Proud Primer - what would you do?

[twarr1]

Just curious how others handle this situation. Primer sitting a little proud, loaded 9mm

 

[Bcwitt]

Pull it.

 

[WestKentucky]

Same thing I normally do. Lee hand prime. Held upside down so no powder should be in the flash hole. Gently push it in til flush.

 

[.38 Special]

This comes up every once in a while, and usually turns into an argument between the guys worried about discharging a live round in the press vs. guys who rarely if ever pop a cap while priming.

I'm in the latter camp by a mile, figuring - based on long history - that my odds of setting off a round while reseating a primer are worse than the odds of me getting struck by lightning, eaten by a shark, and winning the lottery.

 

[Docendo Discimus]

Gently press it into position.

 

[Charlie98]

Just mash it in there.

I have that problem with my .41 handloads when assembled on my ProJector, for some reason. Typical SOP is to smoosh the primer into the pocket with my RCBS hand primer as I transfer them from the catch tray to the ammo box. I've never worried about popping a cap... and I've done this hundreds of times.

 

[Zendude]

I try to seat it, making sure to increase pressure slowly. If that won’t work then pull it.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Proud primer? Pay better attention when seating the primer in the first place. Pull the bullet and reseat the primer. One in a million to go off might be the first one.

 

[Nasty Canasta]

I haven’t had much luck reseating them if they don’t sit flush the first time through the press. I just chuck ‘em into the jar of shame for recycling at some point.

 

[Mark_Mark]

That primers is very Proud! So proud it wants ti come out. I know I would not shoot it, all kidda jams waiting

 

[twarr1]

Pay better attention when seating the primer in the first place.

@The Bushmaster - You are 100% correct. I had a tiny hesitation before posting, “do I want to embarrass myself with this?” But, I missed it, my mistake, I’ll own it. I need to think about how I not only missed it, but it made it through powder fill and bullet seating.

 

[mcb]

Reseat it, firmly but gently. Same as you normally do. If it does not got after one or two firm tries, break it down recycle the good parts and trying to figure out what kept it from seating right the first time.

 

[lightman]

I've gently seated one or two but the safe way would be to pull the bullet and then seat it.

 

[Riomouse911]

If, and that’s an if, it fits in a hand prime I would press it in further with one of those. (I use a Lee.)

I don’t think it would fit in my Lee sticking out that much, so if it didn’t fit I’d pull it, decap it and start over.

Stay safe.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I press them in. I just take my time.

 

[sparkyv]

Gently press it flush.

 

[Herman B]

I'd give it a gentle push to seat it deeper. Unlike a firing pin, a primer seating punch distributes force over a wide area of the primer, nearly to the perimeter, reducing the probability of 'bang'. An excessive amount of 'push' would be needed to crush the entire base of the primer to elicit a bang.

If it were a revolver round, I wouldn't hesitate to seat it deeper with a firing pin at the range. As it looks to be a semi auto round, the action may not close, causing an out-of-battery discharge - not good.

 

[Ru4real]

I reseated about 500 primers on live rounds once, 380 ACP caused by a worn out hand primer. I went with welding gloves, face shield and glasses, hearing protection contained in a 5 gallon bucket as a precaution. Gotta work to your own comfort level.

My hand prime tools come with seating pins the same diameter as the primer. The firing pins on my guns are 1/100 the diameter of the primer.

I’ve never seen a seating tool the diameter of a firing pin, or vice versa.

 

[Chuck R.]

This comes up every once in a while, and usually turns into an argument between the guys worried about discharging a live round in the press vs. guys who rarely if ever pop a cap while priming.

I'm in the latter camp by a mile, figuring - based on long history - that my odds of setting off a round while reseating a primer are worse than the odds of me getting struck by lightning, eaten by a shark, and winning the lottery.

I break out my 9mm shellholder and pop into my Redding Ultra mag that sits next to my Dillon 550. Nothing a couple tons of pressure can't solve.

 

[Bfh_auto]

If, and that’s an if, it fits in a hand prime I would press it in further with one of those. (I use a Lee.)

I don’t think it would fit in my Lee sticking out that much, so if it didn’t fit I’d pull it, decap it and start over.

Stay safe.

That's a perk of the "junk" Lee equipment. It won't let me leave a primer proud like that.
I sometimes leave dents in my primers when seating them. So I'm not worried about them going off.

 

[mdi]

It would depend on my mindset at the time. If I were in an extra cautious mood, I'd pull the bullet and reseat the primer. If I was feeling a little bold/risky I'd reseat them in my RCBS bench prime which if it was a handgun cartridge, I'd probably do. The few "high" primers I've found were pre charging/bullet seating, I have a habit of glancing at the primer as I remove the case from the tool. The only primers I had pop during seating were when using a Lee Loader in the early '70s, never on a press or bench priming tool. I have had no FTF from high primers once I discovered a ram prime in the mid '80s (I never cared for hand priming tools ans I tried 3 different tools). Just slow down when priming and a quick glance will keep those lofty primers from slipping by...

 

[Rule3]

All this over 1 primer??

Just break down the round or

DO YOU FEEL LUCKY/ WELL DO YOU?

In the space of time it took to photo it and post about it it could have been resolved,

 

[Bigdog357]

Press it down, a couple months ago I re-seated (700) fully loaded 38spl that had high primers with no issues. I used a Sinclair hand held primer tool to re-seat them.

I believe I used a RCBS bench primer tool when I originally installed the primers, not sure why they did not seat all the way the first time. I will definitely pay more attn nx time I prime a batch.

 

[Blue68f100]

Those are setting so high I would not be able to remove it from my shell holder. Redding's shell holders do not have the slot cut in them for high primers.

I would just seat them and move on. But before you do, what brand primers did you use? Fed are more sensitive than other brands. Need to take extra precaution with Fed primers.

I would also use a hand priming tool so I could invert the round to get the powder away from the primer. And wear PPE for just encase.

 

[twarr1]

@Rule3 - I know what I’d do, and already did; press it in with the Lee Ram Prime. As the original post mentioned, I was just curious what others do.