Load Master
Member
Anyone here use primer sealer on your rifle cartridges? What procedure do you use for sealing?
Do You Use Primer - Bullet Sealer?
- Thread starter Load Master
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Reefinmike
Member
Waste of time, energy and good nail polish! any ammo intended for long term storage, keep in a sealed 50cal ammo can with a silica desiccant pack or silica kitty litter. Also use gloves when reloading or tumble after loading to prevent those fingerprint shaped bits of tarnish on the brass after years.
If you constantly find yourself wading through deep water whenever you go shooting then primer and bullet sealing may be beneficial.
If you constantly find yourself wading through deep water whenever you go shooting then primer and bullet sealing may be beneficial.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Never even considered it. I agree it's a waste of time and energy and I will add, it will slow down production considerably.
El Viejo
Member
If that's something you would have to do individually to each round, I would definitely say NO!
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
No.
Waste of time.
rc
Waste of time.
rc
gwpercle
Member
Nope . If it's raining that bad , I stay inside , If it's flooding I have bigger concerns.
If you must , fingernail polish works just fine. Notice how the bottles of "primer Sealant" look like bottles of finger nail polish.....I bet they charge a lot more the primer "sealant"!
I guess if you shower while wearing your gun this would be helpful !
Gary
If you must , fingernail polish works just fine. Notice how the bottles of "primer Sealant" look like bottles of finger nail polish.....I bet they charge a lot more the primer "sealant"!
I guess if you shower while wearing your gun this would be helpful !
Gary
Nature Boy
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2015
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- 8,228
Wait, you don't?
Seriously though, I hope folks aren't doing this because it's one way I uses to denote once fired range brass.
GBExpat
Member
No bullet sealer. No primer sealer.
Lafitte
Member
Never used it, never thought I had a need for it.
Lafitte
Lafitte
spitballer
Member
Yes! I have used Markron bullet sealer and I still have some on hand, along with a can of lacquer thinner. Mostly I've used it to seal primers exposed to humidity, but I've also used it to seal bullets. The newer instructions say to apply the stuff to the primer pocket before inserting the primer, but I found it easier to just apply thinned product around the primer with a toothpick. Rounds are clean and good to go after wiping with lacquer thinner. I don't use it regularly any more but if I ever go on that long-postponed hog hunt I'll definitely pack ammo sealed with Markron and not Maybelline.
OP
OP
Load Master
Member
spitballer and others, thanks for the feedback. I have notice that most of the high dollar match grade ammo a friend of mine buys has the sealant on them. Just trying to understand why. His match grade ammo runs low std/dev and consistent velocities. I am curious if the sealer product contributes anything.
jwrowland77
Member
I've never sealed any of my match Ammo, and it to is very low SD/ES. Only reason I can think of is for easy ID of his brass after shooting. In F-Class, there's no chance of anyone mistakenly picking it up.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Steve Cover
Member
Sealing bullets and primers is a slow process.
For my everyday shooting ammunition I don't bother.
However, back when I was flying the bush in Alaska it was a different story.
All of my 44 magnum rounds were sealed.
One of the BLM surveyors asked why I chose inferior reloads to factory ammunition for my survival ammunition.
I explained that factory ammunition was assembled on a machine and not sealed against moisture.
On the other hand, my survival ammunition was assembled carefully as if my life depended on it.
Also, actual ammunition for carry in my survival kit was a reasonably small lot (100 rounds).
I did bring quite a few normal reloads for plinking around camp, but these were not depended on for emergency use.
My process.
Only virgin brass was used for emergency rounds.
It was carefully examined and weighed.
The 100 closest in weight were chosen. (out of a lot of 500)
These cases were checked (and trimmed if necessary) for length.
(Cases were matched to the shortest case.... With virgin cases, this was usually not necessary)
Primer flash holes were uniformed and any internal flash removed.
Primers were closely inspected for uniform appearance.
(Never found any suspect primers, but I still looked)
Case priming was done by hand using the Lee case priming tool.
At this time, I placed all of the primed brass face down in a reloading block.
Then a Q-Tip moistened with pure alcohol was used to clean around the primer/case joint.
Clear fingernail polish was thinned about 50/50 with pure acetone.
(Not the oil containing finger nail polish remover)
I chose clear as it has no pigments in the solution.
The polish was carefully applied to the case/primer joint with a syringe and cut down needle.
Cases were left on the block over night to cure.
Powder charges slightly under weight were thrown and dribbled up to exact charge weight.
Bullets were closely inspected.
(Naturally, I never found a flaw... But still looked)
After seating but before crimping I ran a thin bead of fingernail polish around the bullet/case join.
When still wet, I then crimped the bullets.
Each cartridge was wiped with a paper towel after crimping to remove excess sealant.
(The inside of the crimping die was also given a detail clean right away to remove polish displaced by the crimping process.)
Again the cartridges were left in the loading lock over night to cure.
These were put into MTM plastic 50 round boxes and sealed with electrical tape.
One of the 50 round boxes carried 5 red and 5 green 44 magnum flares, and 2 Snake Shot Loads.
In a pocket of my flight suit I carried an MTM Case Guard Ammo Wallet with 12 rounds of my survival ammunition along with 2 ea. red and green flares and 2 snake shot loads.
The MTM boxes were Individually put into Zip-Lok bags and secured in the center section of the back pack the was my Alaska survival kit.
So, WAY over done...
However, I reload as a hobby in itself and the process was enjoyable, and these were reloaded as if my life depended on them.
Other than for ammunition you expect to experience extreme conditions, ( capsizing you canoe and have to retrieve you gear from under water.. etc.) I don't believe sealing is really worth the added effort.
If you choose to seal, pure acetone is available and the thinned polish flows much better when thinned.
Steve
For my everyday shooting ammunition I don't bother.
However, back when I was flying the bush in Alaska it was a different story.
All of my 44 magnum rounds were sealed.
One of the BLM surveyors asked why I chose inferior reloads to factory ammunition for my survival ammunition.
I explained that factory ammunition was assembled on a machine and not sealed against moisture.
On the other hand, my survival ammunition was assembled carefully as if my life depended on it.
Also, actual ammunition for carry in my survival kit was a reasonably small lot (100 rounds).
I did bring quite a few normal reloads for plinking around camp, but these were not depended on for emergency use.
My process.
Only virgin brass was used for emergency rounds.
It was carefully examined and weighed.
The 100 closest in weight were chosen. (out of a lot of 500)
These cases were checked (and trimmed if necessary) for length.
(Cases were matched to the shortest case.... With virgin cases, this was usually not necessary)
Primer flash holes were uniformed and any internal flash removed.
Primers were closely inspected for uniform appearance.
(Never found any suspect primers, but I still looked)
Case priming was done by hand using the Lee case priming tool.
At this time, I placed all of the primed brass face down in a reloading block.
Then a Q-Tip moistened with pure alcohol was used to clean around the primer/case joint.
Clear fingernail polish was thinned about 50/50 with pure acetone.
(Not the oil containing finger nail polish remover)
I chose clear as it has no pigments in the solution.
The polish was carefully applied to the case/primer joint with a syringe and cut down needle.
Cases were left on the block over night to cure.
Powder charges slightly under weight were thrown and dribbled up to exact charge weight.
Bullets were closely inspected.
(Naturally, I never found a flaw... But still looked)
After seating but before crimping I ran a thin bead of fingernail polish around the bullet/case join.
When still wet, I then crimped the bullets.
Each cartridge was wiped with a paper towel after crimping to remove excess sealant.
(The inside of the crimping die was also given a detail clean right away to remove polish displaced by the crimping process.)
Again the cartridges were left in the loading lock over night to cure.
These were put into MTM plastic 50 round boxes and sealed with electrical tape.
One of the 50 round boxes carried 5 red and 5 green 44 magnum flares, and 2 Snake Shot Loads.
In a pocket of my flight suit I carried an MTM Case Guard Ammo Wallet with 12 rounds of my survival ammunition along with 2 ea. red and green flares and 2 snake shot loads.
The MTM boxes were Individually put into Zip-Lok bags and secured in the center section of the back pack the was my Alaska survival kit.
So, WAY over done...
However, I reload as a hobby in itself and the process was enjoyable, and these were reloaded as if my life depended on them.
Other than for ammunition you expect to experience extreme conditions, ( capsizing you canoe and have to retrieve you gear from under water.. etc.) I don't believe sealing is really worth the added effort.
If you choose to seal, pure acetone is available and the thinned polish flows much better when thinned.
Steve
Last edited:
Steve Cover
Member
Double Post ... Sorry
Last edited:
30Cal
Member
Unless you have the potential where it could get submerged in deep water for a while, I wouldn't bother.
For humidity, casual dunking, a quick swim, etc, I wouldn't bother.
For humidity, casual dunking, a quick swim, etc, I wouldn't bother.
VoodooMountain
Member
Anyone ever have any issues with nail polish in the gun itself such as dried pieces getting stuck in firing pin channel or in the lower of an ar. I'm wondering if this stuff would flake off after firing.
After approximately 2,500 rounds with primers (but not bullets) sealed with finger nail polish, I have not experienced any flaking of the dried polish at all. The finger nail polish always remains in place and in general is fully removed when the fired brass is decapped. In the rare case that any finger nail polish remained around the mouth of the primer pocket, it was easily and completely removed with a deburring tool.
Several rounds of 5.7 mm Johnson (.22 Carbine) that I loaded early on that exhibited excessive pressure - including primers backed out of the primer pockets - transferred pigment (not flakes of polish) so that there was a red ring visible on the bolt face, but it was easily and completely removed with a Q-tip soaked in Hoppe's #9.
OP
OP
Load Master
Member
Steve, I enjoyed your writeup about your process. Thanks!
Did you ever have to use your survival kit?
Did you ever have to use your survival kit?
VoodooMountain
Member
Very good to know. Thank you
spitballer
Member
...this is an issue if you're firing a large number of rounds with sealed bullets. Fortunately it'll clean up easily with the lacquer thinner, but because of this bore fouling I don't seal bullets for everyday use at the range. Certain materials like moly or Teflon may be useful as a bore coating, but probably not bullet sealer lol
Swampman
Old Fart
As a genera rule, I don't seal practice or plinking ammo.
I do seal big game rounds and those that could possibly be used for personal defense.
I use fingernail polish for primers and Alox for case mouths.
I don't make a habit of showering with my ammo or using it as fishing sinkers, but stuff can happen when you hunt wetlands or travel by boat to remote areas.
I've tested my sealed ammunition for water tightness and it performs considerably better than the unsealed stuff I've used as controls, it even outperforms Lake City M855 and my stuff doesn't leave any asphalt or lacquer residue in the bore and gas system.
Sealing ammunition probably isn't going to make much difference under most hunting conditions, but neither is keeping case mouths trimmed within two thousandths, weight sorting cases or uniforming primer pockets and flashholes.
On the other hand, it won't hurt anything (assuming that you've tested to make sure it doesn't negatively affect the functional reliability of your weapon).
I do seal big game rounds and those that could possibly be used for personal defense.
I use fingernail polish for primers and Alox for case mouths.
I don't make a habit of showering with my ammo or using it as fishing sinkers, but stuff can happen when you hunt wetlands or travel by boat to remote areas.
I've tested my sealed ammunition for water tightness and it performs considerably better than the unsealed stuff I've used as controls, it even outperforms Lake City M855 and my stuff doesn't leave any asphalt or lacquer residue in the bore and gas system.
Sealing ammunition probably isn't going to make much difference under most hunting conditions, but neither is keeping case mouths trimmed within two thousandths, weight sorting cases or uniforming primer pockets and flashholes.
On the other hand, it won't hurt anything (assuming that you've tested to make sure it doesn't negatively affect the functional reliability of your weapon).
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