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Detailed article about primers in general


J-BAR #18287

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Found this post in another forum.  It’s long but interesting information about primers and primer testing.

 

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/it-dont-go-bang-fires-misfires-hangfires-and-short-order-cooks.850720/

 

 

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Hummm. Loooong article. I just try to keep my powder dry, primers fully seated, and springs strong enough to give a good strike. End of story.

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Man, talk about an excellent detailed writing! Thanks J-Bar, hope to see you Saturday and hope it don't rain.  In conclusion;

 

Thus the statement is they have to be hit fast and hard. One without the other is useless.

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When I worked on the parachute recovery system for the Space Shuttle booster rockets (SRB-Decelerator Subsytem or SRB-DSS), we had two reefing lines that kept the 136' dia. chutes from opening completely all at once.  If they had, the aerodynamic shock would have blown the canopies, which were made from thick nylon straps.  The reefing lines had a pair of guillotine cutters for each line (4 total per chute).  The cutters had a powder charge with a fuse set off when the chute first deployed. The powder charge was initiated by a mil-spec (essentially) small rifle primer manufactured by Olin (Winchester).  In case one cutter failed to sever the reefing line, you had the other one as a backup (both fired together).  Well, on one flight, when the chutes were recovered, it was found that one cutter had failed to fire!  The primer was found to have been impacted by the firing pin, although I don't know if the analysis showed the amount of impact.  At any rate, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center nearly "went into orbit"!  They jumped all over Olin and demanded that there be NO further no-fires! :o  Olin's response was that they anticipated one (1) failure to fire in every 20,000 primers (that's 20 cases, sports fans), and if NASA didn't like it, NASA could go qualify another vendor! :o  NASA was NOT about to go through that hassle, especially with the Shuttle program on-going at that time.  End of discussion by NASA! :rolleyes:

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