that you can place it in the rim and then have it stay there. 3. When you have the right consistency, place the damp primer material in the cartridge and use a tool to push it into the rim area of the brass. One other way of getting it into the rim is to place the cartridge, base down, into a drill (power drills are best if you have electricity available to run them) and spin it at 1,000 RPM or so for 30 seconds. 4. This done, place the brass in a warm place to allow the primer to dry. I've heard of people using toy caps (as used in cap guns) for black-powder primer caps. These might also be placed in large rifle or large pistol primer cups to reactivate them. But given the corrosion these caps produce, cleaning them thoroughly, as outlined in Chapter 5, is essential. However, they might be a possibility if things get bad. Just cut around the powder charge of the paper and then lacquer it into place inside a bit of aluminum foil, courtesy of Reynolds . More durable black-powder firearm primers can be made from heavy aluminum foil and the primer chemicals outlined below. The gauge of aluminum that used to be found in frozen dinner packages works well for these primers; this aluminum foil is a bit scarce today, but a little searching will usually turn it up. Once you find a few pieces, squirrel them away for later use because black-powder weapons will undoubtedly become popular following a government ban on smokeless-powder guns because of the lack of serial numbers on most black-powder pistols, rifles, and shotguns sold in the United States. Here's the procedure for making a black-powder primer: 1. Use the nipple of the black-powder firearm as a form to shape a square of aluminum over the primer. 2. Trim off the excess aluminum so it is sized like a standard primer. 3. Coat the inside of the primer cup that you've formed with a primer chemical (described below) . Because most of the primer chemicals listed below are hygroscopic, it's a good idea to keep your black-powder primers in a sealed container until you're ready to fire them. You might be able to place a light coat of lacquer or other waterproofing chemical over the inside of the primer, but this can make ignition a bit iffy. So experiment carefully before adopting such a practice . MAKING PRIMER CHEMICALS In the past, the easiest way to secure primer chemicals was to collect the white tips of strike-anywhere matches and then dissolve their chemical so it could be painted into empty primers . Unfortunately, safety-conscious match manufacturers, with an eye toward lawsuits (and perhaps a bit of government pressure) adopted less explosive chemicals for the tips of matches. This lessens not only their effectiveness as matches, but also as primer material. If you discover matches that will work, great. It's easier than making the chemical. You can determine whether the match tips will work by smacking them smartly with a spoon or small tool. If the strike ignites the match, the chemical is ideal for a primer. If no amount of tapping will ignite it, then it isn't going to work as a primer (though, as we'll see in a bit, the match head can be employed as a component for several types of powder) . The following steps can be used to create primers if you find suitable matches. Once again, primer chemicals are explosive. You have to be careful, or you will ignite the chemicals. Wear safety glasses and keep amounts of chemicals you collect in any one sitting very small to minimize both the danger and your losses if you set the works off. Here 're the steps: 1. Carefully break the white tips off the strike-anywhere matches, dampen them with alcohol, acetone, or MEK, and then grind them on a hard, flat surface. Usually a piece of glass works well for this . 2. Once the amount you need has been powdered, mix it with a little alcohol to create a paste. If alcohol doesn't dissolve the mix, try acetone or MEK. 3. Place the paste in the primer cup. 4. After the mix has dried completely, the primers are ready to be placed into cartridges. If you find matches (or other chemicals) that can be used for primers or powder, you need to exercise a little caution in purchasing more of the materials. If you go through the checkout