DIY SHARPSHOOTER Percussion Cap-Primers ex USA: TEST.

 FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS A TIN ?? 

- That's Our Future:

Back at the start of November 2023 - I "internet ordered" from America, a tool to make No.11 size PERCUSSION CAPS - plus 3x kits of the PRIME-ALL chemicals needed to mix & fill them.

The NZ shooting scene is deteriorating fast .. with some ammunition and components in short supply - while PRICES are rocketing skywards faster than any ICBM.. - CCI "Caps" that were around 10-12 cents each are now being offered at $40 a tin, plus courier charge (total $52 per 100) to your door, - 52cents per cap.

That's looking like more than two bucks a shot for some home-made bangers 

.. BUT these DIY kits could drop that down to 3-6 cents per cap. - I'm treating this as an interesting fun project. -  Some shooters might fancy reloading costly 22 Magnum cartridges.

Price is not the issue here ... AVAILABILITY is even more important with increasing restrictions on Export - Import - Transport - Permits and Licences - Storage - Insurance .. and prohibitive new RULES for Clubs operating SHOOTING RANGES - and less and less land available to shoot over.

Decent folk are questioning whether it's all worth the bother - Gun Shops are closing.

'THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE YOU AWAY HA-HAA'1966

Link to a good article on d.i.y primers that even tells how to make your own potassium chlorate:

https://aardvarkreloading.com/resources/SHTF%20Homemade%20Primers%202020-03-23.pdf

- Another factor was my curiosity as to whether I could make this kit reliably work - would my order even arrive down here in New Zealand .. On 4th December the package landed on my home doorstep. - It HAD been slit open, checked and resealed by the nosies at 'border protection' .. but it was all there.

- Everything considered - this is a good result. SHARPSHOOTER 22LR supplied exactly the tool & chemicals as ordered. *BRILLIANT*.

The issue isn't that I don't have "shop bought" caps .. as I have plenty - but as a non-criminal citizen I INSIST on my RIGHTS to be able to harvest wild foods and to maintain independence of all the prohibitions imposed by CORRUPT VENAL POLITICIANS.

- We are NOT making here any component using shock sensitive explosive metalic fulminates - as first patented by Rev. Forsyth in 1807 - neither is there mercury, phosphorus .. nor lead styphnate.

This mixture used for priming will do the ignition function in primers, - percussion caps & in Rimfire Cartridges. - I'm thinking of it as much like a gunpowder formulation with added FRICTION AGENTS such as ground glass / sand - that when hit sharply, impact together and make enough heat to ignite the compound, that itself then ignites the main propellant charge. This mixture produces corrosive residues that require careful cleaning and oiling of your gun.

IT WORKS - BUT IT IS CORROSIVE ..

Nothing is ever simple .. Nothing is ever perfect ..

These chemicals are a variation of H-48 Priming Compound - dating from 1898 that you might Google if curious.

The individual chemicals are not dangerous and can be bought everywhere by anyone who chooses to be even more independent .. It is only after mixing that the preparation becomes functional and may be ignited by friction from an impact/hammer blow. 

HAVE FAITH: - I did a precise scientific TEST - after I had filled my caps .. I tipped a wee pile of the left-over dry mix onto the concrete step at my laundry door - and hit it with a wee hammer .. where it made a satisfyingly loud BANG. - WOOO HOOO. Promising Eh.

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ..

Actually making some caps comes after I've had a cup of coffee eh. - This is going to be fiddly.

__________________

Well I first had to buy a can of fizz and 'dumbfuck' that I am, - I drunk this piss-pop instead of pouring it down the sewer - or even smarter would have been to scavange a dead one from a garbo somewhere ..

No issues cutting can apart and starting a trial run .. Careful of the SHARP EDGES.

Don't be cross .. but I used the plastic handled screwdriver as a whacker. - Starting from the right, those first five, I failed to send the punch all the way down so they are NOT fully formed. - The next nine-in-a-line are what the tool produces when used as intended. No criticism but they are, like a good woman - a little 'round bottomed and wobbly' - and I have seen one joker on the wwweb use a metal hand punch to reshape & stabilise these into a drilled cavity and to flatten the wobble. Maybe I will - maybe I won't .. it depends on if they keep tipping over and spilling their load eh.

Those irregular crimps that form the sides likely are a good thing 'cos I'd be free to squeeze or stretch the soft aluminum to fit a range of cones eh.

So I did follow the instructions but this is experimental eh .. and fiddly/messy. - I used a pet food container to carefully mix the angel dust with a small paintbrush, crunching all lumps noticed.

I used a small primer tray to hold the caps while loading them with the magic mixture - but using the supplied scoop for this wasn't easy - so I then used a pointy blade-thing to scoop and drop..

Then I used a toothpick to drip 'Meths' denatured alcohol into the caps .. left them for a while and poked the moist mix down to "firm it" and placed them on my sunny inside window sill to ripen.

OK: - After two days drying - I selected the 140 year old test mechanism .. first 'snapping' a CCI #11 cap to prove function. - Carefully directing the unloaded spring-engine into my fume cabinet (log burner) five D.I.Y caps were hammered - with 100% SUCCESS .. no FTF's

The "noise level" of the homemade jobbies was a loud "crack" much the same as shop bought -

The snapped diy caps stayed whole as did the CCI test cap - there being no back-blast as from a fully loaded discharge.

The valuable test unit, being covered in corrosive combustion residue, was promptly scrubbed THREE TIMES using detergent and boiling hot water, - before lubricating.

First Cleaning..

Notes so far on my experience: 

For SAFETY - I mixed only small amounts for immediate use.

IQ above 40 recommended ..

- I needed to keep the thin aluminium sheet or strip cut from my can as flat as possible to slide properly into the tool - with no rolling or kinking at the edges ..

- I did use the flat end of the toothpick to try flatten the Cap's bases in the Primer tray - they are very thin metal and 'flimsy'.

 - I understand there is some adhesive in the magic mix that is activated by adding a liquid, - I waited - and then pressed the mixture in to firm into the cap.

- When placing the test pieces onto the cones - I did observe a little loose compound dust dropping ..

- So there are possibilities for the independently minded .. Home made 'antique propellant', home-made Percussion Caps, Home-made Projectiles cast from soft lead, - Scratch Built Locks ..

- Please excuse me from writing further - as right now I want to check & CLEAN the old test equipment AGAIN. - But I have rewarded myself with a second brew of coffee with a big spoon of condensed milk ... extravagently rash for a septuagenarian / octogenarian? but damn the risk eh ..

Marty K.