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I dont get it. Want to buy 1000 primers? Cool price + Shipping + hazmat fee. Now I order 1000 rounds of ammo that have those same 1000 primers AND powder and no hazmat fees? I dont understand....

tubular031 wrote:I dont get it. Want to buy 1000 primers? Cool price + Shipping + hazmat fee. Now I order 1000 rounds of ammo that have those same 1000 primers AND powder and no hazmat fees? I dont understand....

Primers are much more volatile than gunpowder. They are specifically designed to be set off by impact and much more sensitive to ignition by other means. Having lots of those in a small space constitutes a higher risk of hazard than loaded ammo, where they are enclosed in the primer pocket, in packaging designed to keep them insulated from impact from the only exposed side, which is much more difficult to accidentally set off via impact. The anvil on an open primer is much more susceptible to accidental strikes via impact than it would be in the enclosed part of a loaded round, which would require a very significant and focused impact through the back of the primer.

Set a case of primers and a case of loaded ammo on the ground, and run a forklift tine into each case. See which one makes a big boom.

I guess this makes sense. Thanks for the info

if you have ever done any bullet casting and had ONE primer go off, you have a molten mess in a 5 foot circle, including up and down.. Multiply that by 1000. You will understand then the primers are HIGHLY Volatile..

Reloader wrote:if you have ever done any bullet casting and had ONE primer go off, you have a molten mess in a 5 foot circle, including up and down.. Multiply that by 1000. You will understand then the primers are HIGHLY Volatile..

Out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a primer into the pot?

Evidently, it was lodged under a wheel weight clip. I was reducing wheelweights to the purer lead form into ingots for the mold. The bucket of lead was underneath my press and I guess the primer feed kicked one to the case, and another to the bucket, where it went unnoticed. After this mishap, the bucket was cleaned and moved to the other side of the room for better safety. This I might add, happend in year 2 of my 30 years of reloading. It happens to us all eventually; Murphy make house calls.

In similar vein, what's the score with primed cases? Do they count as ammo or as primers?

chartreuse wrote:In similar vein, what's the score with primed cases? Do they count as ammo or as primers?

No, I believe they work the same as loaded ammo, classified as ORM-D. It has to be labeled for shipping the same way as ammo, with the same "sturdy box" requirement, but there is no hazmat fee, the same as loaded ammo.

NcongruNt wrote:

chartreuse wrote:In similar vein, what's the score with primed cases? Do they count as ammo or as primers?

No, I believe they work the same as loaded ammo, classified as ORM-D. It has to be labeled for shipping the same way as ammo, with the same "sturdy box" requirement, but there is no hazmat fee, the same as loaded ammo.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. It's just that sense is the last thing I expect to find, these days...

medalguy wrote:Set a case of primers and a case of loaded ammo on the ground, and run a forklift tine into each case. See which one makes a big boom.

Please don't. Just think of all of the ammo you'll waste! And you'll probably go deaf if not worse.

DubiousDan wrote:

Reloader wrote:if you have ever done any bullet casting and had ONE primer go off, you have a molten mess in a 5 foot circle, including up and down.. Multiply that by 1000. You will understand then the primers are HIGHLY Volatile..

So ... is that a new way to flux the melt.

Hope you don't mind a little ribbing.

That's not fluxing, it's flexing.

The HAZ MAT fee was put in place to discourage hand loaders, smokeless powder and primers are not nearly as dangerous to ship as paint thinner and other flammable liquids, in a fire powder burns with a hot but smokey flame, and primers will pop, adt the way that they are packed will not build a lot of pressure. If I remember these rules came about under the Clinton administration.