New primers with limited lifespan?

[lunchbox]

yeah i guess i was ha and i didnt get my first gun till i was 10 still have it too and will forever
what happened did the primer factory blow up

[ghostrider]

I think between fear of new gov't restrictions and rumors of primers that would have a limited shelf life caused panic buying which resulted in shortages because manufacturers couldn't keep up with the increased demand:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=4548685
http://www.cci-ammunition.com/about_us/history.aspx

Instead, this year we'll probably see high-cap mags become more expensive and harder to find as people stock up for fear that the democrats will take the white house.

[lunchbox]

leave it to gov regs
thats why gas and diesel is so high

[jhutto]

don't you mean KNO 3 ???

[dukalmighty]

I need primers that last longer mine are only good til they get hit with a firing pin after that I can't use them again

[Weg]

Great primer shortage of 93' - 94' ! I remember that, I bought thousands of primers, and still have them. Wonder if they are still good.

[Thorkel]

I just lately heard a rumor that the government is going to force ammunition manufacturers to use cartridge primers that expire after one year. This would of course make it impossible for gun owners to stockpile ammunition long term. I decided to do some research.

As yet I have not found any information about any law requiring them, but apparently the technology to create primers that do have a "settable" shelf life does exist. Look at US Patent # 6881284. Here's a link to the patent office web page: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars ... RS=6881284" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Here’s an excerpt from the patent web site about who did the work:
Inventors: Makowiecki; Daniel M. (Burson, CA), Rosen; Robert S. (Gaithersburg, MD)
Assignee: The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)
Appl. No.: 10/032,758
Filed: October 19, 2001


Here’s an excerpt from the patent web site about who has the rights to use the invention:
“Government Interests
LIMITED-LIFE CARTRIDGE PRIMERS
The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48 between the United States Department of Energy and the University of California for the operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “


Here's an excerpt from the patent description:

" -- Snip –

Lead styphnate has been used as the primary initiator in primers for the past fifty years. These cartridge primers have a virtually unlimited shelf-life. It is not surprising that the performance and reliability of ammunition that has been stored properly for more than fifty years is indistinguishable from new ammunition. Hence, ammunition manufactured with primers using modern chemical initiators can be expected to remain functional indefinitely. This quality is essential to the stockpiling of ammunition required by the military. However, this quality also creates a potentially dangerous situation because it allows anyone to stockpile large quantities of ammunition without any anticipated legitimate use. Subversive individuals and groups are therefore able to "out-gun" law enforcement personnel attempting to execute lawful search and arrest warrants because of the nearly endless amount of ammunition that can be expended from a fortified position in an armed conflict.

Recently, there have been efforts to impose increasingly stricter gun-control measures by state and federal legislatures, as well as a call for "safer bullets" by the U.S. Surgeon General, in order to reduce the occurrence of violent crime. The effectiveness of new gun control legislation is the subject of much debate due to loop-holes in the laws and, perhaps, more importantly, the number of firearms already owned by the general public (estimated to be as high as 200 million firearms nationwide). There is a need for alternate methods of reducing the occurrence of gun related violence, such as controlling the availability of ammunition. One method of controlling the availability of ammunition that has been suggested is to limit its usable service-life. It is generally accepted that limiting the shelf-life of the primer is the most efficient method of controlling the usable service life of ammunition, because the complexity of the primer makes it the most difficult cartridge component to duplicate or replace.

-- snip --

The present invention fills the above-mentioned needs by providing a method of controlling the availability of ammunition by limiting the functional shelf-life of the primer to months or years, and thus offers an alternate and simple method of reducing the occurrence of firearms-related violence."


I find two things very interesting about this patent:

* The technology patented was deliberately developed in furtherance of a sociopolitical ideology that is aimed at reducing the ability of American citizens to keep significant stocks of ammunition. The description makes it quite clear that the people who did the work started from the assumption that they had a legal and moral mandate to work against the desires and legal activities of American citizens who own guns. As made clear in the last paragraph of the patent description, there are people both in the Federal government and among their paid researchers who believe there is a “need” to keep American gun owners from stocking up on ammunition. A "need" which is directly related to the purpose of trying to ensure that law enforcement agencies can more effectively maintain control of the population.

* All rights to actually use this invention were assigned to the Federal government. The work was done in a Federally funded laboratory and was paid for by Federal funds. So, the Federal government is deliberately taking an active hand in a measure that is intended to make it impossible for honest law abiding citizens to create long-term stockpiles of an item which it perfectly legal for them to buy and own.

[Thorkel]

PS: Patent # 6881284 was issued on April 19, 2005. So while the research may have started quite some time ago, apparently the Federal interest in this matter is still very much alive and active.