Abstract: A battery pocket for centerfire sporting ammunition, for example a shotgun cartridge, comprises a cap shell containing a quantity of impact-sensitive priming material, an anvil and a cap chamber having one or more flash holes therein, the or each flash hole being closed by a layer of material that is removable upon, and as a result of, impact-ignition of the priming material. The or each layer preferably comprises a particulate material, such as china clay, in a polymeric binder and the provision thereof renders the battery pockets less mass-explosible.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of priming a blank or bulleted rimfire cartridge comprising the steps of (a) dosing into the rimfire case a quantity of a substantially dry, powdery, relatively insensitive premix comprising, in predetermined proportions, at least two materials that will, in the presence of a liquid reaction medium, react together forming a primary explosive compound, (b) compacting the premix so as substantially to fill the rim of the case therewith, (c) dosing a quantity of the liquid reaction medium into the case so as to cause said materials to react together forming the primary explosive compound and (d) drying the primer. By compacting the premix into the rim before the addition of the liquid reaction medium, the conventional spinning step may be dispensed with, thereby making the priming process safer and more economic.