By Duane Thomas
When we say “pierced primer” that means, when the round fires, instead of the primer remaining intact, a hole forms where the firing pin’s hit it. Let’s walk through why that might happen, why it’s a bad thing, and how to prevent it.
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN
1. The firing pin hits the…
By Duane Thomas
While serious handloaders pride themselves on turning out ammunition so bright and shiny and well-assembled that, absent a few nicks and scratches to the cases as they cycled through an autopistol’s action, they could be mistaken for factory ammo, there are a few things that need to be understood in that regard…
By Duane Thomas
There are little tricks you learn, as you become an experienced handloader, to make the process go faster and more smoothly. One of them concerns how you pick up primers out of your primer flip tray.
A primer has two sides, a smooth, solid, shiny side, and the side containing the anvil,…
By Duane Thomas
All bullet types have their own specific requirements, things you have to pay attention to, when loading them. Bare lead bullets are no exception. One such area to monitor is seating dies getting clogged with bullet lube thus reducing loaded rounds’ overall length.
Bare lead bullets will feature one or more grooves…
By Duane Thomas
The term “misfire” means, when we pull the trigger on a firearm, the cartridge does not fire, we get a click instead of a bang. There are a whole host of reasons that might happen, but fortunately by far the most common is also the easiest to avoid.
(Misfires in rimfire ammunition…
By Duane Thomas
When we say a primer is “sensitive,” we’re referring to the amount of force – firing pin impact energy – required to cause the priming compound to ignite. There are multiple factors determining a primer’s sensitivity, like the thickness of the cup itself, and the shape of the anvil (a piece of…
By Duane Thomas
In the first entry in this five-part series on the components of priming compound, we discussed the initiator, which is stored energy, that, when it detonates, produces heat, gas, and a shockwave. Now we will discuss the sensitizer, which enhances the initiator’s susceptibility to ignition. Common sensitizers include tetrazene (also known as,…
By Duane Thomas
In the first two parts of this five-part series on the components of priming compounds, we discussed the initiator which is stored energy, and the sensitizer which places the initiator in a more-excited state thus makes it more likely to detonate when exposed to impact energy. Now let’s address the frictionator. Which…
By John Kleespies
I’m sometimes encountered with a conversation that goes like this:
The other guy: “I want to learn how to load my own ammunition, but I don’t know where to begin. Help me!”
Me: “What kind of a gun do you own?”
The other guy: “I don’t know! Just tell me what to…
By Duane Thomas
Some people opine that handloading is not worth the time. For some cartridges, I get that, you can buy factory ammunition that fully meets your needs. Having said that, in many cases, you can’t. In the overall scheme of things, there really aren’t that many factory loads. It might seem like there…
By Duane Thomas
As you’re getting into handloading, you might look down inside a primer and notice it kind of looks like a radiation symbol down there, a trefoil with three triangular holes in it, and wonder “Why three holes?” The truth is it hasn’t invariably been that way.
The portion of the primer that…
By John Kleespies
After emptying a dispenser of gunpowder, you may notice a film of gray dust left behind and assume that it is residual gunpowder. In fact, you are probably looking at graphite.
During the manufacture process of modern gunpowder, graphite is tumbled with the powder, thus coating the individual flakes in a protective layer…