Depriming Live Primers

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Grumulkin

Grumulkin

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In loading thousands of rounds, the only primer I've ever touch off was when pounding one in with my Lee Loader in 7X57 Mauser back in 1967. I didn't put my eye out or even lose a hand but maybe I was just lucky. Lets say in the unlikely event you deprime a live primer and it goes off (I'm not sure how you'd make it do that) what do you think would happen?

Would it put your eye out?

Would you lose an arm?

Would your whole house blow up?

Would the bomb squad and BATFE come thinking you had detonated a destructive device?
 
Nuttin'. Just a bunch of noise...:rolleyes: You may have to change yer underwear though...
 
Would it put your eye out?
Yes, pretty sure it would take an eye out.

Would you lose an arm?
Nope, not going to happen.

Would your whole house blow up?
Nope, unless it is filled with natural gas and the primer sets it off.

Would the bomb squad and BATFE come thinking you had detonated a destructive device?
I doubt it. Then too, with BATFE you never know.

Ron
 
Started handloading in the seventies as a teenager.
Couldn't resist the urge one day to show some other teens just how "safe" it was.

I learned first hand that a CCI 250 heated to explosion will put a red dot on my unprotected eye (not to mention a crushed pride), and that I was extremely lucky it didn't turn out far worse for me.

Glad dad never found out about that, might not yet be able to sit down.

Blow your house up?
What Ron said.
 
I don't know, I haven't set one off yet, and that includes the ones I tapped out with a decapping rod and a small hammer.

They can definitely be dangerous if they go off and are not contained.

Comfortable Safety Glasses

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I knew a shop owner who would test a pistols ability to fire by using a primed piece if brass.

In a small room they sure are louder than one might expect.
 
I have decapped many live primers. Also had about 10 CCI primers light off while priming on my Loadmaster. My wife freaked out cause she was in the other room, I didn't even curse or holler about it. I think that's why she freaked out. She thought I dropped a stack of books. After that I decapped all my brass & swaged the primer pockets (Dillon SS600).
 
Walkalong said:
I knew a shop owner who would test a pistols ability to fire by using a primed piece if brass.

In a small room they sure are louder than one might expect.
Click to expand...
I can only imagine how loud it would be in the room where I load. It's in a room in the basement with a very low ceiling! :eek:
 
I have removed seated primers without setting them off before. I used a decapping die just like there regular spent primers. Doing it on my press allowed me to very slowly, very gently raise the ram and push the primer out. Primers are sensitive to short, sharp impacts, so slow and steady will get the primer out.

If the primer does go off, it is contained by the body of the decapping die and since the die doesn't fit tightly around the case, there is nothing to contain the primer's ignition and allow pressure to build.

I have never had to remove more than maybe ten primers at a time. If I was having to remove primers from 1,000 rounds, I might look at other options. Nowadays, when I have to discard a primed case, I soak it in denatured alcohol overnight and then discard it in the trash. Lead Styphnate is highly soluble in alcohol so this should deactivate it.
 
Grumulkin said:
In loading thousands of rounds, the only primer I've ever touch off was when pounding one in with my Lee Loader in 7X57 Mauser back in 1967. I didn't put my eye out or even lose a hand but maybe I was just lucky. Lets say in the unlikely event you deprime a live primer and it goes off (I'm not sure how you'd make it do that) what do you think would happen?

Would it put your eye out?

Would you lose an arm?

Would your whole house blow up?

Would the bomb squad and BATFE come thinking you had detonated a destructive device?
Click to expand...

In 40 years of reloading I have never set one off unless I intended to do so. Maybe I'm lucky.

However, they are not some miniature bomb capable of tearing you a new one. In my youth we set off lots of primers on the floor with a hammer. They are very loud and a definite hazard to the eyes. If you could somehow set one off with your fingers they would penetrate your skin with ease however.
 
What I would propose is that:

1. If a primer detonated while pushing it out, since the decaping pin would be in the flash hole, the primer would be blown out in the same direction you were pushing it.

2. Since a primer is detonated by a brisk blow to the priming material between the cup and the anvil that it would be much easier (not to say it would be easy) to detonate a primer by pushing it in the primer pocket than by pushing it out so ya'll be careful. If it detonated while pushing it in, providing you weren't using some bulk primer feed device, the smoke and any debris would come right out the top of the case so don't have your face over it.
 
Early in my reloading career, I was curious as to what would happen if I sized and primed a piece of brass, then loaded the (bullet- and powder-less) brass into a gun and pulled the trigger. I put on some ear pro and popped the primer in my basement. I judged it louder than a cap gun or snap-n-pop, but not as loud as a serious firecracker.
 
ATLDave said:
Early in my reloading career, I was curious as to what would happen if I sized and primed a piece of brass, then loaded the (bullet- and powder-less) brass into a gun and pulled the trigger. I put on some ear pro and popped the primer in my basement. I judged it louder than a cap gun or snap-n-pop, but not as loud as a serious firecracker.
Click to expand...
<Really Off Topic>

Just recently did similar as a science experiment using new sized and primed .223 Remington and .308 Winchester cases. I primed five of each seating the primers to bottom out about .003" below case head.

Dry%20Primer%201.png

Dry%20Primer%203.png

Dry%20Primer%204.png

After firing they all looked about the same and all of the primers did try to back out. Really noticeable is the bright spot where the primers hit the bolt face.

Dry%20Primer%208.png

Note the shiny ring just below the R in R-P.

The bang was about what a standard firecracker would yield and maybe a little less than a standard velocity 22 LR. All of the cases were measured before and after and none of the cases grew at all in size.

Ron

</Really Off Topic> :)
 
Just remember, when fired in a gun the gun itself will muffle the sound whereas in a press there is hardly anything stopping the sound since the bottom if the shell holder is open. In the rifle the primer is enclosed with the bolt covering the bottom of the brass.
 
ArchAngelCD said:
Just remember, when fired in a gun the gun itself will muffle the sound whereas in a press there is hardly anything stopping the sound since the bottom if the shell holder is open. In the rifle the primer is enclosed with the bolt covering the bottom of the brass.
Click to expand...
Actually a good point, I placed the muzzle in a rag to muffle the sound. Didn't want the neighbors getting too curious.

Ron
 
Reloadron said:
Actually a good point, I placed the muzzle in a rag to muffle the sound. Didn't want the neighbors getting too curious.

Ron
Click to expand...
Lol, yeah, the neighbors could be a problem at times. It's especially true with my neighbors to the left side of my house. Those two are some of the biggest busy-bodies and gossip hounds I have ever met!
 
If you're young and ignorant, yep you could hurt yourself. During my inquisitive stage many years prior to even thinking about reloading I found a cartridge, dunno what caliber but I pulled the bullet and made a small pile of the powder. I lit it and was disappointed, it just burned. I put the primed case in a vise and used a nail and hammer to pop the primer. Well, the primer popped, then traveled up the nail to hit my finger. It split the skin and hurt like heck. I wrapped it in a rag and didn't tell my mother for fear of getting into more trouble. It took about a month to heal...
 
“I knew a shop owner who would test a pistols ability to fire by using a primed piece if brass.”
Click to expand...

I use this technique myself, but if you are going to use this to test a revolver it would be a good idea to drill out the flash hole otherwise the primer will back out and it will be difficult to unlatch the cylinder from the frame.
 
While loading 9's one evening, I set off a small pistol primer while use my Hornady hand primer. Didn't know how/why it happened. Was applying normal hand pressure when it went bang. I wear ear/eye protection. All digits were accounted for, no harm done. Resumed reloading without further incident.
 
Every few years or so I have managed to set off a primer while capping a casing with the classic Lee Loader ("With mallets toward all..."). The casing is in the necksize die driven in really really tight and I use a tent peg mallet to tap the capping rod to drive the casing out of the die onto the primer holder. I wear eye protection (I need reading glasses for close work anyway). If and when it goes, the primer is loud and piercing. It is so seldomn that I get complacent and not wear ear protection (and regret it). When a primer goes off, it stings and I get soot marks on the hand holding the die and rod. Once it did strip the chrome plate off the bottom of a rifle die when the primer went off during capping. But the soot marks wash and wear off and are not visible the next day.*

I have also deprimed casings with Live primers when I had to break down failed loads for components. This has been few and far between. It involves using the decapping pin and the case holder with the hole in the bottom for spent primers. I usually slip the necksizing die over the case to help keep the decapping pin aligned vertically. Again tapping with a mallet. So far no kabooms though, but I did not try see if the removed primers could be reused (there weren't enough to matter). I assumed they would be damaged internally.

Would it put your eye out??
I image if the flash that left soot and particles in the base of my palm had hit my eye, it could have damaged my eye. Which is why I wear glasses when priming/depriming casings. And ought to wear hearing protection. And a work glove on that left hand.

Would you lose an arm??
Only if your reloading sessions are directed by the crew that directed that Monty Python's lawn party (I think it was Sam Peckinpah?).

Would your whole house blow up??
If you had a very bad gas leak in the house, maybe.

Would the bomb squad and BATFE come thinking you had detonated a destructive device?
I have fired wax bullet indoor practice loads that seemed pretty loud, but the neighbors never noticed.

_____________________
* I could have joked that occasionally I launched a decapping rod into the stratosphere and knocked a space station or two out of orbit, but the official story is that SkyLab and Mir were controlled bringdowns, and I best not contradict the cover stories by NASA and RosCosmos.
 
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mdi said:
If you're young and ignorant, yep you could hurt yourself. During my inquisitive stage many years prior to even thinking about reloading I found a cartridge, dunno what caliber but I pulled the bullet and made a small pile of the powder. I lit it and was disappointed, it just burned. I put the primed case in a vise and used a nail and hammer to pop the primer. Well, the primer popped, then traveled up the nail to hit my finger. It split the skin and hurt like heck. I wrapped it in a rag and didn't tell my mother for fear of getting into more trouble. It took about a month to heal...
Click to expand...
I forget some of the details but years ago I saw a guy who was abusing a shotgun primer. I don't remember if it was still in the hull or had been removed. Anyway, it detonated, went into his finger and had to be removed by probing the wound.
 
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