hours of being fired. So if you're reloading for a semi-auto or selective-fire gun that spews its brass everywhere — making it difficult to find for reloading anyway — then mercury fulminate is a better choice for primers because it won't cause excessive rust problems, even if it does ruin the brass cartridges. Just remember that if you settle on mercury fulminate for primers, your cartridges may become one-shot affairs. This means you'll need a good source of brass if you're going to continue reloading. It also means you need to mark your cartridges with a hash check on the cartridge head so that you don't get them mixed up with good cartridges. This will also prevent having someone gather up your old brass and try to barter it back to you. Because of the potential danger to reloaders, you should smash empties that you collect. You certainly shouldn't leave them out in the open, if it's at all possible, where they're easily picked up (and it may not be possible for you to do this if you're using the cartridges for combat) . This preamble out of the way, here's the procedure for creating mercury fulminate: 1. Mix 10 parts of mercury to 74 parts (by measured volume) of nitric acid. 2. When the mercury has dissolved, heat the solution to 13O0F. 3. Slowly pour the solution into 100 parts (by measure) of alcohol. Be careful: splashing can create dangerous burns or fires. An effervescent reaction will occur, and white fumes will be given off. The fumes should be vented because they are dangerous. 4. When the effervescent reaction stops, filter the liquid through several paper towels or through filter paper. 5. Rinse the particles in the filter with cold water. 6. While they're still damp, very carefully grind the particles into a fine powder. 7. Place the powder in a pan and dry it by placing the pan in a second filled with boiling water . 8. Once the powder has dried, mix it with a little alcohol to create a paste. (You can also use either acetone or MEK.) 9. Place the paste into the primer cup. 10. After the mix has dried fully, the primer is ready to be placed in the cartridge. k k k k k After the primer is seated in the brass, it's a good idea to seal the primer in place with a shellac or lacquer, sealing around the outside rim of the primer to ensure that moisture doesn't get into the primer. Don't forget to do this; most of the do-it-yourself primer chemicals are hygroscopic . Additionally, after firing a gun loaded with any of these primers, it's essential to clean it immediately because many of these primer chemicals are corrosive or hygroscopic. Follow the procedures outlined in Chapter 5 for cleaning a firearm. Chapter 2 Powder Power Modern smokeless powder is difficult and dangerous to make. Therefore you should try, if it's at all possible, to purchase or otherwise obtain powder rather than try to manufacture it yourself. By studying the reloading charts and manuals offered by powder manufacturers (and you should get a collection of these because they can be worth their weight in gold), you'll discover that some powders can be used for a variety of cartridges and a few can be employed for loading both shotgun and pistol ammunition. The trick is to find the cartridges you're most likely to be reloading, then cross-reference the loading charts to locate the powders the various cartridges have in common. Once you identify them, try to purchase as much of the powder as you are likely to need and then store it as outlined below. It's also possible to obtain powder from cartridges similar to those you will be reloading, pull the bullets from the cartridges, and use the powder (and maybe the primer as well) in your rounds. However, this can be dangerous if it is not approached with caution and some common sense. But if you check reloading manuals, you can compare the amount of powder normally used in the cartridges you've found to those you're wanting to reload for. A little "guessometry" and a powder scale or even a scoop can enable you to transfer the powder in the proper proportion for your cartridge and then you can reload it using your found components. Of course, you must be very conservative when substituting powder; it's better to have weak rounds than cartridges that blow the barrel off a firearm.