Close calls during reloading

[cobra246]

CCI is a hard primer. I've mangled a couple pretty badly, but never had one detonate.

Now that I've made that statement, I'll probably detonate ten of them today.[emoji14]
Karma works that way.

Yes she does lol

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[Blue68f100]

You can set them off hand priming too it the primer is sideways. In all cases you have to learn to stop and investigate when things do not feel right. As you found out you can generate a lot of force bench priming or hand priming.

Glad you were not hurt.

 

[Schwing]

RCBS is really good about replacing things, even if they are simply worn out.

On another note, I recall seeing a picture, maybe on the Dillon forums, of a primer tube that detonated and the tube went into the ceiling above the machine. That's one thing I like about the Dillon machines, the primer tube shield which is essentially a piece of 3/8 steel pipe that surrounds the primer tube.

So far I've been spared that particular bit of excitement......

A friend of mine had this happen and I saw the results first hand. It blew the tube through the drywall and stuck somewhere up in the ceiling out of sight. He didn't go digging for it but intends to at some point. I want him to do it to see what it looks like but it ain't my house so...

He said about the same thing as the OP. It happened so fast and unexpectedly that he suddenly had ringing ears. He wasn't even sure what had happened for a couple of minutes.

I had a single primer detonate a few years back on my Pro1000. I have no idea how I did it since it didn't feel tight or anything. It really didn't do much except leave some scorch marks on the primer slide and blow little junks of debris around. It wasn't even as loud as a cap gun either.

I have and always will wear safety glasses. This just punctuated that for me.

 

[joem1945]

I had a primer go off in a Lee hand primer. It was some Russian stuff. I barely touched the primer lever and it detonated. Scorched and blistered fingers but I'll never buy Russian primers again, EVER!

 

[mdi]

Also glad that only yer feelings were hurt! I've had a few primers pop when they weren't supposed to, but that was with my Lee Loaders. I never found a hand primer that fit my hand (had to re-set the tool in my hand every squeeze and not a lot of "feel". Perhaps it was my banged up mechanic's tough hands?). I went with a ram prime a bunch of years ago and got excellent results; easy priming and good control/feel. I'm now using a new Lee Bench prime and after nearly 900 cases primed very, very few problems (none in the last 500).

 

[Reloadron]

I use cci..last night was with #400 small rifle...i wonder what would happen if it was magnum primers?

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BRISANCE
Primers come in different strengths, technically known as “brisance,” a word defined as “the shattering effect of a high explosive.”

You would look at the length and duration of the flame from a primer. The initial idea behind a "Magnum" primer was a longer burn time to ignite more difficult to ignite powders like "ball" and "spherical" powders in large cases especially in cold weather. If you actually look at some primer flash photos they present a good picture of what is going on.

I doubt a magnum primer would give that much more brisiance than a standard. Looking at the images, some brands have more bang than others.

Ron

 

[cobra246]

So powders like 748 would be possibly harder to ignite in cold weather than a more cylindrical powder?

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[Reloadron]

So powders like 748 would be possibly harder to ignite in cold weather than a more cylindrical powder?

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Yes, under any conditions ball and spherical powders are more difficult to ignite. Using for example .223 Remington and .308 Winchester loads as called out in Speer #12 manual. Powders for ever popular 55 grain bullets are 748*, AA2230, IMR 3031, H4895, AA2520*, H322, IMR4064, BL-C(2)*, H335*, Viht. N133, Viht. N135, AA2460*, AA2015BR, H4198, Re12. The suggested primers were CCI400 and CCI450 and the * desiganates using a CCI450 Magnum primer. Looking at the .308 Winchester loads for an everyday 168 grain bullet. Viht. N150, IMR4064, 748*, Re15, IMR4320, AA2460*, AA2520*, IMR4895, IMR3031, H414*, 760*, Re12, BL-C(2)*, H380*, IMR4350. Again the Primer Suggestions are CCI200, CCI250, and CCI #34 and the * denotes use of a magnum primer (either the CCI250 or CCI #34.

However, looking at the load data for example in the Hornady 9th Edition for .223 Remington they simply suggest WSR (Winchester Small Rifle) for all the powders used including ball or spherical powders. The Lyman 49th does about the same but likes Remington primers with .223 Remington using a Remington 7 1/2 and the .308 Winchester using the Remington 9 1/2 primers.

Overall I just suggest people use the primer used in the manual or the primer included with the posted load data. Figure it was the primer used when the data was originally compiled. While I don't always follow that rule it is what I suggest.

Ron

 

[Slamfire]

You know, there was a time when the shooting community was taught that there was no such thing as primer sensitivity. A primer was a primer was a primer and they were all the same and they all went off predictability. This was to protect the Army from having to admit that their Garand based rifles would slamfire in battery and out of battery just due to primer sensitivity. By actively omitting the concept of primer sensitivity, the Army Ordnance Bureau and their supporters on the American Rifleman staff claimed that there was nothing wrong with the Garand design and the only causes of slamfires were shooter negligence. Many shooters still believe this today.

Thank goodness for the internet because we can now bypass the lying authorities and show each other, that primers are not so predictable. The data is out there and primer sensitivity varies considerably within a lot. Also, primers are not totally predictable.

This is from an Army report, apparently three dimensional graphs, but even in two dimensions, you can see that the probability of ignition for primer compounds vary considerably. And that primer compound technology changes the energy necessary for ignition. Green means no go bang and red means 100 percent bang. The y axis is the probability of ignition with the color bars representing ignition probabilities. The X axis represents impact energy in Joules.



I collected these pictures to show reloaders what happens when a primer goes off in a reloading tool. I would like to ask the OP permission to use his picture in the future.

This is my favorite. Federal primers went off in a Hornady Lock and Load press. The reloader had a little difficulty seating a recalcitrant primer. Without a ceiling, this primer tube might have made it into low earth orbit!



Blasted small primer 45 ACP is an absolute hazard to reloaders. This what I would classify as Cost Externalization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_externalizing Corporations make more profits by damaging the society that protects them. With 45 ACP brass you have to be careful to sort out the small primer brass from the large primer. This is what happened to a reloader trying to seat a large pistol primer in small pistol primer 45 ACP brass. The powder measure caught on fire! EEK!



Federal primer, lock and load press.



I wish I had pictures of a Dillion 650B or 1050 that friends saw. A large pistol primer would not go into the small pistol primer 45 ACP brass. A bud who saw it said something to the effect he could not believe the total destruction.

 

[kerreckt]

In about 35 years of reloading, I have never had a primer detonate in the process of reloading. Maybe, luck. Maybe, not my time. I still hear my father's voice saying "Never force anything. If it doesn't fit find out why". That advise has served me well.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have not set a primer off when loading but I have crushed a few over the years.

I'm also glad you didn't get hurt. Please let us know what RCBS says.

 

[Nature Boy]

Slamfire

That's some serious carnage. Did any of these fellas happen to share a picture of their shorts? I imagine mine would probably look a lot like the ceiling in picture #2.

Seriously though. This is good. Familiarity can breed contempt and we should all be reminded what can happen if we fail to show respect for the dangerous aspects of the materials we're working with.

Thanks for posting

 

[cobra246]

Good thing i dont watch tv and reload or it probly would have happened sooner than this...no body said anything against music playing in the background tho

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[cobra246]

Good news! I emailed rcbs and they quickly replied saying that they were happy I chose rcbs. They said that they would be happy to send me replacement parts at no cost. They provided a spec sheet so I could identify the correct parts and part numbers. Great customer service!

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[Nature Boy]

That's great!

 

[brutus51]

Really hate reading posts like this. Recently been having trouble with my RCBS hand priming tool, flips primers upside down and sideways. Given it's 35 years old and has delivered outstanding performance over the years, nothing lasts for ever, so after reading this post I went to Midway and bought a new one along with some other odds and ends. Cost me 50 bucks to read this post.:banghead:
Better than having a primer go off though.

 

[Reloadron]

Really hate reading posts like this. Recently been having trouble with my RCBS hand priming tool, flips primers upside down and sideways. Given it's 35 years old and has delivered outstanding performance over the years, nothing lasts for ever, so after reading this post I went to Midway and bought a new one along with some other odds and ends. Cost me 50 bucks to read this post.:banghead:
Better than having a primer go off though.

Sounds like $50 well spent. Every ow and then during the course of life we need to bid certain things we have come to love farewell. This was one such instance.

Ron

 

[brutus51]

Yeah, what happened was the 2 piece plastic part that holds the primer tray in place became misaligned from years of use. I'd looked at the new universal offering at Cabelas and didn't care for it. Was surprised when I went to their website and saw the old style was still available. Thought of calling them for replacement parts but after all these years I opted for a new one.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

You might want to call them anyway and George parts so you have a backup. You might even get them free if you tell them you already bought a new one but either way probably worth th r time and effort.