Anyone who is into firearms knows how important primers are. Without primers, you wouldn’t be able to use your rifle or your pistol properly.
How Did Primers Come to Be?
The primer is a chemical that is responsible for creating the propellant combustion which will push the projectile (a bullet) out of the gun barrel. The person who came up with it was called Casimir Lefaucheux when he used the fulminate of mercury for primers.
The Downsides
This was back in 1828 and although the mercury fulminate was a good substance for primers, it had its shortcomings. For instance, the fulminate is very sensitive to shock, friction and heat and even the smallest thing could trigger it, causing your gun to fire sometimes when you didn’t want it to.
Furthermore, the fulminate could be contaminated when it got in contact with water and you’d have to clean your gun after using it because it left a corrosive residue inside your gun.
Modern Primers
Nowadays, there are two types of main primers – shock-sensitive chemicals and the primers that use electric impulse. It goes without saying that guns today are much more reliable as the technology progressed and there isn’t that much difference between the two when it comes to safety.
Pistol Vs Rifle Primers
Sometimes, both pistols and rifles are using the same type of primers, but there are small rifle primers and large rifle primers that we need to distinguish. Even though the guns come in different sizes, the primers have the same diameter and they are constructed similarly.
However, Some Differences Are Evident
For example, the rifle primer is taller and even though you can take it and put it inside your pistol, it will stick out a bit. In other words, that pistol can no longer be safe to use and it can definitely impair the function of the pistol itself.
In addition to that, the powder in the rifle is usually denser and it lights up a little slower compared to the one used for pistols. Last but not least, the cup is thicker, to stand up to the greater pressure of the rifle cartridge.
These are all the differences that you should be familiar with before changing things up or modifying your gun. It is better to have the experts change or fix your primer and find you a suitable replacement. No matter how skilled you are with a gun, it is important to have a safe weapon with all the parts that are specifically designed for it.
Conclusion
While there are different types of primers out there, you should know that rifle and pistol primers aren’t interchangeable. Although one could argue that you can replace them, it isn’t quite safe and you can damage your gun and impair its precision and safety. At the end of the day, it is important that you – a gun owner have weapons that are safe to use!
