Disposing of Live Primers

[Bill Wynne]

I wish I had read this first.

About two weeks ago, before this post, I was going through some old stuff and I found a partial box of Federal large rifle primers. There were maybe sixty or seventy primers. These primers were packaged in the old style box without bar coding and were priced something like $.79 for a box of 100. I did not want to mix them with the others so I through them in the trash can at my alley. They are in the city dump by now. The joke about this is that I am not in the least worried. Should I be?

Concho Bill

 

[antelopedundee]

About two weeks ago, before this post, I was going through some old stuff and I found a partial box of Federal large rifle primers. There were maybe sixty or seventy primers. These primers were packaged in the old style box without bar coding and were priced something like $.79 for a box of 100. I did not want to mix them with the others so I through them in the trash can at my alley. They are in the city dump by now. The joke about this is that I am not in the least worried. Should I be?

Concho Bill

Probly not. Here we have a "resource recovery" plant run by the city. All trucked in trash is dumped onto a large floor. It may be inspected at that time to make sure that the drivers aren't dumping illegal stuff like rocks, dead critters, etc. They are supposed to catch lots of it at the curb. I believe it's then loaded onto a conveyor where large fans blow off the obvious burnables like paper and then over magnets to catch any large metal parts that could ruin their chopper knives. It is then run through a chopper and further sorted. I expect that a bunch of primers could cause some excitement. Some years back one of those grill sized propane cylinders got through and blew out one whole side of the building. It was designed to collapse in the event of an explosion rather than contain it.

 

[Dave Coots]

Anyone know what these have to do with blasting? One is easy.

Later
Dave

 

[Chism G]

Blasting

Anyone know what these have to do with blasting? One is easy.

Later
Dave

Both are easy, Thats some old stuff Dave. the one on the right is a spark generator used to set off explosives(Dynamite). Served the same purpose as a later version squeeze trigger on a claymore mine.(vietnam era)

The one on the left is a portable masonry drill,used for drilling holes in Rock,masonry,etc for placement of explosives(Dynamite).



Glenn

 

[Chism G]

About two weeks ago, before this post, I was going through some old stuff and I found a partial box of Federal large rifle primers. There were maybe sixty or seventy primers. These primers were packaged in the old style box without bar coding and were priced something like $.79 for a box of 100. I did not want to mix them with the others so I through them in the trash can at my alley. They are in the city dump by now. The joke about this is that I am not in the least worried. Should I be?

Concho Bill

Dont worry Bill, I now at least one person that did the same thing. Truth be told, the list is longer than you might expect.


Glenn

 

[Dave Coots]

Both are easy, Thats some old stuff Dave. the one on the right is a spark generator used to set off explosives(Dynamite). Served the same purpose as a later version squeeze trigger on a claymore mine.(vietnam era)

The one on the left is a portable masonry drill,used for drilling holes in Rock,masonry,etc for placement of explosives(Dynamite).



Glenn

Correct on the blasting machine Glenn. Notice the handle in in the upright position. The reason for that is the generator is powered by the downward stroke of the handle after "fire in the hole" is called. If you leave the blasting machine stored with the handle in the down position, the contacts will corrode, and the blast may get only enough electrical charge to set off part of the electric blasting caps. You have a mess in your drilled shot. Have you ever heard of the old timers getting headaches from the old dynamite with nitro in it? Take a pipe powered with an air compressor and blow out those blast holes that didn't go off. Then you will know...been there done that. You could get that headache from handling those old time explosives. After getting the splitting headache the first time, you got it every time. It was a good day when the water gel explosives and ANFO came out.

If my info was correct that drill was used to drill a hole in the end of a log. Then black powder was inserted in the hole and set off. The results were fence posts.

Later
Dave

 

[Chism G]

Correct on the blasting machine Glenn. Notice the handle in in the upright position. The reason for that is the generator is powered by the downward stroke of the handle after "fire in the hole" is called. If you leave the blasting machine stored with the handle in the down position, the contacts will corrode, and the blast may get only enough electrical charge to set off part of the electric blasting caps. You have a mess in your drilled shot. Have you ever heard of the old timers getting headaches from the old dynamite with nitro in it? Take a pipe powered with an air compressor and blow out those blast holes that didn't go off. Then you will know...been there done that. You could get that headache from handling those old time explosives. After getting the splitting headache the first time, you got it every time. It was a good day when the water gel explosives and ANFO came out.

If my info was correct that drill was used to drill a hole in the end of a log. Then black powder was inserted in the hole and set off. The results were fence posts.

Later
Dave

Yep,Ive heard of people getting headaches from taking Nitroglycerin pills. I would imagine that breathing all that nitroglycerin from the unexploded dynamite would give you a serious headache. I never personally experienced it.

Glenn

 

[alinwa]

My 3-kid started making nitro when he was 14------ he's now 29 and still lick-tests stuff for nitro content LOL

I've got to agree that that liddle brace and bit _might_ make fenceposts but it shore ain't a rock drill.

Speaking of..... I'd pay big bucks for a true drilling 'limber'. Some of the railroad boys learn't to run a spike-maul or spike hammer using a flexible handle and the roadbuilders and open-air miners continued the practice for driving star drills. My Dad spent many hours on a manual sladge hammer drill with that stupid nitro skullpounder going.... They weren't miners, they were making roads and clearing fir stumps back when "a hunnerd stick stump" wasn't uncommon.


Nowadays hobbyists like myself run electric and can run up to 1 1/2" holes at a rate of 2-3" a minute or small air drills which can quintuple that.... whereas the Dynamit Nobel trucks up on the hill behind the house melt 30-40ft deep holes with their truck-mounted rigs in no time.

 

[BillBrawand]

Way back when

Back in 1945 mt dad and i blowed bolders as big as small homes using hammered stardrils with plunger and batterysome times 50 sticks at atime and maybe blowed again then busted with slege throwed on old dump truck or on horse pulled drop out bottom by hand hsuled 1 mile unloaded and throwed i a crusher

 

[Joe McNeill]

From 1984 through 1989 my company was responsible for providing and supervising the installation
of refrigeration units, underground, in the South African gold mines. For the new guys going under-
ground the blasrters would wipe the inside of your hardhats with nitro from the dynamite which
resulted in severe headaches. I was warned to never remove my hardhat so I was spared but I know
of plenty of people not so lucky. Not sure what they use now but you could always tell when they
were blasting by the pressure wave in your ears!
Regards,

Joe McNeill
SW Arkansas

 

[alinwa]

In regards to the rounds which cooked off on the wood stove.... all the principals are still around, including Karla, the girl that got the primer stuck in her leg. I'll set one of them down next time I see them and ask for the story, but here's the way I "remember" the reconstruction of events. (I've heard it from several of the brothers and sisters)

The guys came in from hunting and one of them took a box of shells out of their pocket and stood them on the edge of the stove... STOOD, as in the box was on it's edge because it was set there "just for a minnit"

It got forgotten.....

I believe the first 3-5 rounds were the culprits. They were setting primer down, in the box, and when one went off it made a lot of smoke and scattered stuff all around. In the confusion one of the adjacent rounds spun over and was setting on the stove, on it's side, WITH a pre-heated primer just ready to pop. As heat leached up into the round, the primer went 'pop' and shot out and into Karla's leg.

And of course MORE smoke and cornfusion....
.

Sat down tonite with Karla's brother...... I was WRONG

The story is MUCH better than I remembered.... it turns out the whole "coulda' dug it out with a pocketknife" part of the story was misrepresented/misremembered in my version.

All salient points are accurate except that the primer didn't hit her in the leg..... it hit her in the lower left side of her ribs and when they opened her blouse there was a little blue hole and blood seeping......

So OFF to the emergency ward with all sorts of speculation....."no exit wound" and "round and round inside" etc etc....

And the ER doc basically reached in and plucked the primer out with a tweezer hence "It warn't nuttin' deep.... you could have picked it out with a pocket knife"

I sure would have liked to be on that ride to the ER though I can just imagine....