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Old 12-26-2012, 08:55 PM
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David LaPell David LaPell is offline
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Primers are the Achilles heel of reloading because even a pound of powder like 2400 or Unique will keep you loading handgun rounds like .357 Magnum for a very long time. I know a pound of 2400 will last quite some time. Primers I pick up when I can get them, right now I am pretty hard up for cash, so I have traded some stuff even for primers. I will need some small pistol primers again fairly soon, but one thing I have taken to, and this is an experiment I have not tried much of yet, but I have decapped some loaded rounds that I was given. I had some .38 Special loads that I pulled the bullets on, dumped whatever powder (which was taken outside and used as fertilizer) and then depapped the round VERY CAREFULLY and then reprimed a new case. I have them kept separate and will be in light loads just to see. If they work ok then I will use them in practice loads. I have about 400 old .38 Specials that I don't want to waste the primers on if they are still usable.

I saw once back when I was 19, and to this day I wish I knew what happened to it, an internal memo from Handgun Control Inc. back in the early days of the first AWB of what they really wanted, and reloading was up there on the top of the list. They know if they ban ammo or restrict the sales, guys will reload, and some will reload for others. So to them primers would be the first thing because without primers we would be in deep doo doo. Powder is next. I know when I get some money aside I plan on getting a much larger supply of powder and primers, enough to keep me loading for some time. I can tell you that here in NY even lead is tough thanks to the state banning lead wheel weights. I have plenty of those on hand plus a lot of scrap lead but I know a lot of guys who are paying a pretty penny for them. One thing I have done with that in the past is take some oddball lead round balls like .54 or .58 caliber from a gun show that someone was dying to get rid of and cast them and water drop them to harden them up. Or like those several hundred old .38 Specials I have I take those old lead round nose bullets and turn them into water dropped #358156 bullets for my .38-44 or .357's. I believe in recycling.

If you have a bullet puller like RCBS makes and a couple of decapping dies you can knock out those old primers from calibers you don't even own. Not an ideal solution but it beats hearing bang instead of click.
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Last edited by David LaPell; 12-26-2012 at 08:57 PM.
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