Salvaged Cheddite primers

[Stan Hillis]

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..

[edgarspencer]

The lacquer is used to seal the flash hole, from moisture, prior to being loaded in a new hull, but once loaded, it serves no useful purpose. Acrylic nail polish will work, if you were really concerned about moisture, and weren't going to reuse them right away.

[Double Lab]

I read somewhere that those flash holes were sealed for use with ball powders and fine grained powders. Don't know why that would matter, I could be wrong. Frequently am.

[Bill Murphy]

Apparently, there is some danger in ball powder (and maybe others) getting into the hole and causing some kind of pressure rise or detonation. I have no idea where we can read about this phenomenon. Of course, free primers trump all other supposed dangers.

[Bruce P Bruner]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Apparently, there is some danger in ball powder (and maybe others) getting into the hole and causing some kind of pressure rise or detonation. I have no idea where we can read about this phenomenon.

A method I have used in BPCR is placing a strip of newspaper over the primer hole before pressing in the primer, thus eliminating pressure & velocity variations due to unknown amounts of powder entering the open ended primer.

[neil steven]

Cheddite market 3 different primers - different brissance... and the lacquer colour usually indicates which strength.
Black = CX2000 ~= Win 209
Red = CX 50 = mildest, as recommended for .410 gauge loads

CX1000 = I have not seen them, so colour? but recommended for 16G and perhaps 20G.

Look on the website.

[Andrew Frank]

My research and use shows different, all my CX2000 primers I have bought, both yellow box and the new blue and pink have red sealer over the flash hole. I purchased a bunch of Kent salvage hulls that I either used for short shells or salvaged primers and they have both black and blue sealer on the primers. Honestly I couldn’t find any pattern to them, same shell would have both colors. On Kent’s website they state they use Cheddite hulls and CX2000 primers in all of their shells.

I also buy new primmed cheddite hulls from Ballistic Products listed as having CX2000 primers and they have blue sealer.