ature=youtu.be

[AndyC]

Thanks for the info He's using the same brand of caps - Super Bang - so we're comparing apples with apples.

You're right - while the audio isn't the greatest, I viewed it in Audacity and there's no noticeable delay between hammer-drop and ignition:



Seems like adding some powder between the 2 caps is a good idea.

[LouB]

Adding gun powder to caps

Anyone have any experience with what kind of powder and quantity to use between the two caps?
LouB

[charlie b]

There have been black powder folks using home made caps for many decades. Toy caps have always been the easiest way to go about it. And yes, there can be safety issues with them, especially in the reloading process. They are also sensitive to static electrical discharge.

[MUSTANG]

Seems Amazon has removed all listings for Caps or refill caps (for toy guns). There are one or two where one can get the "Plastic Speed Loader" style caps, not the Roll Caps.


Did find a source called Civil War Stuff that has Roll Caps in Stock, 1200 caps at $3.99 per roll plus $6.00 shipping (Ordered 6 rolls - still only $6.00 shipping for 6 pckgs of caps; they are fare on their shipping rates). In case someone is looking, and still not available on Amazon or other sites; The Web address is: https://www.civilwarstuff.com/product/roll-caps/


I have quite a few primers on hand for Rifle and Pistol; but decided to spend $30.00 on small insurance plan - besides I might try this technique for remanufacturing Primers just for giggles and bragging rights of "I have done that".

[gnappi]

Oh my... now the Dems will be going after toy caps, that link by the OP is already gone!

At a gunshow this past weekend a guy was selling 100 packs of primers for $25 and change!

[Texas by God]

I ordered from the link AndyC provided, and they came today. Heck yeah, 44-40 here we come!

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[yeahbub]

That was a well done test with impressively thorough reporting! Well done. With the willingness to go to the trouble you have, there are much better priming compounds/formulations online which are fairly simple and reasonably safe. In fact, I had a .pdf with half dozen or so formulas I found on a link someone posted on this site, IIRC. The one I was most intrigued with is a two-part compound which is unreactive when dry and non-corrosive. The two constituent elements are finely mixed dry, a small amount pressed into the primer cups and they are wetted with water, which activates the compound and causes it to become a solid puck by crystalizing action of some sort. Once dry and the anvils are in place, they're ready for use. As with many things, I plan to experiment with that once I get to the end of a list of to-do stuff which I haven't see the end of in a few years. But it's out there.

BTW, roll caps contain Armstrong's mixture which is definitely corrosive, but the corrosive elements are water soluble and should be removed with the usual hot soapy water cleaning routine used for potassium chlorate primed eastern bloc corrosive surplus.

Hey, I think I found that primer-making .pdf here: http://aardvarkreloading.com/resourc...imercourse.pdf

[photomicftn]

The Super Bang roll caps can be found here, with plenty in stock at the moment:

https://www.tintoyarcade.com/super-b...scription=true

[abunaitoo]

Interesting project.
I use the plastic cup caps for my Needle gun.
We used to call the paper shot.
I have to see if I can find some here.
If you can find them on evilbay, most sellers will just mail them.
That's how I got the plastic caps.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Suggestion, don't mix Armstrong's mixture dry. Wet each component till it's at least moist and ONLY then mix them gently together. Unless you like the stuff exploding in your face that is.

[frogcement]

I decided to quantify the results of "reloading" a Large Pistol primer with toy paper caps obtained from Amazon.

I levered out the anvil with a small nail, flatted the firing-pin dent as much as possible by using a flat punch inside the cup. 2 caps were used per primer, cut out with a leather punch.



I then dropped the cap-primed cup into my priming tool, raised it up a bit and dropped the anvil into the cup - and gently pressed the primer up in place in the brass to let the anvil find its own center in the cup.

Case primed:



I shot regular Win LPP versus these toy caps a few weekends ago - load was 4.1gr Clays under a 230gr RN cast. Here are the chronograph numbers:




No failures to cycle or fire - but other than the obvious smell difference (caps are very distinctive), I did notice a very tiny delay between the click and actual bang, which I guesstimated at 1/20th second:



So, I saved the audio from that video as an MP3 and opened it in an audio editor, Audacity - using that I was able to zoom in on the timeline and clearly saw the sound of the hammer-fall followed by a delay then the gunshot:



0.04 sec delay = 1/25th of a sec, so I was close with my earlier 1/20th guesstimate.

In conclusion, this can be done if needed - not a quick method but it's doable.

Nice experiment, it might come to this....