HA2 11.6 – Recycling Primer
“When recycling cartridge you can skip the first tumbling and start it with re-sizing,” Hide calmly started his explanation. “But when recycling primer, you have to start the process with the cleaning because the sign of defect is easier to spot in a clean primer.
Most of all, primer is safer to handle after you remove the toxic lead, salts, and ash on it.”
“Okay,” Shizuka eagerly said. “Let’s get started.”
“Hold on, let me finish my explanation.”
“What explanation?” Shizuka looked at Hide with puzzle eyes as she continued, “You already teaches us how to clean brass.”
“Yes, wet tumbling using rotary tumbler.” Hide pointed at a thick square tub as he continued, “But now we will use ultrasonic cleaner.”
“Ultrasonic cleaner?” Shizuka asked as she looked at the square tub that in a glance looked like a deep frying tub.
“Yep, ultrasonic cleaner. People in jewelry industry use it to clean both material and final product. Usually they use the model with 3 liter capacity.” Hide carefully put a batch of used-primer cup to the ultrasonic cleaner as he continued, “As for us, we are lucky that this workshop has the 20 liter model.”
Then, by pressing a knob Hide filled the ultrasonic cleaner with cold water. After that he turned on the ultrasonic buzz. No sound was heard. There was also no vibration on the surface of the water. However, slowly but surely the water became murky. Hide then pressed another knob to dispose the murky water.
Hide washed the primer cup three times before putting two squirt of dish detergent and a table spoon of Lemi Shine, and then washed it for the fourth time. This time he let the ultrasonic buzz did the job for around 10 minutes. After that he rinsed the primer cup and patted it dry using a towel.
“That was much faster compare to rotary tumbler,” Shizuka said.
“Yeah,” Hide calmly replied, “Next time you do a tumbling, feel free to use rotary tumbler or ultrasonic cleaner. All I want is, you clean the brass through fully.”
“Okay,” Shizuka replied.
Then, Takeo asked, “What’s next?”
“Take the anvil out of the primer cup, and then carry the inspection before re-sizing the cup.”
After making sure the three properly wore their safety glasses, Hide then taught Shizuka how to remove the anvil from primer cup. The method was simple. Shizuka only had to insert a pick under the anvil’s legs and pry it out, while holding the cup with pliers.
At the first few attempts, Shizuka crushed and distorted the cup because she held it too hard, while in another attempts she sent the anvil flew into unknown. However, once she got the right feeling, she could do the job with ease in a rapid pace.
Under the anvil Shizuka would also found the remains of paper foil, and she had to take it out and discarded it to waste bin. Then, she separated the primer cup and the anvil in two containers.
The next step was inspection and sorting. Hide carried it personally because some features of bad primer would be obvious while some others may not be. Even for experienced reloader with 20:20 vision, they would still need lighted magnifier glass to reach the best possible primer inspection. In short, this step was too challenging for a beginner.
As for Hide, he already knew what he should be looking for. The best primers for reuse were those with light to moderate firing pin strike that was mostly centered on the base of the cup. Unfortunately, these kinds of primers were rare. Even so, without hesitation Hide discarded cups and anvils he did not feel confident reusing. In the end, Hide got more anvils than the cups, but it was natural as anvil was rarely damaged even when the primer cup was distorted and unacceptable for reuse.
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Then, Hide taught Takeo how to re-size primer cup. This re-sizing would also knock back the dimple on the base of the cup without damaging it. With ease Takeo carried the re-sizing and then annealed and tumbled all primer cups he managed to resize.
After that, while the three looked at the first batch of primer cups and anvils the they managed to recycle Hide said, “Now, after recharging the primer cup and closing it with the anvil, we will have ready-to-use primer.”
“How do we recharge the primer cup?” Shizuka curiously asked.
“By filling it with primer mix, and there are several ways we can use to acquire primer mix.”
After taking a deep breath Hide gave Takeo and Shizuka a short explanation on how to get primer mix.
The simplest method was by using toy caps revolver. The best ones were manufactured by Germani or Nikko and could be found under various brand names in toy store or general store. As for the caps gun manufactured by China, they were the worst so Hide strictly suggested not to waste money on it when they had to use caps revolver.
This method was not only easy and safe, but would also prevent their name from appearing on the federal watch list. However, the resulting primer was not very energetic and may fail to reliably ignite certain type of gun powder.
The other simple method was by using primer mix made of strike-anywhere match stick. Usually it would require 3-4 pieces of match stick to fill a single primer cup. This was the method that most military unit taught to its personnel to produce basic improvised ammunition.
The final result was more energetic than caps primers, but still significantly less than commercial primers. For some countries, it was also rather hard to find high quality strike-anywhere match stick.
The next method was by using H48, the same primer mix used by Americ military in World War I. The resulting primer would be as energetic as commercial primer and very reliable to ignite all type of gun powders. In Americ and other countries with strong hunting culture, H48 was available for personal purchase.
While in countries with stricter regulation, reloader and unlicensed firework craftsman would make it by themselves.
“Wait a second,” Shizuka said as she raised her hand, “Hide, don’t tell me you know how to produce H48.”
“I can, and even Takeo can also make it as long as he has the manual.”
“Twig also can make it?” Shizuka asked in disbelief.
“It only requires second year of high school chemistry to produce H48. Any high school kid who got average score 8.5 for chemist will be able to make it.”
As question mark in her forehead thickened Shizuka asked another question, “What about the material and tools to produce it?”
“Potassium chlorate powder, antimony sulfide powder, sulfur powder, finely grounded glass preferably Pyrex with consistency of flour or grit, sodium bicarbonate powder or the mighty baking soda, dilute shellac solution in denatured ethyl alcohol with 1 part shellac in 10 parts of alcohol, aluminum powder between 60-100 mesh, tiny paper disk that will fit inside the primer cup and made of carbon copy paper.
Scale that weight in grains or gram, plastic weighing boats, stainless steel or plastic spatula for transferring the chemicals, plastic spoon, bamboo skewer with flat end, needle nose pliers, small rod or tiny screwdriver with diameter of shaft 1/16” or smaller.
This workshop has it all.”
“I see,” Shizuka replied while nodding her head.
After pausing for a moment Hide added, “Without proper storing system it’s very dangerous to produce H48 in large batch. However, 30 grams of H48 is enough to recharge more than a thousand primers.”
“So, we will make H48 to recharge our primer?” Takeo eagerly asked.
“No.” After a smile Hide replied, “We got some super good compound from Otsu’s lab, so I will make something far more sophisticated than H48. It’s so sophisticated to the point that only buying some of its ingredient would put you on the laundry list of Nikko Federal Police.
Then, their agent will visit you and politely ask you to explain the purpose of your purchase before deciding the further laundry procedure.”
“Can you lie to them?” Takeo curiously asked.
“You can, but when you are under federal watch, it means federal agents have the legal permission to tap your phone, email, and the rest of your communication means. If you get caught manufacturing sophisticated primer mix, they will offer you two options.” Hide took a deep breath before continuing, “A, 15 years of fulfilling life in a huge house with a high wall, along with free meal, free bed, lot of friends, and 24/7 dedicated security.
B, becomes master gunsmith for Army 1st SFG or Federal Police Special Attack Team. Other than low pay, this option will also get you long working hour, lot of stressful overtime, endless unreasonable demand from a bunch of shooters with acute perfectionist syndrome, and other nice bonus.
In short, I will avoid both options at any cost.”
After looking at Hide for a while Shizuka asked, “Why do federal bureau take such precaution for anyone who know how to manufacture sophisticated primer mix?”
“Because anyone who knew how to manufacture it would also know how to manufacture mil-grade explosive and its primer. If these kind of people joint the dark side, it’s very likely lot of innocent people will die or badly hurt.”
“I see,” Shizuka nodded before continuing in a super serious tone, “Hide, no matter how bitter your life is, please don’t ever become Darth Vader and destroy the world.”
‘This chick, of all villains she know, why the fuck she lump me together with that creepy Darth Vader?’ Hide muttered as he gave Shizuka a palmed face, and then he sourly said, “My life is not bitter.”
“I know that,” Shizuka seriously replied. “But sometimes you gave me impressions that deep down in your heart, you hold huge bitterness that enough to drive you black and destroy the whole world.
I know it sound very silly, but my father also give me the same impression after my mother left us. However, he doesn’t know how to manufacture explosive, handle firearms, or courage to harm other people. So, in the end he can only use booze to ease his bitterness.”
‘Well, as long as I don’t lose Aizawa for the second time, I’ll be fine.’ After taking a deep breath Hide then turned his gaze to Shizuka and gently said, “Thanks for worrying me, but other than the lack of money I have no other issue.”
Shizuka nodded and replied, “Okay.”
Hide then continued his explanation. After that, he went to manufacture primer mix and gunpowder while Takeo and Shizuka worked together to recycle the rest of used-cartridge and projectile remains they had.
Around four hours later, Hide taught Shizuka and Takeo how to put together projectile, primer, gun powder, and cartridge into nice 9 mm Para. The two made 10 round each, and Hide asked them to test it personally. Once they found that their first homemade ammo worked perfectly, a big satisfied smile immediately appeared in their face. Hide then closed today ammo recycling class.
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