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Posted: 4/29/2015 11:29:08 AM EDT
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I've got a batch of 50's FN 30-06 rounds that I've taken apart due to slow fire & hang fires. I'd like to disable the mercuric primers in the left over brass. I know lead styphnate primers are hard to kill, but is there anything I can use to kill mercuric primers? They are berdan primers, otherwise I'd remove them with the press. I have no desire to set up a berdan water depriming system. My first guess is to use some Kroil and let that penetrate the primers. I'm going to just recycle the brass afterwards. |
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They are not chlorate primers, they are definitely mercuric. I'd burn them in a can in a fire, but I have no desire to contaminate my property with elemental mercury.
From elsewhere on the web: From Handloading, W.C. Davis, Jr., 1981, NRA Books "The late Col. B.R. Lewis, a former Contributing Editor to The American Rifleman, investigated this question for the NRA in the late 1960's, and published his findings in the American Rifleman of April 1969 (pp. 34-35). His information was from first-hand sources in the respective countries of manufacture, and is believed to be reliable, but supporting documentation comparable to that on U.S. military ammunition is unavailable, and possible exceptions exist. The following information is extracted from the aforementioned article. Belgium: Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre has been a major producer of ammunition for years. Its typical marking is FN and date. Fabrique Nationale changed to noncorrosive priming exclusively on December 6, 1957. Thus all dated 1958 and later is noncorrosive. This includes all types in both U.S. and foreign military calibers. Most production before 1958 had primers that were both mercuric and corrosive. Canada: Information is available only on .30-06 ammunition made on contract for the U.S. Valcartier Industries made one lot, in its Verdun Arsenal (Lot 42000), which was headstamped VC 45, and contained noncorrosive primers. Dominion Arsenal made one lot (Lot 44000), headstamped DAQ 45, and it contained nonmercuric but corrosive primers. Previous information on this DAQ 45 ammunition, indicating it had noncorrosive primers, was published both by the NRA and official Government sources, but subsequently was found incorrect. All other ammunition made by Dominion Arsenal prior to 1951 contained primers that were both mercuric and corrosive. Germany: Rheinisch-Westfaelishe Sprengstoff Actien Geselleschaft of Nuremburg, a subsidiary of Dynamit Nobel, uses the RWS headstamp, usually with the date. Though some RWS ammunition used noncorrosive primers several years before World War II, some corrosive primers were used during World War II, and there is no way to distinguish the corrosive from noncorrosive lots. Since World War II, all RWS ammunition has contained noncorrosive primers having the RWS composition tradenamed Sinoxid. Great Britain: Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Ltd. Produced cartridges in several plants, marked Kynoch or K, with the date. Changeover from corrosive to noncorrosive primers was made gradually over a number of years, and dates are not available. As a general rule, their brass primers are nonmercuric and noncorrosive, and copper primers are corrosive and mercuric. This rule is not entirely reliable, however, as a few lots of having brass primers contained corrosive composition. Israel: All ammunition loaded by the Israeli Arsenal at Tel Aviv contains noncorrosive primers. The ammunition is marked Tel Aviv in Hebrew characters, with the date in Arabic numerals." |
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I'd be very surprised if they were mercury primers. However If they are and you fire them the brass is done. You are better off just depriming them. That way the barss is not contaminated with mercury.
Frost in Ammunition Manufacturing reports that "..Western continued to load 7.62 mm NATO and .30-'06, and .300 H&H Mag. match ammunition with the Western 8 1/2G, fulminate-chlorate primer. The simple reason was that the 8 1/2G always gave better accuracy, on the average, than did ammunition using styphnate priming." B |
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Quoted:
Since they're Berdan simply throw them away. Why keep them around or waste any energy on saving brass you can't use? Why not render the cases safe first prior to disposal.. chamber them and pop the primers,, have some fun with the noise, then toss the empties into the brass scrap bucket and gain cash on the brass crap when time comes.. |
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