by wildcatter » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:03 pm
Doc, Siringo..
I've started many of our readers down the road to efficiency, with all manor of goos, glues, and crimps, I've written about them in both in Cal-Guns and here many times. So, again I will expound about some things I have started about using sealants. Doc, gave us some really great things to ponder, I wrote some of those outlines.
I did some of that work for LC, but for us Back-Country folk, those High-Speed Application Methods are beyond most of us, but pruning sealer can be a great alternative. I found the best way for me to apply it was to use a pipe cleaner to apply the gum and then seat the bullet while still wet, so-to-speak.
This method gives a water-proof load, especially if a tooth pick is boobed into colored finger nail polish and touched, with a very small drop, to the primer, where it meets the case, capillary-action sucks the drop all around the primer pocket seal area. Bingo, sealed case, and in tests in hot water for 24hrs, ignition was totally reliable, for me anyways and everybody I turned unto this operation. It also increased bullet pull, helping with burn efficiency, but pressures do go up, so your loading practices must allow for such.
A word of Caution about petroleum based thinning agents and gums. Petroleum Agents are used to deactivate, gun powders and primers. I one time had a brick of primers, in their case, with the ends closed, in their respective individual boxes, on my bench. I cleaned a gun, using spray lubricants. After they sat for about a week, enough time to penetrate all that card-board, and the primers themselves, none of those primers worked again. The very mist in the air, was enough to deactivate those primers.
But I digress..
Hand applying any gum is allot of work, thus I tried all manor of alternatives, from Loctites to my Side-Crimp. If the goal is to be more efficient, almost anything works, and if water resistance is the goal, pruning sealer can't be beat, if you're out here in the Hinterland. But if speed and ease of application is also a goal, then my Side Crimp may be the over-all answer. But, sealants are a LC alternative and one you should consider..t
Safety First..t