CSEMARTIN Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Hello, I have been wanting to ask this question for awhile. Several months ago I was reading through various reloading information. I swear it was a VihtaVuori Reloading Guide that said you shouldn't put carpet in a reloading room because this could increase the risk of primer detonation secondary to static electricity. I just spent a great deal of time going through my VihtaVuori Relodaing Guide and couldn't find anywhere where it said this. Am I losing my mind? Anyway, do any of you have an opinion on this subject. I have been fixing up my reloading room for almost a year now- carpet was in the original plan. Thanks, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dunn Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Don't know anything about static electricity detonating primers. What concerns me about carpet is using a vacuum to clean up the spent primers. I will occasionally lose a live primer, when that happens I sweep the place up. Having a live primer in a vacuum gives me the willies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gun Geek Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Ditto on the live primer in the vacuum. I also always end up powder on the floor, usually small amounts at a time, but it builds up. I wouldn't really like the idea if having that in the vac either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hey QuicksDraw! Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 We should ask those myth busters on TV to vacum the primers. They'll do anything and they love to blow stuff up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTerry Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Don't have to ask Myth Busters - been there done it! Roading in the spare bedroom a lose a primer. The vacuum was under warranty and my wife sent it back to Hoover who replaced it but added a note with the new machine sayimg that they had never seen one of their vacuum cleaners fail in the way that ours had. But... It gets worse - having stopped the reloading in carpeted bedroom and now with dedicated reloading room - I drop a tray of primers in the garage and can only find 99!! Next day my wife drives her vehicle out of the garage and is half a block down the street when the primer in the tread of her tire decides it has had enough abuse. The tire repair guy said he had never seen a tire damaged like that before!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g56 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Next day my wife drives her vehicle out of the garage and is half a block down the street when the primer in the tread of her tire decides it has had enough abuse. The tire repair guy said he had never seen a tire damaged like that before!! LOL!!!! Dropped primers would be a problem on carpet, spilled powder would be a huge issue on carpet. IMHO a reloading room should have a smooth floor that is easily swept up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogmaDog Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 On Mythbusters they did a sequence about a myth in which two rednecks used a .22 lr cartridge to replace a blown fuse in their pickup truck. Driving the truck a while caused the round to discharge, hitting the driver in the nads and causing him to swerve off the road. Initially, the MBs were unable to get the round to discharge, until they put some more juice throught the electrical system...then they did it multiple times. Based on that, I'd say the tiny current from a static shock would probably be too little to detonate a primer. Most of the time, at least. My reloading bench is in a carpeted room, but I agree it would be better to have it in a room with a hard floor, even though static electricity is one of your lesser worries. DogmaDog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny hill Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 When my wife vaccumed up a live primer years ago, she called me everything but honey, got back into my own bed about a week later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gun Geek Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Dog: I wouldn't discount the static thing just because of the experience with the Mythbusters. I their case they were essentially heating the 22 casing with electricity until the round cooked off. This is done by passing lots of current through it. Static is a lot of voltage affair. It creates a very hot place that is very small. Static electricity will ignite things like gasoline, kerosene, etc. But if you just passed current through them they wouldn't care at all. OK, I guess it is time for an experiment. Anybody got a stun gun - zap some powder. Oh, wait I've got it - the little spark made by one of those long grill/fireplace lighters. If you never see another post from me, you'll know something worked. Back in a bit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gun Geek Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 OK, I lived through it. Testbed: I took apart one of those long nosed lighters, figured out how it worked, and took the key parts. There's a little plastic dohicky that has two metal contacts on the outside. When you compress plunger it smacks a piezio (sp) crystal which gives off lots of voltage and very little current. Make the proper air gap and you get a spark! With aligator clips I connected one lead to a pan from an RCBS 5-0-5 scale. The other lead had a little wire in the clip so I could position it. Put a few FLAKES of powder, made spark. Connected the cup of the primer to one clip ositioned the wire to run a spark through the priming compound. Powder (Clays, Titegroup, H110, 4895) did NOT ignite. Primer (Winchester Large pistol) DID ignite. Bang! Yes I have all the hair I started with and yes, I was wearing ear and eye protection. As the Mythbusters say: "We have years of training and experience that keeps us safe" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTerry Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Getting back (boringly) to the first post - page 10 of the VihtaVouri "Reloading Guide for Centerfire Cartridges" 2/2002 Quote "Do not use any carpet at your reloading site. Carpet is hard to keep dust-free and it can create static electricity that can accidentally fire a primer" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErikW Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 How about you just touch your grounded steel workbench or something before you handle a box of primers? Worked for me and bunch of computer parts over the years. Of course, I used a grounded wrist strap on my own stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Erik, Grounding schmounding! You gotta leave a few things in life to chance. Testbed:I took apart one of those long nosed lighters, figured out how it worked, and took the key parts. There's a little plastic dohicky that has two metal contacts on the outside. When you compress plunger it smacks a piezio (sp) crystal which gives off lots of voltage and very little current. Make the proper air gap and you get a spark! GunGeek, you already have the ignitor for your new spud gun. All you need is some 1 1/2" PVC and a can of Aquanet hairspray. I guarantee you the lil' lighter gizzy will set it off. tehehe Who needs eyebrows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gun Geek Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Betcha it'll work on black powder, too. I'm thinking electric igniter for a cannon!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 I'm thinking electric igniter for a cannon!!! That's exactly how cannons (ranging from 30mm up) work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 Actually, 20mm comes electrically primed for aircraft use. As an aside I always had a sneaking suspision that some of the shotgun speed loader detonations were caused by static discharge. Nylon shell case sliding down a pvc tube going into an aluminum or steel reciever....hmm. KURTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Hmmmm.... Can you imagine how light you could set an electronic trigger ? Mouse click light triggers... Would it be legal in the US ? Talk about quick lock time... Need more caffeine... Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Boudrie Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 Hmmmm....Can you imagine how light you could set an electronic trigger ? Mouse click light triggers... Would it be legal in the US ? Talk about quick lock time... Need more caffeine... Travis F. Pretty light if the actuation mechanism was using your finger tip to interrupt a light beam crossing the area in the trigger guard where the traditional trigger mechanism would reside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detlef Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 electronic triggers are of course old news also on competition airguns, where they've been used for many years. I thought there they used induction loops, not light barriers? Obviously, you can then make the trigger as light as you want... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBF Posted February 21, 2004 Share Posted February 21, 2004 Some of the paintball guns are using Hall effect sensors to activate the electronics. My son has an electro marker that he has clocked 23 balls per second " tickling " the double finger trigger. I have no desire to tickle my guns. Would it be legal to have an electronic trigger on a firearm ? Remington uses one on their Etronx bolt gun. Travis F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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