Thread: WTF?!?

Prepping a bunch of salvaged .45 brass tonight...blazer put a kink in my groove.
When did they start (old sacks of brass) installing SMALL pistol primers in forty-five shells?

When they switched over to non toxic primers.

Originally Posted by AMProducts

When they switched over to non toxic primers.

Isn't interesting how there is so much concern about "toxic primers" in something like ammunition that is designed to be "Deadly"?

I've been shooting "toxic primers" for over 60 years now and no health issues. Only effect that they seem to have is "I want to shoot more"

Primers with addictive potential?

The lead compounds they use in primers actually is a huge issue in certain places especially indoor ranges. While it may not affect you going in there a few times a month for an hour or two, think about the people who work there every day. NT primers have a few advantages, they produce much less fouling of the gun system, and the cases come out looking almost new. So a switch over to NT primers by a bigger market segment will make the brass you have to reload look a lot cleaner, with less polishing. Right now there are some huge down-sides to NT primers for the home loader... they are seriously hygroscopic, I've worked with them in the past, and pretty much they have to be loaded up within 24 hours of opening the package, and the primer and bullet need to be sealed. We also won't open up a package if the ambient humidity is over 15%, which isn't normally an issue here in southern california.

CCI/Blazer is using the NT primers in the blazer line because that way they can just pull cases from their normal law enforcement production line and not have to worry about it. FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) requires all ammunition used on site to be lead free (including projectile and primer). So it's likely this is a trend that will continue.

As a side note, there was an article in one of the magazines a couple of months ago about this. Don't remember if it was Handguns, Shooting Times or Guns and Ammo....
Anyway the author did a comparison with large primer and small primer 45 ACP cases. There was very little, if any, difference between the primer sizes.
While it would be a bit of a pain, if I had enough small primer cases, I'd sort them out from the large ones and use them up!

Yea, my case processor has a sensor specifically to check for this, I just set them aside and do a specific run of the SP cases and will use them somewhere I don't feel like picking up my brass.

Originally Posted by AMProducts

Yea, my case processor has a sensor specifically to check for this, I just set them aside and do a specific run of the SP cases and will use them somewhere I don't feel like picking up my brass.

Good idea!
Maybe I'll dig them out of the dead brass bin.