#Primer

Episode 65 of C&Rsenal’s landmark rundown of the weapons of the Great War covers something very, very special – the Pedersen Device.

If we can make a round that is significantly better than the existing 5.56mm or 7.62mm ammunition, shouldn’t the military just bite the bullet and switch, to the benefit of the servicemen and women in harm’s way? What’s stopping the powers that be from making the incremental improvements that everyone knows are possible?

C&Rsenal, an utterly fantastic resource for the historically inept at firearms history, has released their latest Primer episode. The Primers are in-depth looks at the firearm including their history (often the result of a combination of conflict, technology, and politics) and their ultimate design, including excellent transparent models.

In a previous post about the sometimes ambiguous meaning of the word “caliber”, we discussed how the word had mutated through the centuries, picking up different definitions and connotations along the way. In that article, I wrote:

The house I live in was built at the turn of the century – the 18th century. And on really cold days I sometimes like to think of what firearms had walked in through the door in years past. More than 50 years before the birth of our nation, flintlock smoothbores put food on the table and protected the homestead. (Flintlocks. Wow, I get annoyed after loading five Glock mags.) But eventually the occupants here were blessed with centerfire guns, thanks in large part to the development of the primer.

Ever wonder why a primer is at the rear of a cartridge and not the center? Would it not make more sense to have the ignition in the middle of the case to get a better powder burn? At face value the questions seem like a logical hypothesis.

Red Dot and no-magnification optics are probably the greatest increase in efficiency for firearms outside of the invention of the brass case. Using them greatly increases the chance of getting solid hits on target, as it removes the mental and eyesight gymnastics of aligning four objects into a single plane, reducing it to three.

I think its safe to say that many in our readership have enjoyed our myriad of posts on various historical firearms. Ian at Forgotten Weapons has been an instrumental asset to the community (and as an occasional contributor to our humble blog). Adding to Ian’s bredth of knowledge is C&Rsenal, who has been hot at adding depth to many of the not-so-forgotten weapons of years past.

The Mauser 1914 is not a well-known firearm today, but during the First World War, it became one of the most important small semiautomatic handguns of the early 20th Century.

The Firearms History blog has posted an anthology of sorts of different videos dealing with modern cartridge manufacture. The manufacture of ammunition is the critical characteristic of modern small arms – huge advances in technology would today be possible, such as caseless rounds or flechette projectiles – if not for the need to create billions of rounds of ammunition per year to feed millions of rifles in service around the world. Since this is the most important limitation government small arms technology, it is worthwhile to get a firm understanding of it. Below are some of the videos embedded in the post; first, a World War II-era short detailing .303 British ammunition manufacture in South Africa. The methods show are dated (especially the manufacture of cordite propellant), but much of it is still current:

If you are anything like me, I’m sure that you have found yourself in your friend’s basement discussing the finer points of co-witnessing back up iron sights on platforms other than the AR-15. One of these platforms that came up was the Benelli M4, and many laughs ensued as we put all of the optics that we could find onto the factory rail.

.22Plinkster talks about the 4 scenarios that could cause a misfire in a rimfire gun.

Primal Rights, an online long-range store, has posted up an excellent primer on the differences between first and second focal plane scopes.  Many shooters take this knowledge for granted, but as an experienced one, I still found value in the the refresher course.

Sinclair International, seller of reloading supplies, have explained the lack of primer availability on their blog (emphasis mine):