{"id":1286,"date":"2019-10-22T08:12:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T08:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ammoman.com\/blog\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2020-06-29T16:56:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T16:56:07","slug":"do-sealed-primers-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ammoman.com\/blog\/do-sealed-primers-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Sealed Primers Make A Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Is A Sealed Primer, And What Does It Do? <\/span><\/h1>\n

The modern metallic cartridge is the current pinnacle of ballistics reliability. The integration of primer, powder, and bullet into one compact, easy-to-carry package revolutionized gun design and continues to evolve to this day. While today\u2019s ammo is sold as one complete unit, the separate components used to make each round can fail individually. This can cause a failure of the round to fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The primer at the bottom of each round is one of the key points of failure in ammunition. If any foreign matter (usually a liquid) seeps inside the cartridge via the primer pocket, the chances of the round failing to fire go up significantly. If the primer fails to ignite, then the gunpowder inside the cartridge will also fail to ignite, and you won\u2019t get a \u201cbang.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To guard against this, many ammunition manufacturers coat the primer with a thin layer of lacquer or similar waterproofing material. This is supposed to protect the primer compound and gunpowder inside the cartridge. It helps ensure maximum reliability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But is that sealant effective? Is it really needed? Water and moisture are definitely a threat out in the field. Oil and other petroleum products have an adverse effect on primer and powder alike. Is a sealed primer pocket an effective defense against these outside contaminants?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We sought to find out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Testing Sealed Primers Versus Unsealed Primers<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Sealed<\/a>

Our test ammo. Both use the same bullet, but they are not the same ammunition.<\/p><\/div>\n

We developed a test to measure the effectiveness of sealing the primer pocket. <\/span><\/p>\n

We shot 400 rounds each of two different rifle loads from Black Hills Ammunition: <\/span>the 62 grain 5.56mm<\/a>, which has a sealed primer pocket, and the 62 grain .223<\/a>, which is unsealed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We immersed the rounds’ primer pockets in different contaminants for various amounts of time and then shot the rounds to test the results.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n