High-speed measurement of rifle primer blast waves

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-speed measurement technique for rifle primer blast waves, revealing variability in peak pressures and their correlation with primer mass, which can inform better primer selection and manufacturing.

Contribution

It introduces a direct high-speed measurement method for primer blast waves and analyzes the variability and correlation with primer mass, providing new insights into primer performance.

Findings

Peak pressure varies from below 200 psi to above 500 psi.

Most primer types show 5-12% standard deviation in peak pressure.

Peak pressure correlates with primer mass, suggesting sorting by mass can reduce variability.

Abstract

This article describes a method and results for direct high-speed measurements of rifle primer blast waves employing a high-speed pressure transducer located at the muzzle to record the blast pressure wave produced by primer ignition. Our key findings are: 1) Most of the primer models tested show 5-12% standard deviation in the magnitudes of their peak pressure. 2) For most primer types tested, peak pressure magnitudes are well correlated with measured primer masses so that significant reductions in standard deviation are expected to result from sorting primers by mass. 3) A range of peak pressures from below 200 psi to above 500 psi is available in different primer types.