Is it possible to put 2 primers in a pocket?

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Brownie0351

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Dec 22, 2019
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Title says it all friends.

Thought I loaded 100 cases with 100 primers.
Can only account for 98.
After I've loaded them all.
Is it possible?
I'd hate like hell to need to pull all the heads and start over.
 
I guess anything is possible.
Could have dropped them.
I used a hand primer. There weren't any that were any harder to prime than any other.
 
If your wife vacuums them up she may not be happy with you if one goes off. I had heard of it happening and it happened to me just a couple of years ago. I keep a bright flashlight on my reloading bench so when a primer goes to the floor I can find it but obviously one escaped unnoticed.
 
On the off chance you aren't joking.
Hold an unprimed case in one hand and with the other hand hold two primers next to the pocket. You will have your answer.
Welcome to THR

I've loaded them all already.
Theres not one that even looks like a high primer much less a "double feed".
I probably dropped the damn things and didn't notice. So much for attention to detail.
 
I'm not sure how it's possible, I hand prime, if I try to add another primer I know it immediately. You probably could if you had enough force to smash the first primer, but I suspect it would explode before it compressed that far.
 
Can we assume you counted the primed cases or put them in a cartridge box that holds exactly 100? What I'm getting at is maybe you didn't drop two primers, maybe you started with 102 cases. Is that a possibility?

Forget the idea that you might have forced two primers in the same pocket - it would be painfully obvious at the time and when inspecting them afterward. You would also have to have done it twice. The odds against it sky rocket for that to be case.
 
Primers are tiny, light pieces of brass that sometimes have a mind of their own. Sometimes they'll flip upside down just to mess with you and sometimes they will slip out of any gap in the tool. This is why I sit close to the bench when I'm priming and they are a real pain to pick up with old mechanic's fat/blunt fingers...
 
No, you can't cram in two primers.

Anecdote alert:
There was a case of a blown up single action at CAS. Everybody blamed his Dillon for double charging powder.
The shooter swore that his equipment and methods completely precluded double charges. So a couple of club members offered to watch him loading to see what the matter was. He was right, there was no chance of him doubling the powder. But then they saw him pull the handle and a cartridge came through with no bullet. So he reset everything and placed a bullet. It seated kind of hard, so they checked it out. Sure enough, the previous bullet had stuck on bullet lube in the seating die and he had loaded a round with one powder charge but two bullets.
 
If you bought the individual tray of primers off a retail shelf, it's entirely possible that 2 were missing before your loading session. I've had "short" primer trays before. Those little trays slide in any out of the cardboard sleeve really easily, and a stocking retail worker can easily drop a tray and have a small number pop out and not even notice. Or if they went in a shopping bag after you checked out - unless someone taped the tray in place, it's easy for a row or less of them to "escape" into the bottom of the bag.

But, yeah, zero chance you put 2 in a single cartridge, unless you dropped one of them into the case mouth!
 
If you bought the individual tray of primers off a retail shelf, it's entirely possible that 2 were missing before your loading session. I've had "short" primer trays before. Those little trays slide in any out of the cardboard sleeve really easily, and a stocking retail worker can easily drop a tray and have a small number pop out and not even notice. Or if they went in a shopping bag after you checked out - unless someone taped the tray in place, it's easy for a row or less of them to "escape" into the bottom of the bag.

But, yeah, zero chance you put 2 in a single cartridge, unless you dropped one of them into the case mouth!

I've had that happen also. I have enough odd primer of every type collected over the years that I don't have to worry about it, but it is frustrating to open a 100 and see a couple empty spaces....
 
No, you can't cram in two primers.

Anecdote alert:
There was a case of a blown up single action at CAS. Everybody blamed his Dillon for double charging powder.
The shooter swore that his equipment and methods completely precluded double charges. So a couple of club members offered to watch him loading to see what the matter was. He was right, there was no chance of him doubling the powder. But then they saw him pull the handle and a cartridge came through with no bullet. So he reset everything and placed a bullet. It seated kind of hard, so they checked it out. Sure enough, the previous bullet had stuck on bullet lube in the seating die and he had loaded a round with one powder charge but two bullets.
I’ve had that happen on several occasions. In my case because of pan lubed bullets in a 45C.
 
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