To make your own primers, first of all you need to purchase (from Dixie Guns America) a special punching tool to punch holes in aluminium sheets cut out from soft drink or beer cans. In this case you get rid of the holes and you keep the center which is the final cup the size of a commercial N° 11. The tool makes it in one single hammer blow. One hundred cups  can be made in less than half an hour. 

 

 

Primer mix

 

This mix is the only explosive we will deal with on this site. It is concocted with difficult components to obtain, it is labor intensive and only small quantities can be made. The good news are that the primers do not need more than minute quantities anyhow. 

 

Red phosphorus:  RP can be harvested from the side of matchboxes. Good luck, this is the last resort and in such a case it is well worth to go buy some N° 11 primers from you gun dealer! I was lucky to have a friend (the one who made the flint lock on the pictures) who gave me a few grams some 20 years ago and I still have most of it today. This is to show how little RP making primers requires.

He got it from an old WW2 flare. Unfortunately modern flares do not contain any RP but magnesium compounds instead. 

RP is a restricted element so don't even think of ordering some on the Internet unless you are prepared to see your front door implode at around 6 o'clock the next morning with a horde of screaming polices in riot gear rushing in and tackle you to the ground... We are in 2015 remember... 

 

Potassium Chlorate or Perchlorate:  The sell of (KCl O3) is not really favored by the authorities either, nonetheless it is possible to get it from lab suppliers. It is expensive and requires special shipping conditions. So better forget this option too. Thanks God, it can be manufactured in the lab and at this point I will not go into the details. The Internet is choc-a-block with descriptions of how to make KClO3 by electrolysis (the best way) of by reducing sodium hypochlorite and converting with Potassium Chloride (KCl).  

Basically, the compound is made in such a way: 

10% Phosphorus, 10 % Aluminium powder, 80 % KClO3. Wear face protection or at least good goggles. Make only a few grams at a time. A few gram will fill a hundred or so of your little percussion caps. Never touch the mix with fingers or with a spoon or other tool or it will go off, the bright flash blinding you for five minutes. It must be transfered on two pieces of paper back and forth until mixed. Make a mini-spoon out of an aluminium can strip and fill up your perc caps. With a tool made of a 4 mm drill bit  (you want the back of the drill bit!) squeeze the mix into the bottom of the caps. Wear safety glasses and a cotton glove on the hand doing the pushing. One cap may go off with no more damage than make you jump... 

 

Mercury Fulminate is an other and better option. Again the Web is full of descriptions of how to make it. It must be done OUTSIDE  away from people, the fumes generated being rather unwholesome around noses, eyes and lungs. MF is more stable and less "ticklish" than the mix of KCl+Phos+ Aluminium powder thus needing a harder blow to go off, meaning a stronger spring. Do not store any of those compounds, make just the quantity needed to fill all your caps. KClO3 is an oxidiser (not an explosive in itself) and can be kept, however the precautions required with all oxidisers must be observed. Do not store next to combustible substances or near sources of fire. 

 

Keep percussion caps in SD card flat cases or in a used box of commercial primers with 100 individual holes. They will stay put in there and keep the case upright. Some nail varnish may be used to fix the mix however I had too many duds when doing this. I prefer a light spray of Estapol polyurethane varnish from a can. 

Although it never happened, the eventuality of a home made cap going off while being put on the nipple is to be considered for the sake of absolute safety. Always put on the cap at the last moment when ready to shoot with the gun pointed to the target. On no account a capped gun should be pointed anywhere exept towards the target or straight up.  No caps should be on the nipples while the range is closed to shooting.