Re-priming primers

[Jdavis]

Some time ago, I experimented with reloading a few primers using cap pistol roll caps. It is a tedious and time consuming task that I would only want to do on a larger scale as a last resort. I will say that the ones that I made did produce satisfactory results. In an emergency situation where no factory primers are available, it’s a viable option.

 

[ACORN]

In my early teens we rebuilt used primers for use in our reloaded shotshells. We knocked the old primer assemblies out of the hulls with a punch and punched out the actual primer cups with a nail, removed the anvils and flattened them with a flat punch.

Then we took a cap gun cap and tore out the black center with our thumbnails and put them in the primer cups, inserted the anvil and reassembled it all. Pushed the assembly into the hull and viola. It was done!

We also made our own powder and shot, recycled used wads and used the ammo in an old single-barrel shotgun.

Yeah, and I bet you had to walk 10 miles to school and back up hill both ways in the snow with no shoes.
My buddy and I used to go to a local trap range and scrounge used wads and unbroken clay pigeons after the had a league shoot.
We had more time than money.

 

[David Sinko]

I have the kit with the powders but I haven't gotten around to trying it. I was going to start with Berdan primed 7.62X39, since I reloaded Berdan primed cases back when the Tula KV24N primer was available. This seems like the easiest route since there is no fumbling with the anvils. My biggest concern is reusing the dimpled primer cups, as I'm worried that they will pierce on the second firing. Pierced primers cause all sorts of problems. Does anybody know of a source for new primer cups or how to make them without a lathe and mill?

 

[gwpercle]

I just picked up a kit to re-prime primers. I am not really that hard up for primers just yet but I thought I would check it out some day if I get bored. I did find that disassembling primers is a little bit of fun if you don't want to lose the anvil. I started doing it in a pink plastic barf basin, that works pretty good.

Theoretically it is simple. They give you the chemicals and a small double-ended plastic scoop. You dry-mix the chemicals thoroughly, add solvent (acetone or alcohol), scoop a bit into the primer, tamp it down with something like a small wooden dowel, reassemble the anvil to the primer and let dry approx 24 hours.

I hope to actually try it next week and see if it works. I will report here and let you know.

With reloading supplies (primers) getting so sketchy and expensive ... I never threw away a gal. zip-lok bag of spent primers . My Lee Hand Press collected them in a cavity and required dumping and I would put them in the bag .
Reloading them with caps seemed "sketchy" but I knew someone would market better priming compound if a demand existed .
Following your thread with much interest , tell us what works and doesn't work ... please post name of co. that sells workable priming compound ... since I have the spent primers I want to get a kit ...just in case the elections go South again .
Thanks for posting ,
Gary

 

[PALADIN85020]

During WWII in the Philippines, people who handloaded cartridges to fight the Japanese occupiers cut paper caps out of rolls of toy gun caps and used them in spent primers. I suppose this worked, but ignition must have been very erratic.

John

 

[Heinz]

There is a good article with appropriate cautions here https://aardvarkreloading.com/resources/homemadeprimercourse.pdf

The author notes that most homemade priming compounds are corrosive. Also that purchase is likely you put you on a Federal watch list.

I prefer my solution:

 

[TXBryan]

Wow! So you think a mix of priming compound and acetone is stable? Only if there are no sparks, ignition source, or high pressure events Take a quarter teaspoon full out to back yard, stick a wick in it, and stand back. It is about as stable as gasoline and nitromethane.

Did anyone read Heinz's post? Joke, or no joke, anyone who thinks alcohol or acetone aren't flammable probably didn't do well in high school chemistry. Saying that anything is "safe" while in solution with either alcohol or acetone is just wrong. And it hardly matters what kind of alcohol - they all burn. Static discharge is a very adequate ignition source for either alcohol or acetone.

 

[BillBro]

These kits, and even guys making their own compounds, have been all over toutube for about the past two years or so. The reprime kit did pique my interest. Looks like it would be worth trying at least.

Messing with those little anvils looks like a job for younger eyes than mine though.

Keep posting and educate us all. What was the name of your kit again?

 

[DR505]

As a retired bomb tech who managed to keep all 10 fingers, I personally would never monkey with primary explosives. You can do as you please. Priming compounds often use azides, fulminates, and the like. No thank you.