Make your own primers

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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Scratch on Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:12 am

LumberZach wrote:While we are on the subject, how do all of you store your powder and primers?


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I have a steel cabinet in my small reloading room where I store them. There is a 30 pint dehumidifier in the room, and lots of desiccant gel packs inside the cabinet on all the shelves. I think it is suggested to store them inside a wooden cabinet built from like 3/4" thick wood for some reason, not exactly sure why. I know Fleet Farm store them in a steel cabinet and Gander store them in a wooden cabinet.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby photogpat on Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:44 am

Scratch wrote:
LumberZach wrote:While we are on the subject, how do all of you store your powder and primers?


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I have a steel cabinet in my small reloading room where I store them. There is a 30 pint dehumidifier in the room, and lots of desiccant gel packs inside the cabinet on all the shelves. I think it is suggested to store them inside a wooden cabinet built from like 3/4" thick wood for some reason, not exactly sure why. I know Fleet Farm store them in a steel cabinet and Gander store them in a wooden cabinet.


Steel cabinets become bomb casings during a fire.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Ghost on Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:48 am

photogpat wrote:
Scratch wrote:
LumberZach wrote:While we are on the subject, how do all of you store your powder and primers?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




I have a steel cabinet in my small reloading room where I store them. There is a 30 pint dehumidifier in the room, and lots of desiccant gel packs inside the cabinet on all the shelves. I think it is suggested to store them inside a wooden cabinet built from like 3/4" thick wood for some reason, not exactly sure why. I know Fleet Farm store them in a steel cabinet and Gander store them in a wooden cabinet.


Steel cabinets become bomb casings during a fire.

Yes, wooden crate is preferred with air gaps so it's all contained and burns instead of explodes.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby OldmanFCSA on Thu Apr 28, 2016 8:57 am

If you intend to keep the steel cabinets in use, line them with two layers of 5/8" drywall material, usually best with one layer outside and one layer inside for best thermal protection.

Fire Code says 1" rough hewn boards to be used for cabinet for powder storage. Wood burns but also fragments into splinters rather than shrapnel from ripped sheet metal.


I use drywall.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Jackpine Savage on Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:48 am

Here's a pretty good write up on powder and primer storage. Basically what is recommended is a wood container with 1" walls and a weak side that can blow out to release the pressure.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/60
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Scratch on Thu Apr 28, 2016 11:55 am

How does Fleet Farm do it? I've seen the steel cabinet, doesn't look like a fire rated one to me...
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby yukonjasper on Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:43 pm

Commercial buildings have sprinkler systems which modifies some codes.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby photogpat on Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:30 pm

Scratch wrote:How does Fleet Farm do it? I've seen the steel cabinet, doesn't look like a fire rated one to me...


Also entirely possible they're not doing it right, or that the local fire marshal for that store has decided their sprinklers are adequate.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Ghost on Thu Apr 28, 2016 2:49 pm

Scratch wrote:How does Fleet Farm do it? I've seen the steel cabinet, doesn't look like a fire rated one to me...

Is it solid steel? Or something like below?
Image

Smokeless powder won't explode unless it's under pressure. Now their black powder is a different story.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby perotter on Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:22 pm

crbutler wrote:Watched it. He threw all kinds of this is experimental, don't do this unless it's the zombie apocalypse crap in there. Personally I think home practical chemistry is fun, but you need to have a better working knowledge of what you are messing with than this guy showed.

Will it work?

Sure, but not very well. Near as I can tell the guy is not a reloader, so probably didn't realize that there are tools for this. If you are going to do this, realize your priming will not take pressure as well and will likely be pretty inconsistent. The stuff on some of the prepper sites about home made priming state error (failure) rates around 10% for match head priming going down into the sub 1% range for some of the more complex chemicals. Generally, the more complex stuff does require getting actual chemical reagents though.

A few searches on line will pull up more detailed ways of making your own priming compounds, but priming is easily the most dangerous part of the whole process of manufacture of ammo. The chemistry isn't that hard...but then making various war gasses isn't hard either, just not very safe.

What I would be most concerned with would be work hardening of the primer cup making it susceptible to rupture with very low pressures.


You can reload a primer at least 15 times without it being work hardened to the point that it won't work or be safe to use. Of course you can easily anneal them if desired.

Also, there are primer compounds that only become a primer compound after they have dried in the cup it's self. This is as safe as the store bought primers.

The cost for DIY primers start at about $0.80 per thousand for input chemicals. One really needs primer plates to make good use on ones time.

The only time I have ever gotten less than 100% firing is when I've been doing basic research on a compound is patentable. The addition of gum made that one fire 100% of the time.

Every serious, thoughtful and level headed reloader should learn how to reload primers. But, buy them when you can and make them when you must.

FWIW. I've reloaded primers for nearly 40 years without an explosion, etc.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby DanM on Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:31 pm

Here are links to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer's Institute (SAAMI) guides that incorporate the National Fire and Protection Association (NFPA) Code 495. That's the code that fire insurance companies follow.

- Smokeless Powder properties and storage: http://www.saami.org/specifications_and ... Powder.pdf

Primers are covered by the following supplement to the Smokeless Powder guide.

- Sporting Ammunition Primers properties, handling and storage for handloading: http://www.saami.org/specifications_and ... rimers.pdf

Sorry, but there's too much to summarize here. Easy enough to read, though.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Seismic Sam on Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:02 am

NEVER mind....

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Last edited by Seismic Sam on Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby BigDog58 on Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:32 am

DanM, thanks for the posting. I found it interesting with good info.

I had forgotten about the original posting but was looking into the ability to reuse a spent primer. From what I've been able to discern, is that the hardest part is acquiring the necessary chemicals to make the primer compound. I'm especially curious if making my own compound for my 50BMG primers could improve consistency? More research is needed on my part.
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Erud on Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:48 am

Seismic Sam wrote:
DanM wrote:Here are links to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer's Institute (SAAMI) guides that incorporate the National Fire and Protection Association (NFPA) Code 495. That's the code that fire insurance companies follow.

- Smokeless Powder properties and storage: http://www.saami.org/specifications_and ... Powder.pdf

Primers are covered by the following supplement to the Smokeless Powder guide.

- Sporting Ammunition Primers properties, handling and storage for handloading: http://www.saami.org/specifications_and ... rimers.pdf

Sorry, but there's too much to summarize here. Easy enough to read, though.


Jeez, DanM, you're an "Original" member, so you're the exact opposite of a n00b, so what possessed you to reply to a TWO YEAR OLD thread that was a dud in the first place??? WTF???? WTF?????? WTCSMFGDSOBF?????


Probably because a different guy replied to it an hour earlier?
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Re: Make your own primers

Postby Rip Van Winkle on Mon Sep 19, 2016 10:41 am

BigDog58 wrote:I'm especially curious if making my own compound for my 50BMG primers could improve consistency? More research is needed on my part.

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