High-speed measurement of rifle primer blast waves

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.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.1644