Surprised me!

[Dave Way]

So Monday night I decided to do a little test to see if the variation in primer weight came from the priming compound or the metallic components. Maybe you have seen it here. Anyway, to do that, I fired the primers in uncharged 6.5x47 cases in my shop, where my reloading room is set up. It is brightly lit with fluorescent lighting but I thought I saw a small flame out the end of the barrel. That shouldn't be possible or so I thought. Years ago, I recall seeing photos of primer tests showing flame patterns only a few inches long as I recall, perhaps my memory is wrong on that though. I tried searching but failed to find the images.

Tonight I decided to see if I could record an image of what I thought I saw. I was very surprised! This is from a Federal 205M primer only. The barrel is a 3 groove Lilja and is crowned at 24 5/8" from the face of the action. The brake was removed for the photos. The scale was marked to 7 inches. I don't claim to be a professional photographer, the photos were taken with my phone on slo-mo. It took several tries to figure it out.

Hard to believe you would have to use a magnum primer for anything.







Does this surprise anyone else? Dave.

 

[Bojo]

Seen it plenty of time when fouling out my inline barrel with 209 primers. Never tried it on a rifle. For me always in a dim lit barn and I could see the flash. Never would have thought it was no where near that far.

 

[oley55]

that is surprising! must be over eleven inches.

 

[nmkid]

Never figured it would "shoot" out like that.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Not surprising at all. A primer is not designed merely to ignite a few grains or kernels of powder adjacent to the flashhole then let the rest burn by contact, one after another, toward the bullet. They produce a serious jet to ignite the powder in the case uniformly. In addition, with an ignited primer in an empty case, there is nowhere else for that jet to go but straight out the end of the bore.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Primers produce a good amount of pressure. Years ago I had to help a buddy who was just getting into handloading. He fired a round in his rifle that he forgot to charge with powder. It lodged the bullet hard into the bore. Broke few cleaning rods trying to pound it out with a hammer and lube. Ever since then I always shake every case after seating a bullet to ensure it's charged so I don't make the same mistake

 

[1shot]

There was a test done some years ago by Bob Jenson and Hermon Salazar. they tested 7-8 primers with a strain gage and high speed photography and determined that the mildest primers produced the best accuracy. if anyone has that link, it's a good read.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[TC260]

If we're thinking of the same article, that was on German Salazar's page. He pulled all that down a few years ago. There was a lot of good information on there.

 

[dstoenner]

TWP

What is the difference between shot 1 and 2. You mentioned that you were wondering if it was due to weight of priming compound. Were these normal vs magnum?

David

 

[Dave Way]

TWP

What is the difference between shot 1 and 2. You mentioned that you were wondering if it was due to weight of priming compound. Were these normal vs magnum?

David

I should have been more clear. The photos are of the same ignition of a Federal 205M. Two frames, I guess they are still frames when taken digitally, in sequence. I’m not really sure what the white streaks are that appear in the first frame ahead of the flame which appears in the second frame. Any ideas? Dave.

 

[Texas10]

So you're saying that the two photos are of the same ignition event (of a single firing) of a 205M? Two successive photos from a short segment of video in slo-mo setting, correct?

Sheds a whole new light on your post, IMOP. I thought the bottom pic was a magnum primer.


Anyway, that's pretty cool! Any idea what frame rate your phone (what kind?) supports?

 

[Dave Way]

So you're saying that the two photos are of the same ignition event (of a single firing) of a 205M? Two successive photos from a short segment of video in slo-mo setting, correct?

Sheds a whole new light on your post, IMOP. I thought the bottom pic was a magnum primer.


Anyway, that's pretty cool! Any idea what frame rate your phone (what kind?) supports?

Yes, that’s correct one ignition, two successive photos. It’s the new iPhone Xs. From what I just looked up it appears to be 240 frames per second. Dave.

 

[dstoenner]

I should have been more clear. The photos are of the same ignition of a Federal 205M. Two frames, I guess they are still frames when taken digitally, in sequence. I’m not really sure what the white streaks are that appear in the first frame ahead of the flame which appears in the second frame. Any ideas? Dave.

My guess would be hot primer mixture being propelled through the flash hole and out your barrel or ??

David

 

[dcali]

I would caution people not to put too much stock in the visible output of primers. The primary energy comes from gas and solid ejecta, neither of which will be visible in photos like this.