Lost primers

[Kuyong_Chuin]

Last week I was priming some cases a dropped one that bounced off the bench. I looked high and low for the thing no luck, swept the whole area with a broom still no luck. After about a hour of looking for it with no luck I was beginning to think that I dreamed that I had the thing in my hand to start with. Well today we found it, the hard way, it about gave my Dad and myself a heart attack in the process. The primer had bounced into my nearby trash can and into the mouth of an empty 2 litter soda bottle that must have been dry as a bone because I take it the primer did not get wet. We had emptied the trash today and since mine was finally full I took it out when Dad took out the other trash. So there we were standing out at the burn pit watching the trash burn and talking when "IT" happened. The top of the bottle had melted to the point that it had closed up the top since there was no lid on it. The primer went off blowing a small hole in the bottle as well as blowing it a few feet in the air. Luckly no one was hurt.

So if you are hand priming on the press what do you do to keep the primers on the bench if you drop one? Or spent primers for that matter I have had a few that bounced off onto the floor instead of the primer catcher a few times as well.

 

[Hondo 60]

Kuyong_Chuin - sounds like fun if you do it intentionally.
Not so much the way it happened to you

I can't begin to tell you how many primers I've lost.
Usually within a week I find them - but not always.
I've probably got 5 or 6 primers floating around in my reloading area.
(outta 20,000 or so over the last 4 1/2 years)

 

[Gadawg88]

It is a little known fact that primers become invisible once they hit the floor. I am sure i have more than one lurking under my bench.

 

[orionengnr]

Carpet.

 

[gamestalker]

I lost one once, never did find that sucker.

Many years ago I tossed a 209 into the bar-b-q thinking it would just make a small pop. It blew a hole through the side of the bar-b-q that resembled what a 22lr would do. I've had a whole different level of respect for them since that event.

GS

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

I lost one once, never did find that sucker.

Many years ago I tossed a 209 into the bar-b-q thinking it would just make a small pop. It blew a hole through the side of the bar-b-q that resembled what a 22lr would do. I've had a whole different level of respect for them since that event.

GS

Now I really am glad that thing didn't hit anyone when it blew.

Now we need to come up with a way to keep them from bouncing off the bench. If it wouldn't throw the scales and everything else off when turned on I'd put a large electro magnet under where the press is mounted. Primer falls keeps sucked to the magnet. With my luck as soon as it hit it would be a live primer and go off killing me in the process. If not by hitting me it would be the heart attack I would have after it went off.

 

[JWH321]

I have more problems trying to find those that leap out of the de-priming die.

I always watch for them, but no matter how careful I am, they still run away and hide. I found one inside on the carpet. It walked across the garage, went up several stairs, and walked across the kitchen to get to where I found it. My wife is suggesting that I rent a warehouse in another town to move my reloading activities into -- along with my clothes and a cot.

 

[beatledog7]

I've misplaced a handful things that I would really like to find. A live primer in the vacuum (which is where one would wind up at my house) is not high on that list.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

I have more problems trying to find those that leap out of the de-priming die.

I always watch for them, but no matter how careful I am, they still run away and hide. I found one inside on the carpet. It walked across the garage, went up several stairs, and walked across the kitchen to get to where I found it. My wife is suggesting that I rent a warehouse in another town to move my reloading activities into -- along with my clothes and a cot.

Ten dollars to a doughnut it was stuck to the bottom of your shoe when it walked up those stairs. While depriming 835 40 S&W cases I lost count on how many didn't make it into the tube and didn't find. Probably the only way I am going to find them is a spring cleaning "Granny" style. A.K.A. take everything out of the room and clean the room top to bottom.

 

[FROGO207]

To the OP primers are NOT magnetic. The battery cup on a shotshell primer is however. Your magnet idea will not work. I solved the problem by getting a Lee Hand Priming Tool. Now there are many choices of hand priming tool. A bonus is it is way faster to prime casings and I can "feel" the primer seat in the pocket so I know it will work. Just load the tool when working over a cookie sheet with sides if you think you might drop them. I have not lost a live primer in years come to think of it.

 

[Nordeste]

On my LCT, every once in a while (not often, luckily enough) I'll miss the primer cup and a primer will bounce off it and onto the floor. Most of the times I'm able to spot it with a flashlight due to the dark colour of the floor, but sometimes they'll go stray. The reloading room is also the laundry room, storage, and my computer room (it's kind of crowded ), and I voluntarily take care of its cleaning. Always by brush, never by vacuum cleaning. I took her there and explained her that the "little round things" (how she calls them) have a small amount of explosive and that it is a very bad idea to vacuum clean that room. I told her that there's a chance of a little explosion, a big scare, and a broken vacuum cleaner happening if one of my missing primers go into it, and so far she has understood it.

 

[osteodoc08]

Im sure I have a few floating around my bench area. I've also rolled over them with my stool. It was like a loud cap gun going off. Scared the heck outta me. As a kid I would hit them with a hammer on the concrete. Id wear muffs as they were very loud, but fun nonetheless. I wouldnt recommend it now.

 

[ohioshooter]

Call me lucky cause I've dropped several over the last few years and I have carpet and I vacuum my reloading room and thank God nothing has gone boom yet.

 

[Nordeste]

Well, it was here, in this forum, where I read a member explaining how he had a very angry wife after a primer was vacuum cleaned and it went bang inside the machine. That made me think that we did vacuum clean that room and that perhaps it was a good idea to avoid doing it in the future. I could imagine the "booom"-"aaaaaahhh" (yell)-"what the heck?" sequence, you know? , and it's best to avoid a headache. She already complains enough about the time I spend either shooting or reloading .

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

To the OP primers are NOT magnetic. The battery cup on a shotshell primer is however. Your magnet idea will not work. I solved the problem by getting a Lee Hand Priming Tool. Now there are many choices of hand priming tool. A bonus is it is way faster to prime casings and I can "feel" the primer seat in the pocket so I know it will work. Just load the tool when working over a cookie sheet with sides if you think you might drop them. I have not lost a live primer in years come to think of it.

I have one of those just have not used it yet. I knew the magnet idea was bad idea for some reason.

 

[wild willy]

I've burned my trash for years.The one thing I learned a long time ago is to get away from the burn barrel as soon as you light it.Primers are a small bang compared to some things in trash.I don't burn aerosol cans but I have had some pretty big bangs over the years from other unknown items.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

Well, it was here, in this forum, where I read a member explaining how he had a very angry wife after a primer was vacuum cleaned and it went bang inside the machine. That made me think that we did vacuum clean that room and that perhaps it was a good idea to avoid doing it in the future. I could imagine the "booom"-"aaaaaahhh" (yell)-"what the heck?" sequence, you know? , and it's best to avoid a headache. She already complains enough about the time I spend either shooting or reloading .

I could just see someone vacuuming with a Electrolux Ergorapido Vacuum and it sucking up a Magnum Rifle primer and it goes kaboom!!!! That would be allot of yelling after you put your heart back in your chest and call the insurance company to find out if your home owner insurance will cover your $18,000 vacuum you just destroyed with a primer.

 

[gonoles_1980]

I found a lost primer in the sliding glass door. My wife was not thrilled. It makes a Big Bang.

 

[leefan]

A nubby beatup old rug under the bench solves all lost primer problems. Except when they get lost in the rug.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

A nubby beatup old rug under the bench solves all lost primer problems. Except when they get lost in the rug.

I normally have a rug there but at the time it was being dried out after my niece decided to pour her water out onto the rug after she figured out how to get the top off of it before she wobbled into the room.

 

[callenlee]

I hate losing primers, but usually lose one every loading session. Then I get a serious case of the ocd and hunt for it until I find it. I have a stack of white hotel towels (i got them legitimately...i didn't swipe them) that I spread on the floor by my bench. They're easier to see and don't go bouncing into the next zip code our under something that way.

The second batch I loaded on my dillon 550 I lost one and looked for close to an hour. I thought maybe I miscounted and just when I gave up I found the little bugger stuck in the pickup tube.

 

[Field Tester]

Put some of your wife's old stockings on the end of the hose, clamp down with a few rubber bands and vacuum them up. The stocking will let the air flow through providing suction but will still trap the primers on the stocking.

Works well with small screws, pins, springs, etc...

 

[tightgroup tiger]

The only thing I worried about with finding an escapee was stepping on one in my bare feet. Or much worse, my wife of 35yrs stepping on one.

Get one under the heel of your foot. Holy Mackeral.

 

[rfwobbly]

That's not the primer's fault. The issue here is the soda pop bottle.

Michelle Obama wants you to stop drinking soda pop anyway.

 

[Kuyong_Chuin]

That's not the primer's fault. The issue here is the soda pop bottle.

Michelle Obama wants you to stop drinking soda pop anyway.

I called it a soda bottle but it actually was a lemon aid bottle. I drink a 12 pack in a month and they are cans. I drink flavored water 90% of the time.