Synopsis: A series of tests, made possible through procurement of an inert smokeless propellant simulant with physical characteristics that are very similar to Rl-15 (an extruded smokeless propellant), has provided answers to several questions about propellant ignition (both smokeless and, to a lesser degree of certainty, blackpowder) upon which this author has long pondered. Those questions are:

1. Does the plume from a "hotter" primer penetrate farther into the charge, so that more charge is directly ignited or does such a more powerful blast increase chamber pressure in some other way – perhaps through the pulverization of more propellant (blackpowder) or increased ignition toward case perimeter (both smokeless and black);
2. To what distance does a primer plume penetrate into a propellant column with sufficient heat to generate direct ignition of propellant granules;
3. If the primer blast will move the bullet in a "load" lacking propellant, will the primer blast in an otherwise identical loading (with propellant) result in greater or lesser bullet movement (before propellant ignition generates sufficient combustion pressure to move the bullet)?