novice question about primed case storage/handling

Your process sounds like exactly what i do with rifle cases. Keep em dry and they should be fine.

I de-cap, size, and expand the case mouth before priming so then I don't have to do any more case prep. I don't store primed cases but rather prime, charge, and seat the bullet at the same time. That way, I know the cases are clean and empty. By the way, look into getting a Lee auto prime. They're inexpensive and real easy to use.

Your process seems solid.

I never touch the primers from the time they leave their original package. I use a press mounted Lee Safety Prime as my only priming station although I have other presses and hand primer options. I deprime/resize and prime all in one stroke. The Lee Safety Prime is FAST to load, easy to swap from large to small when needed and just plain works.

Primer defects/Recalls.- i would not prime to many. A case of 5000 primers may be ok, till half way thru the lot.
One manufacture made many bad LR primers years ago.
But easy to decap empty brass.

Avoid storage in high tempetures.

stonebuster said:

I've got the auto prime but after knocking it off accidentally shortly after installing it I removed it. Figured it would just be a matter of time before I did it again when full next time. I may give it a try again since I've read some say it's better not to touch the primers. On the other hand picking them up off the basement floor wouldn't be good either.

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It's the hand held one, not the one on the press.

I also do all the other case working and prime last. Did it this way for years and years with no problems. Also handled primers with bare hands with no problems for hundreds of thousands of casings worth. Lately I prime just before loading as I do not want a large pile of primed brass in one caliber and no primers left to use in another.
Primers are quite robust. I had several thousand that were stored in my grandfathers unheated workshop rafters for many years. They all shot well.

stonebuster said:

I've been reloading 38/357 since last December. My procedure at this point is to tumble clean, decap/ resize and prime to put away for another day. When priming I choose to do it by hand wearing surgical gloves. I take out the primer sleeve, dump it on clean paper towel and flip them by moving the towel back and forth. Left hand inserts case into shell holder, right hand grabs the inverted primer and puts it in primer arm. My right hand doesn't touch anything but the primer except the handle on the ram to help eliminate contamination. The primed cases go into the "block" they originally came in from the factory. Any issue with my procedure(other than touching the primer at all) or storing them this way in a cool/dry place until loading? I may be over thinking this but want to use an abundance of caution and seek your advice.

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The only thing I would add is to trim the straight walled .38 and .357 magnum cases if you want a consistent crimp. I would do this right before expanding the cases. I also think the lee hand prime tool would help you not have to touch the primers.

stonebuster said:

I've been reloading 38/357 since last December. My procedure at this point is to tumble clean, decap/ resize and prime to put away for another day. When priming I choose to do it by hand wearing surgical gloves. I take out the primer sleeve, dump it on clean paper towel and flip them by moving the towel back and forth. Left hand inserts case into shell holder, right hand grabs the inverted primer and puts it in primer arm. My right hand doesn't touch anything but the primer except the handle on the ram to help eliminate contamination. The primed cases go into the "block" they originally came in from the factory. Any issue with my procedure(other than touching the primer at all) or storing them this way in a cool/dry place until loading? I may be over thinking this but want to use an abundance of caution and seek your advice.

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Personally I think you guys are being a little too delicate with primer handling.

My handload count is easily in the hundreds of thousands of rounds, and I have never once been delicate handling primers. I don't wear gloves, I don't concern myself with any precaution other than eye protection, and not getting which is what mixed up with another.

Look, simply put, the oil on your hands isn't going to damage or otherwise screw up a primer.

I literally have thousands of primers from the 1950-60-70's in my cabinet which still work just fine. Look at how they used to be packaged;



I *tried* to de-activate primers once by soaking them in soapy water for a week (that is a long story involving a large box of primed brass, stored in a garage, and termites which got in through a crack in the garage floor and decided to nest in the box with the brass). 100% of the primers still fired after the mud was dissolved and the cases were subsequently tumbled.

Yes, a week long soak in soapy water (no projectile, no bullet, just primed cases) AND a tumbling with all sorts of detritus from dirty media getting in to the primers.

And every single last one of them were still viable, and had to be dry fired before I popped them out on the press.

Even a shot of WD40 isn't enough to immediately disable them. It takes a good long soak in an oil based solvent to kill them dead.

You don't have to baby the things. They are far more resilient than you'd think!

Trent said:

It takes a good long soak in an oil based solvent to kill them dead.

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Even then, if the solvent evaporates the compound will return to sensitivity.
The only sure way to disable the compound is to oxidize it, burn it.


Acetone will desensitized and liquify the primer compound enabling removal from the cup and the paper foil from the pellet. When dry, a slight rap with a hammer will put a small hole in the work bench top...


Powerful and durable little things!

stonebuster said:

Thanks for all the replies/advice. Seems as long as reasonable caution is used in handling primers they won't be damaged.

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Indeed. You can drop them, you can handle them without wearing gloves, etc.

What *is* important is eye protection, when loading. You just never know if one is going to want to go in sideways, or if a case is just not right, or whatever. E.g. I had some S&B steel 9mm brass work it's way in to my range pickups somehow, and those primer pockets are TIGHT. LIke, audible squeek and LOTS of force required when you try to seat primers in them. Anyway, when you run across one of those in a progressive press, once it starts to go in, you are committed! The only way through, is through! When I had that happen I removed all extra primers from the press (from the tube) and grabbed an old worthless 2A vest that was out of warranty, and tossed between me and the casing, and rammed it home. Didn't detonate but damned if I didn't think it wasn't going to!

I bought a rather strong magnet and swept the remaining steel cases out of that big tub of 9mm brass before continuing, to avoid a repeat incident.

There is an anecdotal verified story of a person using a Dillon press, and getting a piece of primer shrapnel embedded in (or near, I forget how it went), in their heart, from a detonation years back. When you consider that was a freak accident, you still want something sturdy between your softer tissues (eyeballs) and the press.

Anyway the point of all of this, is the risk with primers is personal injury; not you injuring them!

You should be wearing impact rated (lexan, or similar) glasses when reloading.

I store my primers in their original packaging. Seems ok to me.

No harm in storing them in the brass until you reload either.

Touching primers has never caused me problems but I'm only 10k or so in. If you wet tumble make sure their dry, and bang away. Storage is the key imo. If you keep the sleeves in the house that's a better place than primed brass in the garage. If they live in the ac either way it makes no difference.

Oil from your fingers (considering you washed your hands and didn't just service the family Chevy) should not be a problem. The little bit of oil on the skin can leave fingerprints and tarnish the surface of the brass case and possibly the surface finish of the primer after a while in storage. There is not enough natural oil on the skin to seep deep into the primer cup to contaminate the primer material.

If you planned to store the loaded ammo for 50 years, maybe it would matter. Maybe.

I store my cases sized, prepped, cleaned, and trimmed (rifle only). I only prime them shortly before using them.

I may have a different need for the primers.

I bought some 300 Blackout cases that came from the factory primed, a box of 500. They came loose in a corrugate box.

If your using brass caps not nickle plated the acids from your skin can attack the brass. For short term I don't think its a problem, 5-10 yrs from now maybe.

I try not to touch primers with bare hands, but it happens, and has not yet caused me any problems. As a younger man, I was in the habit of tumbling, sizing, priming, and then tossing them into a paper sack. Decades later - especially during "The Shortage" - I have been rediscovering those sacks and putting the contents to good use. Those ones have not caused any problems either.

I have no doubt that the OP's process ensures reliable primers. I personally believe it's also massive overkill, but if that's the way he enjoys the hobby then more power to him.

Now I’m still kinda new at this, I only started in 89 and have loaded almost 900k rounds, but I have handled many primers over the years and never had a problem with any oils from my hands hurting them. I only load a few calibers, 9mm, 38, 357, & 223, and all but one now use small pistol so I deprime, wet tumble, resize, swage, trim/chamfer 223, flair, prime, and store. I have been doing that for 20 years and it works for me. Everything is stored and loaded in the living room, so maybe that makes some kind of difference.