primer dies

occifer19 · Apr 26, 2009

Does anyone know where I can get dies to make primers, any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks, :crazy:

Mike Hoffman

madmachinst · Apr 26, 2009

making the cups is one thing, what are you going to use as a primer agent? You interested in production or just personal use? Is there nay legality that you have to be some kind of special entity to make primers? Just very very very curious with the rarity of primers and all. My self personally I'd dip the old primers in acetone and clean em out and reform them to like new. Maybe need to anneal them.

occifer19 · Apr 26, 2009

occifer19

as an unemployed Machinist, looking to do something to do and with the lack of primers out there I want to see what is invloved in making them. I'm not loonie toons, I want to get back to being productive again. Thanks for your help and any advice...........Mike Hoffman

occifer19 · Apr 26, 2009

occifer19

as an unemployed Machinist, looking to do something and with the lack of primers out there I want to see what is invloved in making them. I'm not loonie toons, I want to get back to being productive again. Thanks for your help and any advice...........Mike Hoffman

J.R. Williams · Apr 26, 2009

Primers

Mike
Primers are a very complex item to build. There is the mechanical part of making the Primer Cup and the Anvil then comes the assembly. The wet priming compound is manually forced into a match plate, with a rubber squeegee, to fill each cavity with the correct volume of priming compound, then the plate is turned over to match with a plate holding the cups. The next plate is set over the plate with the compound to push the priming pellet into the cup. The next operation is to install a thin foil over the wet compound. Then the anvils are seated over the foil. As I remember the match plate unit has 120 cavities. The damp primers are then moved to a drying oven. The priming compound is a mixture of lead styphanate, red phosphorous,a little ground glass and an inert binder. The old chlorate priming compound would be easier to compound. Either one is safe to handle when wet. Making the lead compound requires careful chemistry work. The cup and anvil are a punch press item with the material being presented to the press in a flat ribbon strip. Making a shot shell primer consists of adding a battery cup to hold the primer. It is a punch press item made using a progressive die system of seven stages. I have done some design modifications to the seven section transfer slide for the battery cups.(about 40 years go) I hope this commentary helps your thought process.
JRW

madmachinst · Apr 26, 2009

Why do you have to make a wet pellet and then insert it into a primer separately? Why can't you just squeege the stuff directly into the primer?

cheechako · Apr 26, 2009

Mike

I can appreciate someone wanting to make something even though he can buy it already made. I do the same thing. But there has to be a line. I equate making primers with making your own toothpicks. Someday soon the primer shortage will go away. It has before and it will again.

JMHO

Ray

occifer19 · Apr 26, 2009

occifer19

Guys
Thanks, this is great. Good info right away. I was looking to keep busy but it looks like making primers is alittle more involved than I thought. We went to a gun show and noticed the shortage and thought we could make some money. But it is a lot more hassle than I thought. I hope the job shortage goes away as well as the primer shortage. Thanks for the feed back.

Mikey: eek:

delloro · Apr 27, 2009

madmachinst said:
Why do you have to make a wet pellet and then insert it into a primer separately? Why can't you just squeege the stuff directly into the primer?

b/c the pellet geometry has to do with sensitivity. they are that closely engineered. and, the pellet is smaller that you might imagine.

if you must make primers, make berdan primers, they are usually unavailable.

xring · Apr 27, 2009

occifer19 said:
Does anyone know where I can get dies to make primers, any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks, Mike Hoffman

Mike, what are you going to put the dies in? Drawing the cups and stamping out the anvils is easy with the right eqiupment. Have access to a wire EDM?
Bob

occifer19 · Apr 27, 2009

occifer19

Bob
Thanks for getting back to me so soon. I don't have a way to hold the dies yet. Don't even have the Dies or a EDM.

We may be beating a Dead Mule but some intrest in primers my not be lost.
Not sure which ones to make yet or if it is a good bet. If it can be done affordably it might jst get me out of the house, and make a few bucks

Any thoughts...............Mike Hoffman

[email protected]

madmachinst · Apr 27, 2009

if you don't have the big bucks for licensing then none of this stuff is a way to make a few bucks. Anything that has to do with ammo or registered gun parts is a no no for unlicensed individuals. We can make these things for ourselves but not for others.

occifer19 · Apr 27, 2009

occifer19

My brothr inlaw is licenced with the atf, if that helps. I spent 2 years in the army and don't want to deal with the feds anymore. thanks for your help.

Mike :eek:

xring · Apr 27, 2009

occifer19 said:
Bob
Thanks for getting back to me so soon. I don't have a way to hold the dies yet. Don't even have the Dies or a EDM.

We may be beating a Dead Mule but some intrest in primers my not be lost.
Not sure which ones to make yet or if it is a good bet. If it can be done affordably it might jst get me out of the house, and make a few bucks

Any thoughts...............Mike Hoffman

[email protected]

I don't see how it can be done on the cheap, as the press ( either a transfer press or a progressive) do not come cheap! Tooling is another issue but the dies for the cups would be the easy part, at least for me. The anvil would have to be blanked out using a shaped punch and die which would be why I mentioned the EDM. Making any money on this project would take a whole lot of primers. If you wanted to make a few of them basically one at a time for yourself, that might be possible! A lot of work but possible. Let me know what you decide!
Bob

occifer19 · Apr 27, 2009

occifer19

Bob
Thanks for the input. I've been a Machinist all my life. Jobs are tight so we thought it be a way to make a few bucks, but it isn't that easy. I might have to make cookies. I do like to cook. I'll tell my brother inlaw what you said, but it sounds like it may not go. Damn........Mikey

Thanks again :confused:

SteveF · Apr 27, 2009

Mike - Ignore the fact that making a highly explosive compound isn't easy, and you aren't a chemical engineer, and is very dangerous. If you manage to make them, and they seem to work, who will buy them? I've got a small bag of .223 ammo that was turned over to me after one of the rounds blew the bottom out of an AR-15 magazine. Ammo was bought at a gun show from a guy who loaded ammo in his garage to "make some extra money". No idea what kind of powder it has but it ain't close to the right kind which is why I NEVER buy reloads at gun shows. Nothing personal but for me, this is the same situation. Not a chance I would ever buy primers that weren't made by the big manufacturers.

Steve.

Davis In SC · Apr 27, 2009

I was always under the impression that primers were made in a facility with very few humans, and thick walls between those few people and the production line.

SteveF · Apr 28, 2009

Jim Scoutten did a tour of the Federal plant on his show American Shooter a few years back. Showed the making of a cartridge from the brass sheets to the boxed rounds ready for shipping and was pretty interesting. Yes, most of the process is automated. The primer facility was shown and a person manually loads the primers. BTW - a person using only tools that can't make a spark; and wearing rubber boots since the entire floor is completely submerged in 1/4" of water; and in a building located well away from the other buildings.

Did a search to see if some it might be on youtube or something but couldn't find it. Might be a available from the Shooting USA web site which is the successor program to American Shooter.

Steve.

Tom1 · Apr 28, 2009

This seems like a perfect time to invent something new, the mother of necessity and all that. See if you can make something different that works well. There are many people that feel that ammo and loading supplies will be hard to get from here on. The door is open for you. A stable ignition system that can be stored long term and be non corrosive. humm....

kg2v · Apr 28, 2009

My Dad's old hunting buddies youngest son (who I still keep in touch with somewhat) works(ed?) for one of the ammo makers. He says primers are made out in the middle of nowhere (eastern Washington state if I remember right) in buildings all by themselves. Says the primer compund when wet is no big deal, but when it's dry/drying...

They are made, and put in drying/storage sheads that are FAR away from anything, that have big berms around them, so that if they go, the bang goes UP

primer dies

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Aluminum

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Hot Rolled

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Plastic

Aluminum

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Plastic

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