Re: Catching a bite

In article <fv7b8p$b4u$3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Mike Andrews" <mikea@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:22:25 -0300,
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<48172f21$2$fuzhry+tra$mr2ice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

In <slrng0pt1t.3oi.zebeej@xxxxxxxxx>, on 04/21/2008
at 08:08 PM, Zebee Johnstone <zebeej@xxxxxxxxx> said:

Will your average modern rifle fire that kind of powder, and will it
project your average modern cartridge?

That's not a problem, since even with modern powder it won't go off
without that last tricky bit. Lots of luck making MF without an industrial
infrastructure, and doing your own loads had better not be a learning
experience.

For that matter, is there any kind of percussion cap that doesn't require
extreme care to make safely?

Not TTBOMK. I think the nature of the materials is such as to require
extreme care.

Hmmmm ... what materials require some sort of activation, post-assembly,
to acquire the Percussion-Cap nature? It would be nice to be able to
do all the mechanical assembly, and then, as the last step before (or
preferably _after_) packaging, to do an activation step.

IMI (Imperial Metal Industries) a.k.a Eley/Kynoch developed "Eley prime"
for .22 rimfire ammunition. This was apparently inert until activated
by adding water, the priming machine dropped the required amount of
powder into the empty case, added a drop of water, spun the case at high
speed to force the mixture into the rim, and then presmably the water
was carefully evaporated before the propellant charge and projectile
were added. I suspect something like potassium azide and lead nitrate
would be involved, plus a binder of some sort, to give lead azide and
a fuel/oxidizer mix that were not insanely sensitive as mixed precursors.

The usual suspects for primers (Mercury Fulminate, Lead Azide, and so on)
are quite bad enough, some of the "improvised" ones (Armstrong's mixture)
are Very Much Worse.

The method of transporting (fulminate) compounds from the magazine to
"Cap Priming" at the Witton factory (Kynoch's) was to carry the small
(I assume paper boxed) amount on a sort of embroidery hoop with a thin
rubber *** instead of cloth, only hold it by the hoop, and walk very
slowly. Almost as bad as the photo in Davis of transporting nitroglycerin
in a wooden wheelbarrow-style tank from the nitration line to the washing
plant.

Jobs You Do Not Want To Take.

Chris.
Chris.

--
"We live in the interface between radioactive molten rock and hard
vacuum and we worry about safety."
-- Chris Hunt
.