Spent Primers

[lightman]

Can I have the phone number of this yard? It would be worth the trip even if it is on the "Left Coast".

I guess I need a decimal point in there someplace! I would like to blame spellcheck but it was probably me that fumble fingered it!

[dondiego]

Trash 'em.

At the point I'm saving used primers, I figure it's a short trip from there to saving my pee in a jar for the black powder works.

Yea, but then you have to have a "pot to piss in!"

[Hanzy4200]

My scrap yard accepts mine along with my brass. They filter down in nicely, making for very heavy buckets. Some people think I'm crazy. I went through about 15,000 primers last year. That weight adds up! And what effort does it take? You dump into one bucket instead of a another. Stupid not to save them.

[Taterhead]

I keep them in the same box with other scrap cartridge brass. They get recycled wvery few years when I have another occasion to visit the metals recycler. Primers sell for the same price as the other cartridge brass.

[Taterhead]

I keep them in the same box with other scrap cartridge brass. They get recycled every few years when I have another occasion to visit the metals recycler. Primers sell for the same price as the other cartridge brass.

[wmitty]

Plate Plinker brought up something in post # 14 I had wondered about. Is there any reason why they should not be used as tumbling media?

[sureYnot]

Plate Plinker brought up something in post # 14 I had wondered about. Is there any reason why they should not be used as tumbling media?

You can't separate them with a magnet.

[kevin c]

Plate Plinker brought up something in post # 14 I had wondered about. Is there any reason why they should not be used as tumbling media?

Every spent primer container I've emptied has a powder of burnt priming compound (lead styphnate) all over the interior, knocked out of the cups.

I gave up dry tumbling because of the lead contaminated dust coming off the corncob and walnut hull, and that was a few hundred cases with the primers still in. I don't think tumbling brass cups will produce airborne metal particles, but loose primer residue (and I'm estimating that a tumbler full of thousands of spent primers knocking around will have a lot), finely ground, well...

Maybe if they're washed to remove the residue?

[MUSTANG]

Every spent primer container I've emptied has a powder of burnt priming compound (lead styphnate) all over the interior, knocked out of the cups.

I gave up dry tumbling because of the lead contaminated dust coming off the corncob and walnut hull, and that was a few hundred cases with the primers still in. I don't think tumbling brass cups will produce airborne metal particles, but loose primer residue (and I'm estimating that a tumbler full of thousands of spent primers knocking around will have a lot), finely ground, well...

Maybe if they're washed to remove the residue?

Your observation is why I clean my spent primers in an Ultrasonic cleaner and flush the spent water down the drain (into the septic tanks at either property) to dispose of the residue cleaned. Spent primers are dried then stored in plastic containers.

[oley55]

They get melted in the forge and then turned into ingots or things like brass apples for the kids teachers

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

miniature brass cannon barrels would be cool.

[bedbugbilly]

What!?!? Nobody saves them to load in shotguns in place of expensive lead shot?

[Super Sneaky Steve]

What!?!? Nobody saves them to load in shotguns in place of expensive lead shot?

I actually loaded some shells with sprew before. Makes some very odd patterns but should be effective in across the room distances.

[Hanzy4200]

In the scrap brass bucket. I cashed in my smelted bullet jackets today. Ready for it?! 3 1/2 buckets full, $508.

[MT Gianni]

What!?!? Nobody saves them to load in shotguns in place of expensive lead shot?

I remember a conversation on the board a decade or more ago that seemed it would do well at self defense ranges. A lawyer would object probably.

[mvozz]

I never used to save them but I started about a year ago just to see how many I have used. I like to see the pile grow just for fun, sadistic humor for me maybe because of all the people that thought I was crazy for reloading 9mm, 380, 357.......... Just a reminder that I am still shooting and they aren't!!

[echo154]

I recently started saving mine.....was trading it for range lead but that source dried up!

[r80rt]

Mine blend in with the gravel in front of my shop nicely.

[Castloader]

I am getting setup to reload them. Here's what I found:

about $100 in equipment: stirring hot plate, two pyrex beakers, stirring rod, an eye dropper and a ceramic mortar &pestle plus some little plastic cups to put stuff in
$89 in chemicals: two primary chemicals available on fleabay plus ground glass and a teaspoon of leftover reloading powder (any will do, it's all nitrocelluose)

this will make approximately 225,000 primers. That's 84 cents per thousand. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be large or small format primers, but even if I'm off by a little, the savings is enormous. The time commitment is something to consider, but we're all familiar with that. Safety is another one, but the primary hazard is the lead nitrate as a poison. If you are familiar with lead hazards already (and if you're reading this you should be), there's nothing new. Be careful and wash up well, and you'll have nothing to worry about. The explosive hazard is fairly small depending on which formulation you make, the numbers above are for what is called "EPH 20" This formulation does not become explosive until after it is placed in the cup and tamped. Is is wetted with a tiny amount of water that makes a chemical reaction inside the primer cup that, when dry, is explosive. in other words, you aren't making more than a microscopic amount of explosive at a time, once in each cup.

The hardest part is removing the old anvils. Some primers are easier than other. I find that throwing a couple of pounds of primers in my tumbler for a few hours yields 1-2k primers that have lost their anvils. This saves a ton of time. I do not use the stainless media, just add water and your detergent and they come out ready for dimple removal and charging.

I'm interested in this because I'm out of SPP and also in case this becomes important for patriotic purposes in the future. I'm starting to sort my primers when normally reloading into types (LR, SP, SR etc. Sorting by brand would even be helpful to help getting the anvils back into the same brand cups.

Resources:

https://aardvarkreloading.com

https://rumble.com/user/helpmenowmark

[Castloader]

As soon as I've actually made some, I'll post results as I go. I've just finished assembling all the equipment.

[AlaskaMike]

Castloader--please do. I'm very curious about this.