I wouldnt throw away those old spent primers just yet.You can make new ones out of them with strike anywhere matches.You remove the little metal star inside then pound the primer back out and get the match part of strike anywhere matches in a powder form.Then you add the little metal star back and have primers again.Its a pain to do but you can do it if no more primers are going to be made.I have had to subitute different primers in alot of my calibers.I hope that there will be primers again but only time will tell.I rember the good old days of $15 per 1000.Those days are long gone!!!

quote:

I rember the good old days of $15 per 1000

I remember when they was $10.00.....and no sales tax!

Can you tell us more about powdering the matchheads.....

Would this produce "match" primers ?

Sorry, couldn't help myself .

Regards,
HM

Have had a little experience with strike any where match heads****Non of it good.

Not usually a dume and glummer but if this technique really becomes wide spread there will be some injuries. roger

www.ammosmith.com
has a pair of videos on this..
disappointment wasn't my EXACT reaction

As a kid I had more fun and experience with "matches" then any kid should have been allowed to have. My best friend and I made rockets, muzzle loaded firearms, and b*mbs from them.

Just recently on the Mythbusters TV show they shot a 6 pound bowling ball from a cannon made from a converted Argon gas cylinder to the distance of 1550 feet up hill with matches.

There is an old army manual out on how to take used primers and rebuild them with match tip heads for the propellant. This was talked about over on the Castboolit forum. More then one person has tried them and they do work.

Let's just hope that it doesn't come down to having to do this.

Joe

I saw an article in a survival/back woodsman type magazine years ago about using roll caps for percussion caps. I'd imagine that they'd work for this and be a bit safer than the match heads.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick R:
I saw an article in a survival/back woodsman type magazine years ago about using roll caps for percussion caps. I'd imagine that they'd work for this and be a bit safer than the match heads.

Actually the powder in the caps is more sensitive to pressure then match tips. What you don't want, especially since we can't duplicate factory primer compound safety, is a material that is so sensitive that it's dangerous to try to seat a primer.

Don't forget too that these improvised primers will be corrosive.

Joe

Yep, there are NO primers in Northern Michigan.
Just went up to the next town north of here to my favorite gun store to pick up a newly built Winchester Model 70, in 7-08 that had been delivered from the South Carolina plant today. As I passed by the shelf that normally has primers on it, I observed that there were exactly ZERO primers on hand.. Not sure that's the kings English, but you get the drift.
Lots of powder however.
The new Win Model 70 was scheduled for delivery next week, and when the gal called this AM to tell me it was in, I about fell off the chair. I think I set a land speed record from Grayling to Gaylord to get it... Looks great.. Action is smooooth.. Balance=Perfect, and light weight too.

Don

This reminds me of an internet friend in Iran named Medhi. I met him at a cast bullet forum. He lived somewhere in the burbs outside of Teheran. He risked his life to shoot.
He got a scrap of 30 caliber rifle barrel. he bought a small table top lathe. With the lathe
and files he made a simple copy of an autoloading pistol in .32 ACP. He managed to scrounge some shotgun shells for the powder. I told him how to make some cases by turning them from solid brass rod. I offered to send him some primers but he said none of the stuff he had or needed was legal for him to own. He eventually got some empty brass and deprimed it. He hammered the firing pin dent in the primers flat. He used match heads and toy caps to reassemble the primers. He loaded the cases with the shotgun powder. The chamber in his pistol had been bored with a small boring bar on his lathe. He dug a ditch out from the back of his house and covered it. He was able to shoot out of the back of his house using his home made pistol and home made ammo.

All

Just be patient. Primers will be available again. When they are, stock up. We went thru the same scare in the mid 1990s.

If it ever reaches the point where we have to make our own primers there probably won't be any guns to shoot them in. Primers will be the LEAST of our worries.

SR4759

Oswald was a US citizen living in Texas. Why would it be surprising that he used US made ammuntion? Boxes of that ammo are still available for sale on some of the Auction sites. The prices for it will astound you. All because of the "association" with Kennedy's assassination.

Ray

quote:

Oswald was a US citizen living in Texas. Why would it be surprising that he used US made ammuntion?

It is just the coincidence that the conspiracy theorists love to wallow in. The WCC ammunition was never that common compared to other Carcano ammo. Until another poster here gave me a half a box I had never seen it.

Yep, primers are the life line for reloaders/shooters. Without them, you don't shoot. You can scavage powder, cast your own bullets, cases last along time, but primers, gotta have them. While you may be able to cobble something together w/ match heads or whatever, they will not be reliable. Wait for the panic to slow & then stock up. It's likely to take a yaer now, as more & more people get caught flat footed by not having ample supplies on hand.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Yep, primers are the life line for reloaders/shooters. Without them, you don't shoot. You can scavage powder, cast your own bullets, cases last along time, but primers, gotta have them. While you may be able to cobble something together w/ match heads or whatever, they will not be reliable. Wait for the panic to slow & then stock up. It's likely to take a yaer now, as more & more people get caught flat footed by not having ample supplies on hand.

Sounds like the rifle to have then is a flintlock.

Joe

Powder Valley Inc is one popular internet site for ordering primers and powder. They now have a note on the primer pages saying they have backorders for 50 million primers. They are not taking new orders until they start to clear some of the backlog.

If one supplier has orders pending for 50 million primers, what does that say about the demand throughout the country? I don't think all those people got caught flat footed, I think lots are just buying a large stockpile. (I'm trying not to use the hoarding word)

Regardless, it looks like it'll be a while before we see anyone with some stock available for immediate shipment or purchase. At least at "sane" prices. I'm not about to pay anywhere near $100 per 1000 like some of the profiteers are charging. I'm sure there are some who are looking at this as an opportunity to make a quick buck at the mercy of some panic stricken shooters.

quote:

If one supplier has orders pending for 50 million primers, what does that say about the demand throughout the country?

not as much as one might think.....

Many customers order from ABC company.....and allow backorders.....then when they tire of waiting order from DEF company....and again allow backorders.etc.....

Some when they see lots of backorders will order double the usual amount from the manufacturer.....and it escalates.....exponentially....when it all breaks the orders disappear quite quickly.....

During the Clintoon admin the backorders to Winchester alone (reportedly) was over a billion primers.....

There are thousands of folks that have stocked 10,000 and more primers.....I did it during the Clintoon years after the shortage was over.....so I haven't purchased a single primer this year.....there's no shortage of primers...it's simply a distribution problem.....and some have none.

I just read that Sierra is making one million bullets a day, three shifts per day, and can't keep up.

Don

I had a buddy in highschool lose a good part of his thumb and forefinger screwing around with match heads.

Do what you want, but I wouldn't mess with that.

-nosualc

Be of good cheer gentleman ;

9. A priming mixture for percussion primers to be used in cartridges for small firearms, the priming mixture comprising: TABLE-US-00003 diazodinitrophenol 27% ±5 tetrazene 6% ±1 potassium nitrate 38% ±5 nitrocellulose 3% ±1aluminium silicate 22% ±4 pentaerythritol tetranitrate 3% ±1.

10. A priming mixture for percussion primers to be used in cartridges for small firearms, the priming mixture comprising: TABLE-US-00004 diazodinitrophenol 27% ±5 tetrazene 6% ±1 potassium nitrate 36% ±5 nitrocellulose 4% ±1aluminium silicate 20% ±4 zirconium 5% ±1.5.

11. The priming mixture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aluminum silicate is present in a percentage between 15% and 25%.

12. In a small firearms cartridge, a percussion primer priming mixture comprising: at least one explosive, the at least one explosive including diazodinitrophenol as a primary explosive; and only one sensitizer consisting of aluminum silicatepresent in a percentage of at least 10%; the percussion primer priming mixture being free of other sensitizers.

13. A small firearms cartridge percussion primer priming mixture formulation method comprising providing at least one explosive and providing only one sensitizer, providing only one sensitizer including providing at least 10% aluminum silicatein the mixture, the at least one explosive including diazodinitrophenol as a primary explosive.

The art of Chemistry is far from lost !. Suitable anvils are or needs to be somebody Else's

bag ,I can manufacture mixture !. NO MATCH HEADS far to slow !!!!!!!.

However it will simply be another Black market commodity if bans go into legislation Bills !.

http://fsjournal.cpu.edu.tw/co...vol6.no.1/6(1)-3.pdf

primers are back in stock in houston, fellas.. just saw nearly 1/4 million of them, in one spot .. and not "flying" off the shelves.

the horders/gluttons appear to be filled, and/or out of money for HORDING ...

ya'll stop the hording, and the shortages will stop

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
primers are back in stock in houston, fellas.. just saw nearly 1/4 million of them, in one spot .. and not "flying" off the shelves.

the horders/gluttons appear to be filled, and/or out of money for HORDING ...

ya'll stop the hording, and the shortages will stop

Where in Houston?
They have not made it to Austin.

yep, in houston... give it 1 month, and all the supplies will be somewhat available, 4 months, and it will be back to normal.. 6-8 months, and all the guys that bought 40 times what they'll ever us, will be selling cheap

I think the problem with such primers would be lack of consistency rather than danger...

When folks talk about making primers from matchheads, you can safely assume the mania has reached its zenith.

It was done by the Phillipine resistance in WWII. They made bullets from metal rod and broke down artillery shells for powder. Crude but it kept a lot of guns servicable.

Push come to shove, it would not take a real lot to replace the primer cup with an insulated one with a thin strand of tungsten (like from a light-bulb) and make the gun fire electronically.

The center of the primer would be one lead of the tungsten and the brass the ground. Replace the firing-pin with a contact and the trigger with a switch.

The tungsten would light a small portion of match-head or even solidified fast burning powder or black powder.

Just think, no trigger pull, instant ignition, and wired so it went off when the bolt was all the way closed, we could have some very fast firing semi-autos!

This farmboy will not give it up just yet!