mini KABOOM

[plodder]

I finished up a reloading session on the Dillon 650 tonight and decided to sweep up all the stray grains of powder and spent primers that got loose from the container that were on the floor. I got out the Oreck vacuum cleaner and went to town & suddenly POP! Apparently a new primer had bounced out of the notorious Dillon "ski jump" that is supposed to hold the primers that don't find a shell to be pushed into, and had launched itself onto the floor. The vacuum's rotary bristles threw it with enough force to ignite it. Not loud, but enough to notice; about like snapping a large twig.

No adverse effects occurred, but I did keep an eye on the vacuum's bag for while to make sure that nothing was smoldering inside.

I would have found it hard to believe if someone told me it could happen, but it did.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm fairly sure the static electricity generated by the motor set off the primer, not the brushes. Using a vacuum to pick up primers and powder is one of the few no-nos.

 

[jmorris]

The photo that pops up when a friend calls me is a photo of part of the impeller out of a vacuum he kaboomed.

He doesnt use an electric one to suck up spilled powder any more.

 

[wally]

Using a vacuum to pick up primers and powder is one of the few no-nos.

I do it all the time. I generally use a shop vac or hand-held. The dryer lint from your clothes is more of a fire hazard then a small amount of spilled powder in my experience. Test it yourself. Clean out the lint screen in your dryer and pour out a cap full of powder and light them with a long match. You might be surprised. Dryer lint fires are the number one cause of residential fires according to my fire-fighter neighbor.

If stuff you vacuum up hits the impeller, your vacuum is broken!

 

[macgrumpy]

Primers are designed to ignite through percussion but the priming compound can be ignited with a spark or heat. The primer can only be ignited through percussion if the priming compound is compressed between the cup and anvil. A loose primer can't be ignited from percussion because the cup and anvil can't be compressed together, the anvil can move freely and it will probably shake out of the primer (that's also why there was no damage, the explosive force wasn't contained in any way and the large volume of the vacuum simply absorbed the energy). It's more probable that the priming compound ignited from heat or static electricity.

 

[ironworkerwill]

Shopvacs don't suck debris through an impeller. The impeller is shielded by a filter. The debris collects in the body and the filtered air travels out the exhaust.

Regular vacuum cleaners suck air and debris through the impeller. An impeller strike could shock the primer enough to set it off as it rotates at several thousand RPMs. Also will break the vanes of the impeller making it less efficient for later use.

 

[wally]

Regular vacuum cleaners suck air and debris through the impeller.

I've never seen one that does this. Motor life would be very short with the impeller fouled by hair, pet fur, and all manner of flotsam and jetsam that would quickly foul it. Many have a "carpet beater" rotating brush and this is a constant hassle for me when it fouls from all the cat hair and my wife yells at me to come fix it!

 

[entropy]

My Mom refused to vacuum the basement after a primer went off in the old Hoover. We had deep shag carpeting where the reloading bench was.

 

[kingmt]

The primer is in a conductive cap that protects it from static. It isn't conceivable that it was ignited by static. I've tested under 5 joules of spark about one a second for 10ish minutes each. They wouldn't ignite.

 

[jmorris]

I can spot the guys that have never vacuumed the house before. When you suck up something at the inside of the vacuum sounds like a pachinko machine, that's the kind that will set off a primer.

I use a pneumatic vacuum in my reloading room.

 

[clearcut]

Watch myth busters they suck up pounds of powder nothing happened, and they like to blow things up. No primers were in the powder.

CC

 

[rfwobbly]

We need to supplement our photo collection of destroyed handguns. That way when we talk to novice reloaders about safety, we can show them 5 handgun mishaps and 1 dead vacuum cleaner.

 

[Cannibul]

I finished up a reloading session on the Dillon 650 tonight and decided to sweep up all the stray grains of powder and spent primers that got loose from the container that were on the floor. I got out the Oreck vacuum cleaner and went to town & suddenly POP! Apparently a new primer had bounced out of the notorious Dillon "ski jump" that is supposed to hold the primers that don't find a shell to be pushed into, and had launched itself onto the floor. The vacuum's rotary bristles threw it with enough force to ignite it. Not loud, but enough to notice; about like snapping a large twig.

No adverse effects occurred, but I did keep an eye on the vacuum's bag for while to make sure that nothing was smoldering inside.

I would have found it hard to believe if someone told me it could happen, but it did.

http://www.dillonupgrades.com/xl650missedprimerupgrade.html

 

[muncie21]

Hmmm, I used my cordless B&D to pickup loose powder all the time. Now, just because it hasn't blown up does not mean that it won't at some point in the future. However, understanding the ignition temperatures of most smokeless powders today, let's just say that I'm not overly concerned. Primers are another story, I treat those things like miniature vessels of nitroglycerin

 

[jmorris]

Now, just because it hasn't blown up does not mean that it won't at some point in the future.

That's pretty much how I learn the hard lessons. Didn't understand what people ment by "hot" until after I was burned.

 

[rfwobbly]

I've never seen [a vacuum cleaner] that does this. Motor life would be very short with the impeller fouled by hair, pet fur, and all manner of flotsam and jetsam that would quickly foul it.

Kirby and several others have an impeller that all the debris goes through.

 

[wally]

Kirby and several others have an impeller that all the debris goes through.

Kirby is still in business? Maybe that is why my grandmother cursed her Kirby vacuum so much

I'm sorry, but IMHO that is fundamentally a poor design and I'd never knowingly buy one built like this.

Our ceiling fans get unbalanced a couple a times a year from cat hair that somehow ends up way up there (they do run pretty much 24/7 365 living in Houston). I can't imagine how a vacuum cleaner impeller could do this on purpose unless it was built like a garbage disposal

I did pop a primer getting rid of an old upright freezer that I mostly used as an ammo storage locker except when we needed it for parties or making ice in anticipation of a hurricane. It made everyone "jump" but otherwise was no big deal. It sat next to my reloading bench and I tried to find or vacuum up dropped primers, but I guess one was where I couldn't reach it. No telling how many years it had sat there.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I've never seen one that does this. Motor life would be very short with the impeller fouled by hair, pet fur, and all manner of flotsam and jetsam that would quickly foul it. Many have a "carpet beater" rotating brush and this is a constant hassle for me when it fouls from all the cat hair and my wife yells at me to come fix it!

Almost every one from my childhood was (cheap ones like from Walmart) the impeller is directly above the roller. Through the brush roller, through the impeller, then into the bag, and the bag is the filter. No joke

 

[ironworkerwill]

Kirby is still in business? Maybe that is why my grandmother cursed her Kirby vacuum so much

I'm sorry, but IMHO that is fundamentally a poor design and I'd never knowingly buy one built like this.

Our ceiling fans get unbalanced a couple a times a year from cat hair that somehow ends up way up there (they do run pretty much 24/7 365 living in Houston). I can't imagine how a vacuum cleaner impeller could do this on purpose unless it was built like a garbage disposal

I did pop a primer getting rid of an old upright freezer that I mostly used as an ammo storage locker except when we needed it for parties or making ice in anticipation of a hurricane. It made everyone "jump" but otherwise was no big deal. It sat next to my reloading bench and I tried to find or vacuum up dropped primers, but I guess one was where I couldn't reach it. No telling how many years it had sat there.

Yes the Kirby is still a thing. I have one and is the heaviest vacuum cleaner I've ever used. It actually has an assist to help push/pull it through carpet.

I inherited it from my mother and it sucks hard as anything you can imagine. But in a good way, it will actually lift streched Berber carpet off of the under layment.

Virtually all "upright" vaccums are built this way. The rest are mostly"canister" type that suck air through a filter/ bag/ trap before that air is pulled through the motor and impeller.

So, to stay on topic, All vaccums could set off a primer. Even in a canister type, IF the conditions were just right, it's possible. But more probably in an upright type.

 

[grogetr]

I have had a couple pop in the vacuum. I have a speckled floor and its really hard to see them. I didn't have any idea there was even any there.

 

[H&R Glock]

I vacuum gunpowder all the time. MY spills are almost microscopic in nature. MY shop vac never contains more than 1 grain of powder at any one time. If you are vacuuming huge piles of spilled powder you need to hire a maid to clean up after you. Maybe she can do your powder handling and reloading for you too. Spilling that much powder could mean you have a drinking problem.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I don't think it's as much the large quantities of powder but rather the primer. Powder will burn even very fast powder but primers explode.

The 1 or less atomsphere of air in a vaccum will probably make power ever more difficult to ignite. However there is greater than one atmosphere nearest the filter, it has however already passed through the danger zone. IMO the greatest danger is the primer rather than the power.

 

[dh1633pm]

After I suck up a bunch of powder with the shop vac, I always send a match down the tube to ensure things are safe. If I don't hear a boom, then all is safe. Actually I just use a shop vac to clean out the reloading area. I try to never have a live primary anywhere other than where they belong. Easier said then done. When I was in the Air Force some dropped a 38 round on the ground when loading. It went boom. It wasn't me, but a lesson well learned. A airman got a couple of small pieces of brass in his leg.

 

[TRX]

Huh. I've bashed small pistol primers with a hammer before, and they didn't explode. They like short, sharp impacts more than slow, heavy ones.