Need ammo for your Volcanic?

[Drydock]

[ndnchf]

As always, another great video from Ian.  It makes me wonder if anyone has tried to make a modern version of the rocket ball.  Not that there are a lot of Volcanic repeaters laying around needing ammunition But it would be neat to replicate it. 

[Major 2]

Wow  20 grand  .....kinda like where primers are today    rare & costly

[Coal Creek Griff]

Wow  20 grand  .....kinda like where primers are today    rare & costly

With current ammo and component prices, that's not looking so bad.  Let's see... If I sell one of my AR15s at current prices, I could probably buy a Volcanic rifle. I have 1000 large rifle primers to trade for ammo... Yeah, this might work! 

[Cap'n Redneck]

@ ndnchf:  Yes, the Rocket Ball has been replicated in modern times.  I recall one of the gunsmith-reality shows on History Channel did just that in an episode some years ago.
They took a .41 caliber lead bullet, drilled a hole in the bottom of it, a little smaller diameter than a large pistol primer, and then made a recess that would serve as a primer pocket.  This was all done on a lathe. 
The cavity was filled with a pinch of blackpowder, then a large pistol primer plugged the cavity. 
(Maybe the primer would need to be glued in place or secured with a layer of varnish?)
They made a handful of Rocket Balls this way, and they were fired in an original .41 cal. Navy Size Volcanic pistol.  If I remember correctly the owner of the Volcanic pistol was some kind of celebrity, and the gunshop was a family-operated one in Colorado, where the owner piloted his own helicopter...?

YouTube had the answer: Rich Wyatt of the "American Guns" reality show.  Couldn't find the Volcanic-episode, though...

[Abilene]

If that's the show I'm thinking of, I think a great deal of the episodes on that show were "faked".  Like building a '73 and '66 from scratch.  Don't know about the rocketball episode, didn't see that.

[Major 2]

That not all Rich Wyatt did
Rich Wyatt lost his Federal Firearms License (FFL) in April, 2012 in the middle of Discovery's American Guns television series due to violations of federal laws and regulations.
But he continued to operate his gun store and sell firearms under a straw license belonging to someone else.
He was sentenced in 2017  to 6.5 years in prison for tax fraud and conspiracy and ordered to surrender 490 guns.

[ndnchf]

@ ndnchf:  Yes, the Rocket Ball has been replicated in modern times.  I recall one of the gunsmith-reality shows on History Channel did just that in an episode some years ago.
They took a .41 caliber lead bullet, drilled a hole in the bottom of it, a little smaller diameter than a large pistol primer, and then made a recess that would serve as a primer pocket.  This was all done on a lathe. 
The cavity was filled with a pinch of blackpowder, then a large pistol primer plugged the cavity. 
(Maybe the primer would need to be glued in place or secured with a layer of varnish?)
They made a handful of Rocket Balls this way, and they were fired in an original .41 cal. Navy Size Volcanic pistol.  If I remember correctly the owner of the Volcanic pistol was some kind of celebrity, and the gunshop was a family-operated one in Colorado, where the owner piloted his own helicopter...?

YouTube had the answer: Rich Wyatt of the "American Guns" reality show.  Couldn't find the Volcanic-episode, though...

I didn't see that, but its the same basic idea I was thinking about.  It would be interesting to see. But as Abilene mentioned, a lot of these so-called reality shows are faked. So who knows. 

One thing that puzzles me slightly in the originals is what happens to the primer anvil and other metal bits after ignition?  As Ian says, there is nothing to extract. But does this metal debris remain scattered in the barrel?, or does it all blow out the muzzle?  Hmmmm

[ndnchf]

OK, I got curious and looked up the patent. I think I found the answer to my question about what happens to the primer debris after firing. The end of the 4th paragraph of the patent application says:  "... It also serves as a means for withdrawing the primer from the arm after it has been discharged"  So, it sounds like after each shot, the primer debris must be removed.

Here is another interesting RIA video about the difference between the Hunt Rocket Ball and the Volcanic cartridges.


 

[ndnchf]

Call me crazy, it won't be the first time    But just for fun, I made up a kind of dummy Volcanic cartridge. I started with a lyman 427098 bullet, the closest I had to .41 cal. It was step bored with 3 bits to hollow it out. Then a 32 mag case head was modified, and cut off to make the primer plate. Then it was pressed into the bullet. Wala! A dummy Volcanic round 

[Professor Marvel]

Call me crazy, it won't be the first time

OK, I am Happy to oblige
       "you are crazy. but in a good way."

yhs
prof marvel