A little bit of info about the limited life primer rumor
James Douglass Del-Vecchio
the most recent Blue Book, saying (paraphrase)
that it is every bit as true as syringes in Pepsi cans.
Jim Del Vecchio
Don Baldwin
D2A supporter @unisys in Minnesota), in February. I think it contains
some useful information and mighth answer some concerns about the rumor
that the BATF wants primers made with a limited life. Personally, given
some comments here and the fact that the BATF would have no legal means
to force the primer manufacturers to dope primers, I don't think that
there's reason for worry...at this point in time.
Just use your votes carefully, this year and 1996...
Don
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Here is what I know so far about the primer rumor. Feel free to publicize
or forget it as you see fit. Mark and Larry are not their real names;
other names are real so far as I know:
I heard from friend Mark that his friend Larry has a friend, Deep Throat,
who is a large scale commercial reloader. Larry hears the doped primer
rumor and asks Deep Throat about it. Deep Throat has not heard but will
check it out.
Sometime later (hours or days), Deep Throat tells Larry that the rumor is
true, that BATF has approached the manufacturers (no names) and asked them
about the possibility of making ammo inert after a short time, said to be
12 months.
Larry passes this on to Mark, who, knowing my interest in gun rights, passes
it on to me.
I start trying to authenticate this thing. I called BATF's St. Paul office
and got their PR flak, a guy named Jim (won't give last name). Jim denies
any knowledge of rumor and asks about source. I tell him it is a computer
bulletin board, and he starts asking how one could trace a message to its
sender. I tell him I do not know and end conversation. Somewhat worried,
I might add...
Mark asks Larry to ask Deep Throat for more information. Even having his
ammo manufacturer friends call me collect from a pay phone is rejected.
Deep Throat refuses to pursue the primer issue any further, so I am on my own.
Here is what I was able to discover today:
I called Federal Cartridge in Anoka, Minnesota (612) 323-2300. I asked for
help with a technical question and was given to Brad Holmbo, Product
Service Representative. Brad's direct dial in number is (612) 323-2420.
I told Brad about the rumor, that BATF is trying to make Federal and others
move to a primer with much shorter shelf life. Brad said he is well
acquainted with the rumor and that he gets 5 or 6 calls a week (plus some
letters) on the question. He said it has been especially heavy in the last
month or 6 weeks. He says he has heard of it being on Compu$erv and I told
him I had seen it on the Internet and Fidonet.
He says the rumor is false. He speculates that it may be spreading due to
some unrelated matters:
* CCI DOES have a lead-free primer they designed for training
environments, mainly indoor ranges. The primary source of air-
borne lead contamination in ranges is primers, which are lead
stryptate. Only a very tiny amount of it is from the projectiles.
* CCI's primer DOES HAVE a limited shelf life, approximately 2 years.
* There IS a shortage of primers right now. This is due to Federal's
introduction of the new 209A shotshell primer to replace the popular
209 primer. They pulled people off other primer lines to beef up
production of 209A so there would be adequate stocks for the
introduction. Winchester (Olin) has a similar shortage for similar
reasons.
* The pulling of Black Talon and passage of Brady Bill has alarmed
many buyers. He is seeing people buy tens of thousands where they
used to buy one or two thousand primers at a time. In short, panic
hoarding.
Brad says Federal is still making primers the same old way and that no
changes are in the works. They work 3 shifts, 6 days a week, trying to
catch up. Brad also says Federal _could_ make lead free primers but
does not want to for fear of liability problems. If a cop or citizen tried
to defend themselves with their gun and it failed to fire due to an expired
primer, they fear the liability awards could be devastating.
Now, Brad could be lying or could be honestly telling me what he thinks is
true because his boss has lied to him. Or Deep Throat's friends may be
wrong. Frankly, Brad sounded genuine on the phone. I would invite any
interested person to call for themselves and make their own decisions.
I also spoke to a personal friend and fellow gun rights worker whose wife
works on the Federal primer assembly line. It is their belief that because
of the way primers are made and used in Federal's other operations, there
would be no practical way to be sure that military and police customers did
not get the short shelf life primers in error. Furthermore, they believe
that any such change would require an entirely new primer compound, not a
"doping" of the existing primer compound.
Larry has told me that Deep Throat is worried about personal loss and that
he (Larry) has to work with him and therefore cannot lean on him much.
I understand. I am not trying to twist Larry's arm at all. But I have no
further resources unless his friend can persuade someone to come forward.
Regards,
Bill
David Josephson
#Here is some info that was sent to me by Bill Gray, (a conservative *AND*
#D2A supporter @unisys in Minnesota), in February. I think it contains
#some useful information and mighth answer some concerns about the rumor
#that the BATF wants primers made with a limited life. Personally, given
#some comments here and the fact that the BATF would have no legal means
#to force the primer manufacturers to dope primers, I don't think that
#there's reason for worry...at this point in time.
#Just use your votes carefully, this year and 1996...
# Don
#-------------------------------------------------------------------
#Here is what I know so far about the primer rumor. Feel free to publicize
#or forget it as you see fit. Mark and Larry are not their real names;
#other names are real so far as I know:
[etc. deleted]
#He says the rumor is false. He speculates that it may be spreading due to
#some unrelated matters:
#* CCI DOES have a lead-free primer they designed for training
# environments, mainly indoor ranges. The primary source of air-
# borne lead contamination in ranges is primers, which are lead
# stryptate. Only a very tiny amount of it is from the projectiles.
^^^^^^^^^ styphnate
In the current Dillon catalog there is an article on this topic. CCI
does have a lead-free primer and they are testing it for shelf life,
but
#* CCI's primer DOES HAVE a limited shelf life, approximately 2 years.
is not mentioned.
There are also plenty of other lead-free primers, unfortunately they
either contain mercury (worse) or potassium chlorate, otherwise known
as *corrosive*.
--
David Josephson <da...@josephson.com>