A bit of trivia about the shield…

…in that last knife I posted, this one;

you notice its an unfired primer, where most stuff done with a case head is with a fired one; I wanted the cleaner look of unfired. I had two choices, install a real live primer, or fill the hole with a nickel silver rod shaped down and polished to look like one.

Being lazy  , I figured the easiest way was to install a real primer, and fix it so it couldn’t accidentally fire later from either heat or impact.

Primers are notoriously easy to neutralize with exposure to moisture and the oils from your hands, and case lubricants during reloading…. There are lots and lots of warnings about storage, and handling etc.

SO, having a full reloading setup, I loaded four primers into cases, and filled them with water, then let them sit for a day.

Then tried to fire one.

It fired.

Then I filled the remaining three with a light oil(3 in 1, or rem oil.. something like that) and let them sit for a day. Then tried to fire one…

It fired!!

For the last two I added WD40(some use it as case lube, but some are wary of using it because its essentially fish oil which can hurt primers/powder etc) to the mix of gun oil and remaining water in them… Covered the open tops and shook the heck out of them; Then let them sit another day.

The third one did indeed still fire!!

To quote above;

“Primers are notoriously easy to neutralize with exposure to moisture and the oils from your hands and case lubricants during reloading…. “

Sure they are.

I still follow all the warnings when reloading, and when storing my primers etc, since Murphy is a odd little bastard and when I’m trying to Not neutralize and kill a primer, I just know I could easily do so Better safe than sorry on all fronts.

For anyone interested, these were CCI brand large rifle primers.(they might have been CCI magnum large rifle.. can’t remember for sure) Having done this is one of the reasons I try to reload with only CCI primers… At least for hunting/field ammo. Maybe it was a fluke, or maybe they all are that resistant… I dunno. But…

The Fourth one I put a torch to, to set it off from heat, making it safe, but not leaving a dimple in it… It went off great, and shot itself out of the case and ricocheted around the shop.

Ah. No breach face to hold it in the case, and it being lighter than the case, it left…

SO I finally added another primer to a case, and heat fired it with a bar laid over it to keep it in the case, then cut up the case and made the shield etc..