There have been discussions in the past about reloading fired primers. Some have suggested using roll caps made for children's cap guns and some have suggested using the white tips of 'strike anywhere' kitchen matches. I conducted my own testing on both methods and found the caps to be far superior to the match tips.
I developed a procedure for recharging fired primers. The procedure is easy and can be accomplished with innocuous materials that are easily obtained. The procedure successfully produces a primer that will ignite modern smokeless powders, especially the faster types that are typical to handgun cartridges.
TOOLS REQUIRED:
Electric drill
3" section of steel rod at least .200" diameter
Fine cut machinist's file
Ice pick or facsimile
Small anvil or facsimile
Small hammer
With an ice pick or finely pointed tool, carefully remove the anvil from the inside of the primer cup.
Keep the anvil! The primer cup is useless without it.
A punch must be made to very closely fit the inside of the primer cup. If you intend to recharge large and small primers, you will need two different sizes.
Chuck the steel rod in the electric drill. If you have a vise, gently clamp the drill in the vise. If not, you may need someone to hold the drill steady for you. If you are working alone with the drill in a vise, lock or tie down the trigger on the drill. With the file, carefully square off the end of the rod to flat. Then begin to turn the diameter of the rod by applying the file to the rod as it is spinning in the drill. This cut can be straight or a long taper. Be very careful to leave the end of the rod squared. A rounded end will not work.
Check the diameter of your cut as you go. It is important that the end of the rod just barely fit in the primer cup. Once your punch is done, you're ready as there are no other parts to make.
Place the primer cup, open end up, on your work anvil. Any item of thick steel can be used as a make shift anvil. I used a female threaded ball hitch on my work bench. Insert the machined end of the punch in the primer cup and strike it ONE TIME with the hammer. Usually, one strike is enough.
The object is to flatten the dimple caused by the firing pin in the previous firing.
Open your box of roll caps and remove one roll from the bundle. Tear off a few caps from the roll. It's much easier to work with a short section than the entire roll.
Place the button of the cap over the cup of the primer. It is critical that the cap button be centered over the primer cup. VERY GENTLY push down on the punch to cut the button out into the primer cup.
Repeat this step. It is neccessary to have two cap buttons to get enough flash to make the powder ignite.
Carefully replace the anvil back in the primer cup, concave side up, as you found it. If the anvil will not fully seat in the cup, it will when you seat the primer in the cartridge case.
When you seat the recharged primer, do so GENTLY! The compound in the caps is sensitve and can be ignited with a very light strike. If you 'bump' the primer into the case, it is very likely that the cap buttons will 'pop'.