Small pistol primer set off by a punch.

My dad tells me the story of him and my uncle got into my grandpas primers. They would line them up one the sidewalk and hit them with the hammer. He said it's one of the few times he got a whippin.

It's all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt.
The list of stupid things folks do is endless.

That is not the proper use of a marking punch.
You have lost your hammer privileges for another week...
Why do you even come to work?

That's pretty similar to how a 'nail test' for corrosive primers is performed.

The Car Doctor said:

My dad tells me the story of him and my uncle got into my grandpas primers. They would line them up one the sidewalk and hit them with the hammer. He said it's one of the few times he got a whippin.

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Guy I knew way back then thought it fun to do that, unknown to me, till a primer pocket ended up in my knee.
He didn't come around after that.

Yikes. I could sit here and tell you that as kids my friend Tom and I did not burn through a whole box of Ramset .22 blanks by dropping them in a row of holes in a 2x4 and then whacking them with a hammer... but then I'd be sitting here telling lies. What a terrible idea. His dad heard it and busted us (go figure) and he was NOT impressed.

I've whacked one with a hammer...just had to see for myself. It was an experiment, and I used "eyes and ears". I used a piece of particle board as a shield, and good thing. A few fragments ended up in the board. Much more energy released than I expected.


As kids, we used to put 20Ga shells in fence knotholes and set them off with our BB guns. What a thrill!

Phantom 309 said:

Yikes. I could sit here and tell you that as kids my friend Tom and I did not burn through a whole box of Ramset .22 blanks by dropping them in a row of holes in a 2x4 and then whacking them with a hammer... but then I'd be sitting here telling lies. What a terrible idea. His dad heard it and busted us (go figure) and he was NOT impressed.

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What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.