It is a common myth among sometimes even knowledgeable gun owners and perpetuated by the gun writers that if you handle primers with your bare fingers you will kill or ruin the primer and result in a misfire.
Not so:
Think on it a little.
The oils in your finger tips are of such a minuscule amount that you can't even see it if you look at your skin with a magnifying glass. If you could somehow take all the oils of your finger tips and then weigh it, you would need a atomic scale to even register the weight.
But the gun writers would have you believe that this minute amount of oil will kill a primer.
Back to thinking again.
In your minds eye picture a primer. A soft metal cup surrounds the primer mixture. On top on the open end of the metal cup sits a anvil that is crimped half way down in the metal cup. Underneath the anvil is the primer mixture covered with a lacquerer cap. Some have red, green or yellow lacquerer, but all have some type of protective covering over the explosive pellet.
Got that?
Now how is your finger print oil which will not ever touch the explosive mixture itself ever going to get into the primer and neutralize it?
Now there may be some that will say that oil will flow like WD-40 does and eventually work it's way into the pellet. Hummmm, if finger print oil has that capability then how are the law enforcement experts able to pick up a finger print, days, months, or even years later off a metal surface? If the flow theory is correct that finger print would disappear in no time as the oil flows away. Right?
OK now try this experiment.
Try to kill a primer.
Yes take a couple of primers and chuck them into a cup full of oil. Or lay them on a saucer and spray them with WD-40 and let them set for a week.
A week later they should be dead dead dead. Right?
Not only have they a million times more oil on them than your little finger prints but they have been laying or submerged in the oil.
Now take the primer out of the oil and lay them on a hot plate (be sure you put safety glasses on and wear gloves) Or if your wife is not home use her electric stove. For those with neither hot plate or electric stove use a butane torch.
I can just about guarantee one or both of those primer will pop.
CCI the people that makes ammunition and primers states that there is no way to kill a primer. "Many chemicals, oils, solvents, etc.will temporarily kill modern primer mixes, but when the solvent evaporates, the explosive mix returns to its original sensitivity."
Think hard about this if you are ever tempted to make a dummy cartridge to use in your rifle and figure you killed the primer.
Also don't believe everything you read in gun magazines.
Sarge
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