Making primers?

COLTIMPALA

COLTIMPALA

Yo homie... is that my briefcase?
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Saw this here tool in an email this morning and I have a lot of questions. I thought I knew a great deal about reloading but never considered making my own primers. Sorta figured that was on par with mining my own lead in the back yard and forming my own brass cases from old plumbing parts. Anyone here care to explain if this is something you're into doing? Screenshot_20240205-125734.png
 
I know zero about this but I’m curious how the whole process would work. How do you make the priming compound? Do you use a syringe to fill the primers? Where do you get anvils? Etc etc
 
I researched this a few years ago. Never really gave it too much thought was more or less just curious. I think they are very finicky and it looked too tedious for my ADD brain.
 
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Is this more "primer reloading" than actual primer making? I remember that made its rounds back when the ammo and reloading components were in serious scarcity. You had to reuse an existing primer.
 
There are threads, and maybe a whole section, on this at castboolits.com.
 
GymB said:
There are threads, and maybe a whole section, on this at castboolits.com.
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I'll be incredibly honest my friend, I'm too lazy to do the research, and I have as much desire to reload primers as I do to stuff a wet noodle up a bobcats @$$ in a phone booth. I really just wanna know what the heck people doing this are using for a primer compound and the legality/sensitivity of doing so. Sounds sketchy when half the people reloading are arguing over spp and SRP being used interchangeably.
 
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Oh goodness no. I'm into reloading but I am not wasting that much time on something I can just buy for 6 to 12 cents each by the 1000ct brick. Yes that's more than the 3 cents each they used to be, but I value my time way too much to merit making my own primers. Especially when I'm getting perfectly adequate results from the factory primers I'm already buying and using.
 
clay_fv said:
Is this more "primer reloading" than actual primer making? I remember that made its rounds back when the ammo and reloading components were in serious scarcity. You had to reuse an existing primer.
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That actually says “primer cup maker” so I think that particular tool just punches empty cups from sheeting. I think the compound and anvil stuff is some other tool set?
 
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Gnash.Hyena said:
Oh goodness no. I'm into reloading but I am not wasting that much time on something I can just buy for 6 to 12 cents each by the 1000ct brick. Yes that's more than the 3 cents each they used to be, but I value my time way too much to merit making my own primers. Especially when I'm getting perfectly adequate results from the factory primers I'm already buying and using.
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^this, 100%
 
I bought some stuff from https://22lrreloader.com for making percussion caps. You stamp out cups from an aluminum can, mix priming compound, and make your own caps. It was a proof-of-concept exercise when primers were more expensive than ammo. They worked, it's not something I want to do routinely, but it's good to know I can.

Cost was about $50 for the die to make cups and $20/K for priming compound imgredients.
 
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Catfish said:
I bought some stuff from https://22lrreloader.com for making percussion caps. You stamp out cups from an aluminum can, mix priming compound, and make your own caps. It was a proof-of-concept exercise when primers were more expensive than ammo. They worked, it's not something I want to do routinely, but it's good to know I can.

Cost was about $50 for the die to make cups and $20/K for priming compound imgredients.
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A LOT of the crap I learn is just “In case I ever need to” stuff and not stuff I intend to do unless Ihave to.
 
22lrreloader.com

Prime-All Repriming Compound

IMPORTANT: YOU MUST BE 21 YEARS OF AGE TO ORDER PRIME-ALL REPRIMING COMPOUND! By adding this item to your cart and proceeding to checkout, you acknowledge you are at least 21 years of age. Prime any casing, anywhere, including muzzle loader caps, and have the ability to reprime any old primer...
22lrreloader.com 22lrreloader.com
 
Friend in college blew up his mother’s kitchen one day working with this stuff, it’s really dangerous for the ignorant and stupid. I’m not so stupid as to not recognize my own ignorance.
 
I believe, of all the reloading components we work with, that primers (primer compound in particular) is potentially the most dangerous.

I saw some reviews of the primer compound that was for sale somewhere, and one reviewer stated that, try as he might, he was only able to get something like 60-70% reliability. That might be good in a post apocalyptic world, but nothing else IMHO. I'd be much better off spending my time earning a little extra money on the side and buying real primers.
 
Toprudder said:
one reviewer stated that, try as he might, he was only able to get something like 60-70% reliability
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My experience with Prime-all was positive. In my small sample size of 25 I had 5 failures in the making, meaning the priming compound didn't fill the cup properly. That's on me. Of the remaining 20, all of them went bang. A few were just poppacaps, and the rest were live fire with Black Powder. I had zero failures to ignite the powder charge. In fact, some of my home-made primers were noticeable hotter than factory caps.
 
COLTIMPALA said:
Saw this here tool in an email this morning and I have a lot of questions. I thought I knew a great deal about reloading but never considered making my own primers. Sorta figured that was on par with mining my own lead in the back yard and forming my own brass cases from old plumbing parts. Anyone here care to explain if this is something you're into doing? View attachment 738144
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i seen that when they had them on sale for half that price for black friday.

but the problem runs in to anvils. i searched high and low and found nothing about making the anvils. and reusing anvils are to me counter productive.

then there’s the issue of primer compound. yes you can make a corrosive primer fairly easily. but making a non corrosive close to say Federal or CCI is such a process that it about becomes a headache. then primer compound storage. then filling the primers.

but if you need them bad enough the process is worth it
 
Back when I was selling brass, I had a forum member request spent primers. I sold them to him for what I could get for them per pound (scrap brass) from a metal recycler. I forget how many pounds it was. He told me he was going to experiment with reloading them. I never heard back from him.
 
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