The search for the missing (possibly) primer.

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gfanikf

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Now thankfully it was a primer from a once fired lake city. I deprime about 7 rounds and notice one on the ground. Lee's Cast Iron Press while good seems to every now and them spit a primer on the floor instead of the pvc tube. Now after I notice one I start checking my past rounds deprimed and find 6 in total, only issue is I de primed 7. I have no idea where the missing one is and when it occurred.

It is entirely possible it was properly disposed of, but I routed through the trash and only could account for six. This wouldn't be a huge issue if it wasn't for the fact this was my living room (my wife and daughter are at her parents till tomorrow for a dentist appt so its just me and the cat). Now I did more depriming and I saw where the primers would fall on the ground. and nothing is there. The only variation is that the first primers were deprimed with a lot of force (that I soon realized wasn't needed). I spent a good hour looking for the thing and nothing. I'm going to check the hell out of my daughters playpack and toys...but it would have required a lot of force and an upward ejection or bounce to do so.

At this point I think the best I can do is a full on vacuuming. Luckily with the exception of an area rug its pretty much hardwood. If my daughter wasn't crawling/standing and grabbing and try to eat all she can find, I'd be a lot less worried especially with us moving in a month, but even then I would be concerned with our cat...though she only tries to eat plastic when she is signaling dinner time is near to us. Lol

The irony is that I was enjoying the depriming and cleaning out the pocket crimp and had just mounted my new press (doing the drilling myself).

Not sure if anyone can give much advice ...I just needed to vent.

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And the problem is what? A little circular metal part somewhere on the floor.
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That has lead residue and other junk and could be picked up with by my nine month old daughter or cat...or found by my wife.

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45lcshooter said:
I would suggest puttin the reloading bench where family cant get at it so much, because then you wont need to worry as much. Like basement, garage, man cave.
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That is the plan when we move either on the balcony or (since they are 10 minutes away my parents basement...but no more closests or places with easy open access).This was more first steps and function tests.

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I remember the days when everything had to be child proof. My worst worry these days is dropping a pill and a cat or a dog eating it.

Primers I don't worry about. They dogs eat worse stuff outside. Besides, they don't go in the reloading room. The cats sneak in sometimes. :)
 
Walkalong said:
I remember the days when everything had to be child proof. My worst worry these days is dropping a pill and a cat or a dog eating it.

Primers I don't worry about. They dogs eat worse stuff outside. Besides, they don't go in the reloading room. The cats sneak in sometimes. :)
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That happened with our when my wife dropped a duclex pill. Luckily we noticed something was off right away (and found a broken pill to confirm it). We knew when we picked up her and she give no sign of being annoyed something was remiss. Thankfully the vet just do a fluid injection (IIRC) and recommended pepcid ac, and Roxy was back to normal within a day. It's in the back of my head at the moment, but also because as you said it's all about childproofing (since she can now open cabinets). I'm going for the when we move to go full tilt...especially since I have to get something in place to prevent balcony doors from being easily opened....ah fun times!

The annoying thing is that I could have disposed of it (heck now I think it could be on the bench...even though I know I checked it), but I just can't confirm it (and with more depriming done (and in the trash..which I feel I routed through enough) unless I find it on the ground I'll never know.
 
Vacuum the area that you were working.

Spent primers will not taste good to dogs or cats, I do not worry about them. Toddlers are a different story.
 
cfullgraf said:
Vacuum the area that you were working.

Spent primers will not taste good to dogs or cats, I do not worry about them. Toddlers are a different story.
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Yeah, at the very least the entire house will be clean and vacuumed, which should mitigate some of the spousal annoyances, and my own worry.
 
Rule #1 is they roll really far, in an unexpected direction. Rule #2 is they are really hard to see.

I use a long (36") metal rod to check the flat open areas.

I worry more about the live ones than the expended ones. Good idea to keep looking for it -- it is there somewhere.
 
HighRoadRover said:
Rule #1 is they roll really far, in an unexpected direction. Rule #2 is they are really hard to see.
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Ironically enough this hasn't been the case any other time. lol

HighRoadRover said:
I worry more about the live ones than the expended ones. Good idea to keep looking for it -- it is there somewhere.
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Yeah, my personality type stinks with just forgetting that it's there or giving up.
 
I would think youur only problem is the wife (wemmens rarely understand shootin' 'n reloadin'). Even if your daughter found the used primer and ate it, I sincerly doubt if it would harm her health. She prolly gets more lead in her system from breathing city air...
 
My youngest is 25 years old so it's been a very long time since I had to worry about childproofing BUT, I now have a 1 year old granddaughter so it's time to start all the childproofing all over again! (bought a different home 7 years ago so there is no leftover childproofing anywhere)
 
ArchAngelCD said:
My youngest is 25 years old so it's been a very long time since I had to worry about childproofing BUT, I now have a 1 year old granddaughter so it's time to start all the childproofing all over again! (bought a different home 7 years ago so there is no leftover childproofing anywhere)
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Well you know anything made for Children from one generation is deadly unsafe for the next. :D

My parents got lucky that my crib never had one of those drop down setups so despite being 30 years old it was cleaned up and is back in use again....it also worked for my younger sister! I have no clue how they lucked out!

My wife just sent me video of her saying Da-da...and opening cabinets and drawers at her mom's house. lol

She's very big into exploring just like me....and that terrifies me! :eek:
 
The cats sneak in sometimes.
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Primers are shiny.

My cats love shiny.

Its always a hassle.

Primers inevitably go astray even in the neatest reloading setup.

I'd have it somewhere that a stray isn't going to be picked up by a nine-month old.

If a nine month old has access to your floorspace to find a spent primer, what else does that'n have access to it shouldn't ? This will continue for about the next, roughly 17 years or so, FWIW.
 
I've found that a some primers have steel anvils. If it's still on the floor, a magnet might find it.
Or you could just vacuum and let your wife think you're being helpful. :D
 
For the future, spread a dropcloth under your loading area. Not plastic, as things bounce, but cloth drapes, does not encourage rolling away and is easily picked up, folded in quarters and everything goes to the center.

Big dropcloth. Upturned edges if you can figure out how to manage that.

I know of one reloader who loads in the bathroom. Plug the drain, set up in the bathtub. Vacuum it out and wipe down when done.

Good luck.

I have had good luck finding objects with one of those electromagnet devices for erasing bulk magnetic tape (cassettes, reel-to reel, etc). Or, shine a flashlight (skimming) across the surface of your floors. Even the smallest object casts a distinctive shadow that is easy to see move when you wiggle the flashlight.

Lost Sheep.
 
You could try adjusting the decapping pin higher up, so that it pops the primer closer to the top of the upstroke. Just take care to not go so high you jam the neck between the die and the expander. Near the top, I tend to slow down as I feel for die/shellholder contact.

Another thing I tend to do is rest my left hand over the O-frame, covering the left side of the ram at the upstroke. On my Breechlock, that's where the primers emerge from. I started doing that because my bench is a bit flimsy, and this give me a little better feel when the press tops out. But it does catch 99% of those over-excited primers that exit high left. There's still the rare one that bounces out, somehow.
 
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Primer Search

Fortunately (not really!) I have to reload in the kitchen - no kids to worry about, just a dog and 4 cats. A smooth floor surface makes the primer search easier, but in my 1895 vintage home, the kitchen floor is nowhere near level, so they can realy roll!

I turn down the lights and use a mini-maglite held horizontal about 6" above the floor, scanning the surface until I find the errant cup - as well as any dirt tracked in, crumbs dropped, etc. The glint and the shadow usually show up the primer cup. On a carpet I would expect more difficulty due to the pile, but I'll bet if you held the light a little higher off the floor you could find that primer from the glint, unless you have stepped on it and driven it deep into the rug.
 
Obviously you have only the one child. When we had our first, everything with any dirt had to be immediately washed and sterilized. By the third, we were going outside with a small shovel to be sure he got his daily allotment of dirt in his diet.

Don't sweat one used primer. It's not gonna hurt her.
 
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