Homemade Primer Course

AardvarkReloading.com ^ | June 28, 2019 | W. Marshall Thompson PhD

[familyop]

This document describes how to make homemade ammunition primers. Approaches to make corrosive and noncorrosive primers are covered. [46 pages.]

[familyop]

And here's the PDF link.

[Lurker]

Thanks.

L

[broken_clock]

Yes thanks!

[familyop]

You’re welcome. Now if the reloading press manufacturers will add a cup and anvil press and dies,... :)

[alternatives?]

Thanks.

[freeandfreezing]

That’s an interesting document to read, but I sure wouldn’t want to actually try any of those chemical procedures. They all look very dangerous and are best left to professional chemists and manufacturers.

[lgjhn23]

Much appreciated.
Hopefully, I won’t have to resort to “rolling my own”, but I will if I have to.

[Nailbiter]

flr

[Nailbiter]

ping

[Rio]

A most interesting document. I have a copy saved.

[familyop]

Agreed! It would be a very narrow interest undertaking, only for those who know what they're doing and only for very tiny batches (with some compounds, less than the size of one primer cup). Making primer compounds generally includes risks and can be very dangerous for anyone lacking industrial safety knowledge and equipment specifically for making primers.

For most people, I would *not* recommend it. An error in storage or setup could get a person in a heap of trouble, too. There are laws against storage and production of explosives. Those laws (statute and case) should be studied and obeyed.

[familyop]

"Hopefully, I won’t have to resort to “rolling my own”, but I will if I have to."

Agreed, and same here. There will be commercially made ammunition and primers for everyone soon enough. No need to hurry. I have no desire to make my own primers.

Can't imagine anyone else needing to hurry by making primers themselves, either. Maybe if some unexpected, unprecedented disaster sent our whole world's economy and society back to living in a new stone age,... [Way doubtful.]

But yes, it's interesting. Hopefully, everyone reading it will avoid doing anything to put themselves at risk of arrest, injury or death.

[familyop]

A few years ago, I saw a YouTube video with instructions for mixing a compound that terrorists in the Middle East had used for much more dangerous and *unstable* devices—*not* suitable for primers at all. Not suitable for anyone or anything here, really. The man in the YouTube video made a monstrous boom with a portion about the size of a match head. It shouldn’t have been available at YouTube, in my opinion. Too many undisciplined knuckleheads around us.

I figured that Dr. Thompson’s document is a better publication for availability than the crazy stuff posted to YouTube.

[Sparky21555]

BFL

[freeandfreezing]

If we end up with the world reset back to primitive technology nobody will be selling the kinds of chemicals needed to make primers. A much more useful skill will be making bows and arrows. The first step is to find a suitable source of ash or better yet yew trees.

[familyop]

What if the disaster was different from what we discussed? What if distribution of ammunition and components for most people was simply halted?

[pollyshy]

for later

[marktwain]

If we end up with the world reset back to primitive technology nobody will be selling the kinds of chemicals needed to make primers. A much more useful skill will be making bows and arrows. The first step is to find a suitable source of ash or better yet yew trees.

It is hard to see humanity falling that far back.

People started making primers at home about 1800.

People were making gun powder about 1400 or even earlier, in China.

[marktwain]

If we end up with the world reset back to primitive technology nobody will be selling the kinds of chemicals needed to make primers.

I and others have attempted to game various situations so that humanity has to revert to primitive technology.

We have not found any yet that lasts for more than a couple of years, unless you manage to kill off more than 99% of the people on earth. (asteroid strike, a pandemic 100 times more effective than Ebola, alien invasion, super volcanism).

It is not too hard to imaging reverting to 1920's level tech for a few years.

Otherwise, the reason most people do not have firearms and ammunition is political.

I would love to find another scenario where people have had to revert to homemade bows.

Have you any to add?

[freeandfreezing]

It is interesting to model possible scenarios. It strikes me that from a practical point of view apart from crude black powder based primers it doesn't take much societal disruption from natural or political causes before it would not be possible to order complex, dangerous chemicals and have them shipped to your house. So the idea of people making primers based on complex chemicals, or a new supply of the relevant precursors becoming available seems rather far fetched.

I am not suggesting any kind of wholesale reversion to primitive technology, but practically speaking if you can't buy ammunition, or at least run your black powder gun, then making a bow and arrow would be a useful thing to be able to do.

Let's look at a hypothetical scenario. Ammunition isn't available and you don't have a black powder gun so you have two choices - make a bow and arrow or make some primers and some smokeless powder to get your modern rifle back into action.

Just about any of the primers require complex chemistry. Making the precursors from scratch is probably way past what most people know how to do, or can round up the raw materials for. Unless you are already a chemist in a working laboratory with experience, and the lab is fully functional, you aren't going to be making Calcium hypophosphite or similar chemicals. (And 99% of us wouldn't even want to try since we don't have the knowledge to do so.)

Making smokeless powder probably takes some skill too. Certainly outside of my expertise, and most everyone else too.

But making a bow and arrows is possible with common tools. And when it comes to bagging a rabbit the bow and arrow works just fine. Few criminals want to tangle with a bow and arrow either.

Having a need to make and use simple primitive technology doesn't require a worldwide lack of advanced technology. If you are lost in the woods less than 50 miles from a Holiday Inn its amenities don't mean much to you.