Re-seating primers on loaded cartridges

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OK, has anyone popped a primer using a hand priming tool?
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No, I never have, and I believe its highly unlikely. With that said, the older I get I also believe most anything is possible with some folks.

Also, I stated "never", remember never is an awful long time, particularly if one is young. As one gets older the time frame of never diminishes.

Even so a primer going off in an UNLOADED round is nothing of any consequence as long as the case mouth is not pointed towards anything that bleeds.
 
i would not.

ive popped a primer on a progressive press before. the thought of there being a powder charge and a seated bullet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, if its not in your chamber, its a bomb.
 
^ When you popped the primer, was it seated correctly? Or was the shell off-center or the primer sideways/upside down? Re-seating a primer, those things can't happen.
 
IF you really needed the consensus of this forum to answer that question, perhaps you should be questioning your need to reload at the juncture............
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What question? I asked if it had been done.
Get off your high horse.
Read more carefully.
Don't be a jerk.
 
OK, has anyone popped a primer using a hand priming tool?
Click to expand...
Never have, but I stand by my answer in post # 9, despite the fact that I am like rcmodel in that..
Should you? No.

Have I? Yes
Click to expand...

:eek:

I have done a number of things in my life I would not recommend to others. Try it at your own risk. The risk is small, but the results could be bad.
 
I have reseated loaded rounds in the past. If you decided to break them down, which I, recommended, you then can reseated the primers, then reload the cases.
 
I would not.

I've popped a primer on a progressive press before. the thought of there being a powder charge and a seated bullet,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, if its not in your chamber, its a bomb.
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No it's not a BOMB! Anybody that can say that, doesn't really understand what goes on inside a cartridge in a chamber, loaded, being fired! If the primer were to detonate, it would bulge the case, eject the bullet and NOT ignite the powder. Smokeless powder MUST BE CONFINED to burn fast enough to be a bomb, that requires a chamber closed by a bolt, and a barrel. The thin brass case just does not provide enough confinement to allow an explosion.

But then the primer won't detonate while being gently pushed deeper into the pocket. Anybody that pops a primer while seating it is jamming the ram into the primer, instead of applying slow steady pressure.

As far as have I done it? Yes, but with caution and a bit of nerves!:eek:
 
If the primer were to detonate, it would bulge the case, eject the bullet and NOT ignite the powder.
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What happens depends, but it will most certainly ignite the powder.

Slow burning rifle powder will eject the primer or bullet and burn out.
But since the primer would be contained by the seating punch, the bullet will blow out.

Fast pistol powder will rupture the case and blow the bullet out fast enough to leave a dent in sheet metal.
There will be flying shrapnel case fragments!

AmmoFire4.jpg

rc
 
I have never popped a primer while priming with any tool.
That being said, I will not reseat a primer on a loaded round.
Pull the bullets.
 
Haven't figgered how to quote yet, but I kinda side with 918v. I too have been reloading for a lot of years and NEVER popped a primer in a press, ram prime, or hand held priming tool, and I've even "pre loaded" some. And I've deprimmed mistakes like backwards primers and sideways primers, and wrong primers properly seated. With a Lee Loader, yep, several times, but that's different physics altogether. I won't advocate seating primers deeper after loads completed, but a lot of times we go way overboard with safety stuff (I was a Saftey Rep. at the last place I worked, so I think I know what I'm talking about). Nuttin' wrong w/that, but common sense is a better tool...
 
I do not recommend trying to reseat loaded primers and tumbling loaded cartridges.
The reseating speaks for itself.
The tumbling will cause the powder to breakdown not to mention the possible primer problems of contamination and detonation.

Sure it takes more time to unload and reload but safety wise it's the only option.
 
steelslide, welcome to THR.

The tumbling will cause the powder to breakdown not to mention the possible primer problems of contamination and detonation.
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False, false, false! This has been covered over and over, even tested, powder will not breakdown while tumbling, do a search on the info regarding this. The ammo mfg's tumble before packaging their product. Neither will the rounds go off or the primer become contaminated.
 
I am guilty of reseating a primer in a loaded round, but I wouldn't recommend doing it.
And if there's more than one or two, just pull 'em.
 
No it's not a BOMB! Anybody that can say that, doesn't really understand what goes on inside a cartridge in a chamber, loaded, being fired!
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thank you snuffy for your input. after this story, if you like, you can question my honesty now that you have evaluated my intelligence.

when i was in grade school (late 60's) my good friend and i were working on a science project together. (we were breeding guppies for a year long project) we were at his house and after messing with the fish steven came out of his house with 2 paper hull 12 guage shells and one 38 special cartridge. he came up with the bright idea that if you pounded the round down on a pebble, it would be just like a mortar round.

the doctor decided during surgury that the best thing to do was to amputate the thumb between the two knuckles, so that is what they did. the crazy part is about 2 weeks later they cut off stevens big toe on his right foot, and re-attach it so that he would have an opposable thumb on his right hand.

they did it and it actually works like a charm to this day. they said if it was any other finger (besides the thumb) they would have just amputated between the knuckles and left it that way.

have you ever seen a de-gloved knuckle? its nice, leme tell ya.

EDIT: forgot to clarify that it was the 38sp cartridge that popped in stevens hand.
(would also like to add that it didnt turn him off of firearms. he is also not an idiot or anything, he was just a goofy kid. he is very smart and a very good guy)
 
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Well, it would appear as though I was wrong, it happens occasionally!:eek::uhoh:

At least in as much that the case would rupture with enough force to do damage to a digit. But it still is not a bomb. A bomb does mass damage over a large area, a shell is more like a firecracker. There's been a lot of hands torn up by big firecrackers in years past. A cherry bomb or M-80 can sever fingers.

The next time there's a high primer on a 40 or 45, I'll set it aside to pull apart, rather than just squeeze it in further. No sense in taking chances, the older I get the more careful I become. Besides, I'm ugly enough without messing up my face or hands.
 
One of the responders mentioned that he would pull the bullets and toss the powder and primers.

New into reloading and before I had a chronograph, I carefully loaded over a "2"hundred rounds of 9mm that I found out later didn't meet the required speed. I pulled all of them, saved the primers and powder, and reloaded.

They all fed, fired and met speed requirements. I lost nothing except time, and became a GM at pulling bullets. Thankfully, I'm out of practice now.
 
to answer a question asked earlier about my primer in the press pop: it was not canted or sideways. on the one i popped, it was a 45acp case, and somehow the anvil in the primer cup had turned sideways, and was bottoming on the primer pocket before the primer was as deep as i like them (3-5 thousandths below flush),,,, when i tried to press the cup in the rest of the way, i think the anvil snapped and ignited the primer.

lol, no prob snuffy, im usually the one that says "ok, i stand corrected"

be warned however, it can, and does also happen with very slow burning rifle rounds as well, such as this young man who used a .50 m2 round as a pin punch on an uncooperative ma deuce machinegun mount (m2 machine gun mount).

these rounds are loaded with extremely slow powders. it would probably be around 142-145 on the burn rate chart

http://www.hodgdon.com/burn-rate.html

problem was surely made worse in this case by the synthetic asphalt sealant used in the necks of these rounds, and of course we dont use such sealers, but why chance it.

WARNING, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED : UPON CLICKING THIS LINK, YOU WILL SEE A PHOTO OF GRAPHIC INJURY DUE TO DETONATION OF A LIVE ROUND IN THE HAND.

in my book, anything that seperates you from digits or other body parts,,,,,,,,,,,, is a bomb!!! lol
http://forums.gunsandammo.com/forum...al-round-pound-mounting-pin-inwarning-graphic
 
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I do it all the time. I only do it with my revolver rounds though. I shoot revo in USPSA, IDPA and ICORE. Many revolver shooters reseat primers using a RCBS hand priming tool.

I'm using Federal primers and have never had one go off in 35 years of reloading.
 
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