Primer Shortage Getting Worse

[Nik Habicht]

I adjusted both the swage and the seat depth. I still get some high primers. They are just high enough to not work but hard to see.

Tool head's tight, shell plate is secured, press is solidly mounted? If all of those are taken care of, I'm stumped. Call Dillon?

But yes, I was suggesting that if the primers you're using now were shorter than what you used to use, that you might need to adjust the priming mechanism to make them bottom out in the primer pocket --- or if they were slightly larger in diameter, that perhaps swaging would help that....

[Singlestack]

What happened?

Why the sudden shortage?

[CJDOUBLETAP]

What is the word on Wolf primers? good? bad? Available?

Jim

I keep getting high primes with the wolf small rifle primers with the 1050

Huh. I don't get any high primers with Wolf primers. I think that Wolf primers are better than Win. or Fed. I use them for all my match ammo in 38 super.

[CJDOUBLETAP]

I'm hoping small mag pistol primers withstand pressure (9 Major) better than small pistol primers but probably not as good as small rifle primers.

Any comments? The reason I'm asking is I've found some small mag pistol primers in stock.

Bill

I don't think the small magnums stand up to more pressure. They just produce more flame for a better powder burn.

[AWLAZS]

What is the word on Wolf primers? good? bad? Available?

Jim

I keep getting high primes with the wolf small rifle primers with the 1050

Huh. I don't get any high primers with Wolf primers. I think that Wolf primers are better than Win. or Fed. I use them for all my match ammo in 38 super.

rifle or pistol

[snertley]

I also heard that using Wolf primers causes impotence and receding hairlines if you put them in brass cases on an even day during an odd numbered month. ymmv

[Tucson-John]

There are a lot of ways to keep tabs on what the administration does in certain matters like firearms laws. There are services that will route any new legal proposals from both the House & Senate as well as White house to your Email. I was interested enough to subscribe....WOW, Did I get a boat-load of material! Thus far, in a nut-shell, only the usual players are even interested in any curtailment (the Violence Policy Institute, Brady, ad nausea) & they have sent "wish-lists" & that's about all.

The ISSUE is that there is so much "pre-legislation fear" that MANY things are off the shelves.....gone. This is actually what Brady DID during '94: their legislation made middlemen much wealthier and that's about all. Hi-caps were still available but at 4 times the price, etc. Well this time it's just about anything!

In AZ we usually have sources from the small "Mom & Pop gun store" to the mid-size sporting goods stores for public sources. Most of them are shopped out starting with the election day. Now it's become almost a competition to hoard material. Primers being one of the most important items as for many people, they cannot be replaced. I don't foresee this stopping at anytime soon because it feeds on the fear of permanent loss.

Frankly, the present Administration doesn't have to make any laws: we have already diminished supply, ourselves. From what I've actually read, they are much too busy with the economy & foreign policy to play with gun control. The taxes they could get from ammo or whatever is too small to develop a whole bureaucratic tax agenda & playing with the BATFE to gather peanuts is not worth the potential backlash from the public. It's just the usual players that are demanding more laws & that makes a reaction buying spree.

Primers are made in various ways but most all depend on BOTH preexisting physical construction and in a boxer primer the manufacturing of the shell or cap body really has to be exact; any deviation from a certain height will spoil the primer. Additionally the anvil has to sit in snugly & consistently and the chemical makeup has to include a physical sensitizer (powdered glass generally) that has a consistent mix in it's lot run. Because glass can separate from the rest of the material, opportunities for problems exist if speed of production is mandated before quality of the final product. The Tula Arsenal in Russia was their (the USSR) prime source. It would be interesting to find out if that government-run firm was directly involved in Wolf's production methods.

As Russia is a cash strapped nation, production runs are designed to maximize initial profit not long term name recognition. That's not to say anything they make will be garbage but the opportunity to make a really fine hand load goes down with the company that demands bulk sales before anything else. I've heard of a lot of ammo firms from Russia, Wolf, Bear, etc....their names can change quickly. Long standing firms like Remington have an investment in their name; so goes a great deal of emphasis on output quality.

Edited January 31, 2009 by Tucson-John