The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

PERCUSSION PRIMERS 457
is safest to avoid the use of sulfur with chlorate especially in
non-fulminate mixtures. The second of the above-listed compositions
is an undesirable one in this respect. In the third and
fourth compositions, the cuprous thiocyanate serves both as a
combustible and as an anti-acid, and it helps, particularly in the
FIGURE 106 Longitudinal Sections of Military Rifle Ammunition of the
First World War. (Courtesy Ennle Monnin Cliamot.) The cartridge at
the bottom, French 9.0-mm. Lebel rifle, the one above it, German 7.9-mm.
Mauser, and the one above that, Canadian .30 caliber, all have anvils
of the Berdan type integrally one with the metal of the cartridge case.
third mixture, by supplying copper oxide which is a solid vehicle
for the transfer of heat. The first and the last of the above-listed
mixtures are the best. They contain no sulfur, and they contain
lead enough to supply plenty of solid particles of hot material.
Gunnery experts ascribe a large part of the erosion of shotgun
and rifle barrels to the action of the soluble salts which are produced
from the materials of the primer compositions, particularly