Ammunition priming mixtures and method of forming same

Abstract

Ammunition rim fire priming mixtures are commonly prepared by mixing normal lead styphnate, a sensitizer, such as tetracene, an oxygen donor such as lead nitrate, and a frictionator such as ground glass. This invention relates to such a mixture and to center fire priming mixtures which consist of lead styphnate, tetracene, inorganic fuels and barium nitrate and to a method of forming them and is characterized by the use of lead styphnate which is formed in situ by the reaction of a water wet mixture of styphnic acid and a lead compound such as lead oxide (litharge), lead hydroxide, basic lead carbonate, or lead carbonate. The lead styphnate which results from the practice of this method has been isolated and subjected to X-Ray diffraction analysis confirming that this is a novel form of lead styphnate and is indeed a new compound. Important advantages of this invention are reduced cost, improved safety since it is unnecessary to prepare, precipitate, or separately handle pure or relatively pure lead styphnate and because the wet mixtures are insensitive, and improved percussion sensitivity of the resulting mixtures when dried for use.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.