The one I’m using has an electric motor and a high speed spinning stainless blade. Walmart $13 in my area. There’s no way to set the “grind size” like on a burr grinder, but the longer it grinds, the finer it gets. It’s really a blender rather than a grinder. I bet in a pinch it would make AL powder as well as ground glass as previously mentioned.
Thanks for the heads up. At those prices, I’m happy to keep making them. I can crank out a hundred pretty quick at this point.
That is the deal maker IMHO. If it takes three hours to make 100, and primers are selling for $100+, people will make their own. At $40, most people will not.Originally Posted by Castloader
As I said earlier, it becomes priceless if primers are nearly impossible to get. Then you either makes them or do not shoot.
For those who were caught short, this is a fix worth looking into unless they can afford current prices.
Don Verna
I have probably 2K popped anvils and cups sorted and ready to be de-dimpled. I got most of those from dry tumbling. To make 100 primers now takes me probably…say 10 minutes to pop out the dimples, maybe 5 more minutes to mix a batch of chemicals, 5 minutes to get the primers loaded into the plate, a minute or two to spread the mixture, 5 minutes to tamp the mix, 5 minutes to wet and set the anvils, and 5 minutes of overall fussing with something or other inevitably. So maybe 40 minutes of work for 100 primers. I’m not counting drying time because that’s just waiting not actually working. Someday I’ll put myself on the clock and see how long it really takes. It could be plus or minus 10 minutes either way, and I’m sure I’ll find ways to be more efficient. Skipping the mortar&pestle step with pre-ground NC was a huge time saver.
Today I fired 100 rounds with EPH25 primers. Half 9mm and half .38SPL +P (and one .357 mag for good measure).
25 of the 9mm were Power Pistol, everything else was HS-6 except the lone .357 was 2400.
EPH25 has completely solved the hangfire problem. Probably a dozen or more .38SPL rounds required a second, third, fourth or further strikes to ignite, but I suspect this is a fault of the revolver which has lighter springs for competition. I used to run Federal primers exclusively to ensure ignition. I had some problems with some factory .357 as well, so that makes me think it’s a gun problem, not a primer problem. Zero issues with any of the Glock fired rounds.
None of the rounds were hangfires, so that issue seems closed. All my future primers will be EPH25.
Good report!!!
I have one of those "tuned" revolvers as well and it will only shoot Federal primers reliably...so that is not a negative or "issue".
If you have a buddy (a son or grandson works well) who is technically savvy, you might want to consider putting together a video of your process. The ones I have seen on YouTube show a painfully slow and labor intensive method. You are leaps and bounds ahead of that. Good work!!!
Don Verna
If I get a way to hold my iPhone steady, I’ll try to do one of the whole process from start to finish. I have a very modest YT channel that I post on for family and friends including you all here. I’ll see what I can do.
The comment on price vs labor was spot on. At a certain price it isn't worth the time to invest in making primers. Varies by available time vs disposable income.
On the other hand I'm regretting the coffee cans of spent primers I took to the scrap yard. That will stop now. Even if I just keep a pile of primers cleaned and in quart zip lock baggies options are good and reuse is highest form of recycling giving us all green brownie points right?
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
Any possibility some of you primers used SRP cups? I have a couple of guns that are Ok with SPP, but will get lots of FTFs with factory SRPs.
For me, good news on two fronts.
At the range I had zero noted problems with probably over 200 rounds fired. Ammo was 38 Sp, 357 and 327 (loaded just above 32 H&R). My recently loaded ammo seems much more consistent with power level than the stuff I did earlier on.
At home, I have been focusing on improving my methods for doing volume work. I am probably a little slower than what Castloader reported for primer assembly, but it is not terrible at this point. In the past 2 days, I assembled 300 primers just to set back and use later and I assembled 50 that I used for priming some 357 cases.
At the range I also gathered more than a box of CCI 9mm brass that had been fired in a gun that did not chew up the primers. I have plenty of 9mm brass at home, but now the focus is primer harvesting.
RogerDat,
Agree with you
I have a couple of gallons of spent primers but all mixed up. Not worth the time to sort them but I will be segregating SPP going forward. SPP are the ones I use the most or fun shooting. Less than 100% reliability for fun shooting is not a catastrophe. I would not use home made primers for defensive or hunting weapons.
Don Verna
Saving is a great idea, but I will say it again. Keep them sorted by type at a minimum. Type and brand is even better.On the other hand I'm regretting the coffee cans of spent primers I took to the scrap yard. That will stop now. Even if I just keep a pile of primers cleaned and in quart zip lock baggies options are good and reuse is highest form of recycling giving us all green brownie points right?
I use my reloading press to remove indents from cups. I have worked with batches that were mostly SPPs, but were not certain for source. For these batches, it is very easy to tell when I come across a heavy cup SRP / SRPM. Some heavy cup primers also have anvils that are shorter.
As far as sorting by brand, the payoff is that it can make things a lot easier. I have found myself using different techniques for anvil removal depending on brands. Also, for some brands, anvil removal is such a PITA that I don't even bother trying.
I just finished a batch of 50 with the clock running. It took 1/2 hour.
Oh absolutely a possibility. I'd say it's pretty likely. I have noticed when removing the dimple, that many of the primer cups will not slip easily over my punch. These must be yanked back off the end of the punch if I smack the dimple out. My thought is that these are certainly SRP's and since the brass is thicker, the inside dimension is slightly smaller. I am tending to skip these entirely now especially since most of them have a slight mushroom. I won't be able to re-use them until I get a sizing die to run them through. I may make one at some point. Still, even without these, there's no guarantee that I don't have SRP's in the mix.
The happy thing for me is that the Glock ate everything I fed it.
Nice, my time probably wouldn't be far off. Of course a lot of things have been pre-made such as the anvils removed, the NC powdered and sifted, the cups cleaned etc. (The Lead hypo made...) But once that stuff is done in big batches it I kinda ignore the time it took to get it done.
Definitely keep those mixed up ones. They may become useful down the road. After you stare at a lot of primers, your brain begins to recognize little things and sorting could be viable. If not for you, for someone else.
I was unhappy with the time it took me to process 50 primers.
About a week ago, my son 3D printed some 4" x 2.25" x 0.125" plates with 50 undersized holes spaced 5/16" apart based on a crude sketch (see below). He made me some of a variety of materials. I made a 0.177" D Reamer, and opened up the holes to be a nice snug fit. The thickness was closer to 0.127", so after inserting cups and filling them with powder, I was pushing each primer out, wetting the primers, packing them, placing anvils and one at a time placing them on a ram in my reloading press to seat anvils. All of the handling after pushing the primers out of the plate was very tedious and time consuming.
I took one of the plates and scraped and sanded on it to get the thickness down to 0.118" to 0.119". I just ran a test and was able to assemble 15 primers at a much faster pace. This plate allows the primers to stay in the plate for all steps from filling with powder to seating anvils. I will report back after I re-time assembling 50.
This is a drawing I made in Solidworks for my primer plate. It's based on an 200mmx200mm plate because that's what I found on Ebay. I scratched lines in the plate using a measuring jig that I have, then center punched the intersections and drilled out the holes. Unfortunately, drilling leaves a small crater (Even with a new sharp bit) around the hole opening which must be sanded or filed flat to keep the thickness consistent. I used a #16 drill for the holes since that's .177 already. I believe I also ran a countersink up to each hole, but I did it by hand to avoid over doing the countersink.
With 100 primer cups ready for filling:
I do the entire assembly inside the jig. My only problem is that this jig won't fit under my reloading press. I would much rather seat my anvils using my press. If I had to do it again, I'd have made a grid of 4x25 holes so after assembly(with a backer plate underneath), I could run everything through my press and get all the anvils seated perfectly. To do it even more cleanly, I'd probably build a shelf with a hole for the ram to travel through so I could do the primer assembly right in the press. I'd just slide the plate around and smash the anvils in as I wet each primer.
BTW, I typically wet either 5 or 10 primers, then seat all the anvils at once. Using my hypodermic needle, it goes fast. If I could press-seat the anvils, it would go quicker yet. I can wet 10 primers in about 10-15 seconds. Handling anvils and cups with forceps is the way to go. Tweezers are tedious, and fingers are clumsy. I use a reverse grip with my index finger and thumb through the forceps holes and the jaws extending out past my pinky finger.
Ideally, if I had a small CNC mill, these holes would be milled instead of drilled. That would give cleaner holes, and obviously more perfect spacing.
I really do need to make a video at some point.
For those who haven't read back to the beginning of this thread page 1 and page 2 of this thread have a bunch of pictures of the process.
Last edited by Castloader; 01-13-2022 at 12:48 PM.
I have a drill press...I wonder how much force it would generate.
Only as much as you want to exert.I have a drill press...I wonder how much force it would generate.
Put a piece of round stock in the chuck, use a piece of flat plate to set the primer on and press away. Some guys use an arbor press and they're capable of much more force than a drill press.
I just put myself on the clock making 100 primers (Batch 6). 51 minutes, not including removing the dimple, but I spent at least 5 minutes scrubbing out and drying my mortar & pestle, as well as making a couple other minor errors. Some things have come to light:
-As noted over on Mewe group, the Lead Nitrate should be ground finely in the mortar & pestle before use. The mixture was much easier to get into the cups when it was ground up and less "grainy".
-I skipped the paper wad on this batch. Folks over at Mewe said it's unnecessary and you get up to 100 more fps when you eliminate it. Plus faster assembly. I did note that the anvils were easier to seat. My hand could generate plenty of force with the flat punch to seat these appropriately. With this discovery, I have no need to use the drill press, or any other press to seat the anvils.
I am wet priming my cases as a standard practice now. I like knowing that I won't lose any anvils in the drying process, and I won't have any primer AD's when seating. It also seems safer to store the primers right in the brass since I have no other safe storage method. I can dry them in my Instant Pot right inside the cases which suits me.
Todays effort include two batches of 50 with a combined time of 36 minutes. One batch took a bit longer due to issues seating RP anvils. These anvils have legs with a "foot" that tends to catch on the edge of the cup.
Again, this is just primer assembly. I have spent a bunch of time removing anvils, pressing out cup indentations, making Lead Hypo, making AL powder, NC powder and glass powder.
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