Salvaged Cheddite primers
Some 12-14 years ago I was given a rather large cardboard box of Cheddite hulls which came from Kent, in Kearneysville, WV. It contained thousands (5K to 6K) of new hulls from which the powder, wad and shot had been salvaged by Kent, obviously because of damaged shells in the loading process. I have slowly salvaged almost all the unused primers from the case heads. Most have had almost the entire plastic hull cut off during the initial salvaging process by Kent.
I noticed that nearly all of the primers, before removing from the case heads, have a black coating over the hole in the primer where the flash will come out and ignite the powder charge. During the primer removal process that black substance nearly always is flaked off of that end of the primer. I have reloaded with these Cheddite primers for many years without a single misfire because of the loss of the black coating.
Does anyone have any knowledge of this substance, what it is, and what it's purpose is? i assume it is a moisture proofing agent.(?) Just curious after all this time, and salvaging a few hundred more yesterday..
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