Reloading a fired primer

[GONRA]

GONRA sez you red P guys better learn now to "stabilize yer red P" FIRST
if you want any kinda shelf life.
Trick is - chemicals used will gas the Little Family and YOU unless you know wot yer doin'!
(Pretty sure most of ya'll don't hava clue?

>>> STAY AWAY FROM RED P GUYS! <<<
Save Red P for Real Live Chemists...
Save yer LIFE!

[dtknowles]

Resurrected this old thread to report my recent testing.

I can't find my previous test reports, so I am using this thread.

I had tested home reloaded primers using ring caps before and if I used two of the disks out of ring caps, I could make a reliable primer for pistols with fastish powder, that was all I tested. It worked but I could not get the anvils to stay in place so I had to make them and use them to prime cases right away.

I got some Prime-All thinking I would try to reprime .32 RF cases but I mostly got duds. Frustrated I quit.

Today, I combined the two products, the Prime-All and the ring caps.

I followed the Prime-All instructions (except I skipped the wetting) and substituted a ring cap disk for the paper disk. Again, the anvils did not want to stay in place. A few of my first efforts went off when I was seating the primers in my .38 S&W cases. I reduced the amount of Prime-All I was using and that stopped that problem.

Firing a primed case with no powder or bullet cause bright muzzle flash and loud report.

I loaded two rounds with 3F black powder and a 130 gr. bullets. I fired one with seemly good effect. The other is going to sit a day, and I will fire it tomorrow along with maybe some others I will make tonight.
Tim

[dtknowles]

ok, the one that set overnight, went bang like it should today. I made half a dozen more, tested 4 with black powder and two with fast smokeless powder. I used even less Prime-All in these and they all went bang fine. The anvils seem to be staying in place better with less Prime-All and seem to have plenty of power.

Tim

[ofitg]

How difficult is it to extract the discs from ring caps? It has been years since I bought any paper roll caps, but with the right punch, it was fairly easy to punch out the explosive dot from a paper cap.

[Fitz]

Much easier to find the stuff to make H- 48 compound and is much better than cap rings

[dtknowles]

How difficult is it to extract the discs from ring caps? It has been years since I bought any paper roll caps, but with the right punch, it was fairly easy to punch out the explosive dot from a paper cap.

I use a T-pin and just pry them out, it is easier than using a punch and hammer to cut dots out of roll caps. I hear it is hard to find the right roll caps, only German ones are good I am told. I got the ring caps from Walmart a while back, I don't know if they still have them. The ring caps are just the right size for small primers, I don't know how they might work with large primers.

Tim

[dtknowles]

Much easier to find the stuff to make H- 48 compound and is much better than cap rings

Not sure I agree with this. Could not be easier than getting the ring caps, I got them from Walmart. The H-48 compound, I had to order on the internet. I am guessing the Prime-All is H-48ish. That was not too bad, it was just one stop. Getting all the stuff for H-48 one item at a time is a bit more trouble. I have the Antimony Sulfide, Sulfur, and Aluminum Powder, still don't have the Potassium Chlorate or the ground glass. I have way too much of the Antimony Sulfide and no other use for it. I am concerned I will have the same issue with the Potassium Chlorate.

Regarding the H-48 only primers being better than my Prime-All and Ring Cap primers, I can't see how. Mine have gone big bang every time. Maybe they are better because they are cheaper. With H-48 only you don't have the cost of the ring caps but if I end of doing a lot of these, it will not be to save money. My time is worth more than that. It takes a long time to make a bunch of primers this way. If this becomes a thing I do a lot it will be because you can't get factory primers for less than $1 each.

Tim

[ofitg]

I use a T-pin and just pry them out, it is easier than using a punch and hammer to cut dots out of roll caps. I hear it is hard to find the right roll caps, only German ones are good I am told. I got the ring caps from Walmart a while back, I don't know if they still have them. The ring caps are just the right size for small primers, I don't know how they might work with large primers.

Tim

This leather punch was my favorite tool for punching the explosive dots out of paper caps – no longer sold on Amazon, but similar designs are available -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

German “LEGENDS of the Wild West” paper caps are probably the most powerful, but I was only using the cap dots to ignite the primer’s main charge. I found that Chinese paper caps were satisfactory for that limited purpose.
I was reloading Small Pistol Primers too….. more difficult than Large primers, and probably an order of magnitude more difficult than percussion caps. After seating the cap dot in an empty hull, I would wet (desensitize) it by “misting” with 70% Rubbing Alcohol from an atomizer bottle. Then I filled up the primer cup with the main charge – a mixture of 60% potassium chlorate, 30% antimony sulfide, and 10% confectioners sugar. Next I wet/misted the main charge with the Rubbing Alcohol. Final step was to seat the anvil; the main charge “dough” would conform/wrap around the anvil’s three legs and hold it in place during/after drying.
Very time-consuming, but it yielded the most reliable primers of the different approaches I tried. Over a span of several days I tested more than 100 such primers without a single misfire.

[dtknowles]

Yeah, that tool would be the ticket. I have seen them but don't own one, might get one.

Tim