Reloading rim fires

[Gobblerforge]

I was wondering about the reloading of rim fires. I've read all the threads about it over the years and one thing puzzles me. What is the big secret to priming? It seams there is a formula to make itpriming mixture but nowhere I've read does anyone have it. What is the big secret? It would seam a very easy procedure to reprime if the mixture was known. Anyone out there have it? There are a lot of great old obsolete rim fire cartridges out there that could be reloaded and wonderful old rifles that could be brought back to usefulness if reloading was doable.
We haven't even had our first snow yet and I already have cabin fever.
Gobbler

[TedH]

I believe the compound used in percussion caps is Lead Styphnate. There are recipes on the internet if you are interested in brewing some up. You could drop a dab of priming mixture in the bottom and spin the case in a high speed drill to pull the mixture into the rim. But after doing some reading about it and how sensitive it is to static electricity, I'll leave it to the professionals.

[abcollector]

Cobbleforge,
I'm far from an expert on this subject but I believe there are two things that would be difficult to do though not impossible. One being the priming compound, in that it would be an extremely sensitive mixture and needing just the right amount. Also I believe (unless there was a way to remove the original firing pin print) you'd have to position the reloaded cartridge just right to miss the first firing print for reliable ignition. The second being that most rimfires use a heeled bullet. I haven't seen any for sale and to cast them would probably be a challenge.

Not saying it can't or hasn't been done but to make it practical and cost effective, best to let the manufacturer's do it. Of course if you're talking about 32 or 44 rimfire.... probably out of luck.

Can someone add to it or correct me on an error?

ETA- i type too slow... thanks TedH!

[Gobblerforge]

It would seem unlikely that a reloaded round could be chambered so that the firing pin indent could be indexed exactly as before. I have done this with the 22 long rifle for giggles and it proved to be difficult for the first few loadings. But still, I would deal with indexing of the pin strike if it would be a problem. Till then I would just like to be able to reload. There are a lot of guns that I liked but walked away from because of no cartridges.
Gobbler

[perry owens]

Lead Styphnate is the active ingredient in the priming mixture but it is tricky stuf to make as has already been said. If you survive making it you need to add it to the case wet then spin the case to distribute the mixture.
Rimfire cases such as Henry and Spencer dug from Indian Wars battle sites often show several firing pin indentations. Either the ammo of the day was very unreliable and needed several strikes or the Indians were able to reload them. It is thought that they maybe used strike-anywhere matches for priming but I have never heard of this being tried recently.
There are several sources of adapters for rimfire cartridges that usually consist of a turned brass case that takes an off-centre 0.22 blank but these have to be single-loaded to make sure thhe firing pin hits the blank. This is one source: http://www.hc-collection.com/PBCPPlayer.asp?ID=245439
Perry Owens

[Hawkeye2]

In addition to its explosive danger Lead Styphnate is a great source of lead poisining. Henrys had 2 fireing pins which may cause some to believe that the case had to be snapped twice. I can't remember about the Spencer. I have some dug Spencer cases but after 140 years in the ground I can't find any fireing pin marks at all. I can't comment on the reliability of freshly manufactured CW and post war ammo but storage, specially in the case of the Indians may have contributed to unreliability. I do remember reading many yeras ago that Russian peasants reloaded rim fire cartridges using a paste made from the heads of strike anywhere matches which they pushed into the rim with a toothpick. BTW that should be teethpick, if you only have one tooth you don't need a pick. Dixie Gun Works is a good source of those special cases that use a .22 blank as a primer and they offered them in many calibers though I don't have a current catalog to check.

[Beaker]

Teethpick instead of toothpick, I think your being too picky.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I wonder if they suffered from acci-dental discharges.

[765x53]

Dixie Gun Works has several calibers of cases for reloading rim-fires using .22 blanks as the primer.
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/default.ph ... 22_101_287

[Malamute]

Some old guns can be succesfully modifed to shot centerfire rounds, tho you'd likely have to specially make the cases for many old rounds. If you suffer from the Fear Of Changing An Old Gun In Any Way sydrome, then you could aquire the needed spare parts to convert, leaving the original parts for collectibility. I've heard of original Spencers being converted to centerfire for shooting purposes, and Winchester 66's I believe.

If you really like a particular old gun that's a rimfire, this may be worth doing.

[Sixgun]

In addition to every post above, I'd like to add that making priming mixture is illegal. Its an explosive

The ATF loves to make examples out of white gun guys who do stupid stuff. After arresting you, the pigs will confiscate every thing you own and ruin your life forever.

Don't give those Nazi's the opportunity.----Sixgun

[Chuck 100 yd]

What Sixgun said + 1. It aint wort the trouble to reload rim fires IMHO.
I did it once just to see if it could be done. I used the powder from toy cap gun caps for the priming mix. I moistened it and put that paste into the cleaned rim area using a tooth (teeth) pick. After totally dry,I filled with 4F black and seated a bullet. They fired every time . I probably did only 6 or 8 IIRC.
Its been 50 years since I did that so IIRC again.

[El Chivo]

What Sixgun said + 1. It aint wort the trouble to reload rim fires IMHO.
I did it once just to see if it could be done. I used the powder from toy cap gun caps for the priming mix. I moistened it and put that paste into the cleaned rim area using a tooth (teeth) pick. After totally dry,I filled with 4F black and seated a bullet. They fired every time . I probably did only 6 or 8 IIRC.
Its been 50 years since I did that so IIRC again.

What's the statue of limitations on that?

[kimwcook]

What's the statue of limitations on that?

Less than 50 years. Sixgun isn't a dummy.