The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Ovenpaa wrote:I had just under half a jam jar of the stuff in my bedroom wardrobe as a youngster, the bad thing is I have no idea what happened to it.

I bet your sibling (if you have one) took it and wondered why that green jam tasted horrible on toast...

It was lovely and shiny.

Is 'fulminate of mercury' not still used in primers? If so better not breathe in the fumes when shooting.

Obeah men in Jamaica still use quicksilver (mercury) in their various preparations apparently

Mercury is still used in vast quantities in gold/silver mining, mainly now in third world countries and almost all lighthouses used a mercury bath to float the rotating optics on, often half a ton or so was used.

I don't think fulminate of mercury is used for priming compound at all now, mostly Lead styphnate but now being replaced by a "green" product (DDNP)

Nelly2014 wrote:Is 'fulminate of mercury' not still used in primers? If so better not breathe in the fumes when shooting.

Obeah men in Jamaica still use quicksilver (mercury) in their various preparations apparently

Fulminate of mercury was tried in primers in the early 1900s but wasn't widely used.This compound was not corrosive, but its explosion left a residue of free mercury. Unfortunately, mercury attacks the copper in brass cartridge cases, and softens the case. For military use, where cartridges were discarded, this presented no problem. But for civilians, who often reload the brass case (the most expensive part of a cartridge), mercuric primers were not acceptable. In addition, mercury fulminate proved to have a fairly short period of stability, so primer makers went back to potassium chlorate.