[moecomputer]

how loud are primers when they go off? how loud would it be if i shot a shotshell that's been emptied out of pellets and powder so only the primer would be going off? thanks

[DoubleTapDrew]

Comparable to a .22 short IIRC

[rino451]

Don't know about a shot shell, but a small rifle primer fired in a 16" barrel in a closed garage wan't all that bad. Didn't really need hearing protection.

[tenbase]

I capped one off (primed .45 brass from a glock 21) indoors years ago when i was younger and stupider, and found it to be pretty loud :)

[nitesite]

In a primed case, in a chambered rifle pointed (naturally) away from you they are well below being loud.

In a pistol, not much louder but starting to get pretty sharp. I'd wear hearing protection.

Revolver is a bit louder still, about like a .22 rimfire.

In an enclosed room while reloading, one going off will really ring your bell for about 20-30 minutes!

[ArmedBear]

You can buy a dog training/starter pistol that uses standard 209 shotgun primers.

They claim it's louder than most .22's.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0006261615131a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=dog+training+pistol&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=dog+training+pistol&noImage=0

Whether or not the claim is accurate, it's in the same ballpark.

[TrapperReady]

I own and use two starter pistols for dog training. One uses .22 short blanks, the other 209 shotgun primers. IMO, the 209 is slightly louder. Using hearing protection is a good idea with any of them.

When I was doing more reloading, I'd occasionally get a primed hull mangled in the press. I'd normally trim off the damaged part with a razor-knife, shoot it in a break-open shotgun, then throw the hull away. In a 30" barrel, the primer doesn't make a lot of noise, even indoors. However, the couple of times I did it without hearing protection on, I noticed that my already bad tinnitus would be slightly worse for an hour or so. Since then, I always put on a pair of ear-muffs first.

[ArmedBear]

I'd occasionally get a primed hull mangled in the press. I'd normally trim off the damaged part with a razor-knife, shoot it in a break-open shotgun, then throw the hull away.

Uh, Trapper, if you're going through that much trouble, why not toss the cut-down shell in a single stage press and pop out the primer? That's what I do, and they still work fine.

Or I just use the single stage in the first place, and I don't mangle any hulls. But then I've cut back on my shooting lately, so I don't go bankrupt.

The jury is still out on whether my top-notch single stage or my mediocre progressives are faster in the big picture, including cleaning up the occasional powder and/or shot pile, extracting mangled hulls that interrupt the sequence, etc. on the progressives -- none of these things happen on the single stage.:uhoh: I think that, at the end of the hour, I have about the same number of loaded shells, either way, and less frustration with the single stage.

ADDENDUM: BTW a 209 primer will completely expell 7/8 oz. of lead from a 26" 20 Gauge barrel. Thanks to my progressive reloader, I discovered this firsthand.:D There's a lot more to a 209 than a pistol primer!

[TrapperReady]

AB - It's no real trouble, and the cost of a single primer is negligible. As far as reloading machines go, I only have progressives. They're what I learned on, and they work great the vast majority of the time.*

I've contemplated getting a single-stage for certain metallic cartridges, but there's only a select few things I reload, and my Dillon progressive is already set up for those.

BTW, the one squib load I ever reloaded (also a 7/8oz, but a 12ga) resulted in the wad and shot leaving the barrel entirely. The wad came out with all the force of a cork coming out of a pop-gun, and the shot was clearly visible as it lobbed out of the barrel and landed probably no more than 20 feet in front of the shooting station.

* I've also gotten quick and efficient at fixing problems and cleaning up spills.

[moecomputer]

Thanks for all the replies, the information was useful to me.