Color ring around primer

[bobby65]

What does the color ring around some primers mean?
I was thinking they are crimped but some I have are and some aren't .
Thanks for any help
Bobby

[CastingFool]

maybe some sealer to prevent moisture from getting to the primer material. photos would be nice.

[WILCO]

photos would be nice.

I agree. Here's an example:

[foesgth]

It is probably a waterproofing sealer. I used to get Lake City surplus 30 carbine like that. Does it look like this...

114874

[bangerjim]

Every one I have found like that is crimped primer milspec brass. They crimp AND seal all the primers!

I have gobs of 9mm that way. You gotta swage the primer pocket B4 you will ever be able to stuff another primer in there.

At lease you know it is definitely once-fired brass!

bangerjim

[txsnowman2k2]

What they said, it is sealant...tx.

[country gent]

Normally that ring is a sealer in the form of a varnish, there have been several forms of sealing primers and bullets over the years mostly by the military where ammo gets submerged ( think beach landings jungle conditions) and still has to work. I have seen handloaders use nail polish for this and identifing loadings. There are compounds available for this also. Some use a toothpick and nail polish a block to hold them base up and a small drop on the tooth pick applied to the joint between primer and case it will flow around and dry in a few minutes.

[bobby65]

That is what it looks like they don't have the crimp like ring around them that I can tell
but most are PMC. Look like the bottom row in Wilcos pic

[BruceB]

On occasion I use colored enamel around the primers to identify different loads that otherwise APPEAR identical.

For example, two of my .44 loads have different velocity levels but look the same. Therefore the lower-speed loads have "cool;" colors (black, blue, green) and the high-speed ones have "hot" ID(red, yellow, orange, pink).