Reuse Deprimed Live Primers?

[SqueakyGreens]

So I got a little ahead of myself in reloading. I tumbled my brass, deprimed/sized, then after seeing how dirty the depriming process was, I tumbled once more. I then made a (possible) mistake: before flaring my brass, I primed a few. Now I have to run them through the press two more times after their last cleaning in order to flare then seat/crimp the bullet, rather than just once more if I had waited to prime after flaring (and subsequent tumbling).

So my question is two fold: even if not the best practice, if I clean my press of any debris or residue, is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

If I should avoid this, is it possible to save the extremely valuable primers by carefully depriming all of the newly primed brass? Because of the design and composition of modern primers, I suspect the depriming process has a pretty low chance of fouling a primer if done competently, but I'm still new to all of this.

 

[Offfhand]

Reusing live primers that were previously removed, falls in the category of final act of desperation when fresh new primers are no longer available at any price.

 

[Legionnaire]

You shouldn't have any trouble flaring your primed cases. I would not deprime. And yes, I have used unfired primers that I carefully removed from primed cases. I wouldn't do it as a matter of course; it was only a handful.

ETA: When I say I used primers I carefully removed, it was from cases I had just primed; I would NOT use primers from old ammo that I was tearing down for components.

 

[SqueakyGreens]

Reusing live primers that were previously removed, falls in the category of final act of desperation when fresh new primers are no longer available at any price.

An appropriate category for $0.25/primer in small pistol. Thanks guys, that's what I suspected, but it's good to have some experienced confirmation.

 

[Mk-211]

Are you using a single stage press?

On a progressive, the first stage is usually size/deprime/prime.

Don't know why you're worried about flaring a primed case? There's no primer punch in that die, so it won't push the primer out.

Kinda confusing about why your worried about seating, crimping... at that stage, you should have powder in the case and the primer will keep the powder from spilling out the bottom of the case.

 

[Blue68f100]

There's no primer punch in that die, so it won't push the primer out.

There are some old pistol die sets that do deprime on the flaring die. In that case just remove pin so it does not deprime.

 

[Bill M.]

I made a loading change and deprimed about 25 cases that I had just primed and then reused the primers. (I had some old brass of a bad brand and got some case splits loading the bullet so I trashed all the cases from that batch). The primers were a very loose fit into the cases I put them into the second time. Just did not "feel good". They all went bang when I used the ammo.

 

[SqueakyGreens]

I am indeed using a single stage press; it's my dad's old Pacific (007?). My concern is limiting the finished round's exposure to the press after final cleaning.

My process was this:
Clean>deprime/size>clean>prime>flare>seat/crimp

When it should've been this:
Clean>deprime/size>flare>clean>prime>seat/crimp

Are you using a single stage press?

On a progressive, the first stage is usually size/deprime/prime.

Don't know why you're worried about flaring a primed case? There's no primer punch in that die, so it won't push the primer out.

Kinda confusing about why your worried about seating, crimping... at that stage, you should have powder in the case and the primer will keep the powder from spilling out the bottom of the case.

 

[Frulk]

Not sure of how your process works but after I tumble the non deprimed brass......on my single stage Lee press I size/deprime and prime all in the same single up and down stroke. THEN I move to a turret where I bell/ drop powder/seat Bullet and crimp all in separate steps.

 

[Legionnaire]

I deprime before cleaning using a universal die and wet tumble with stainless steel pins. So my sequence is:

1. Deprime
2. Clean
3. Size
4. Prime
5. Flare
6. Charge
7. Seat
8. Crimp

 

[Project355]

Every once in awhile perhaps one in five thousand or more rounds I will have seated a primer upside down by mistake. Since I need to use extreme care to remove that primer, I find the primer can be seated correctly and function perfectly.

If doing wholesale decapping of live primers, always drop them into a cup of petroleum-based oil. There's a fairly famous story of a gunsmith being killed by decappimg many old military cases into a jar when one ignited and set the entire jar off at once.

 

[ballman6711]

I am indeed using a single stage press; it's my dad's old Pacific (007?). My concern is limiting the finished round's exposure to the press after final cleaning.

My process was this:
Clean>deprime/size>clean>prime>flare>seat/crimp

When it should've been this:
Clean>deprime/size>flare>clean>prime>seat/crimp

I load on a Hornady L-n-L single stage, which I think (not 100% sure) is the descendant to the Pacific 007.

My process is to tumble my dirty brass, then size/deprime, then flare/prime, then seat, then crimp. I seat and crimp in separate steps as it works better for me.

As crud builds on my press I just give it a quick clean/wipe to remove excess dirt and grit, say every few hundred rounds. After the quick cleaning of the press I put a few drops of oil on the ram and linkage. I would not tumble them a second time, unless I was loading rifle brass which needed the lube cleaned off (I only load pistol rounds).

What caliber are you loading for?

chris

 

[.308 Norma]

is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

Actually, using a single-stage press, I've been charging/seating/crimping primed, straight-walled handgun cases for better than 40 years now.
However, to answer your question about using de-primed live primers, I wouldn't hesitate to use them for non-serious shooting (plinking/target practice/etc.), but I wouldn't use them for anything where I really needed to be sure they would go off, like defense or hunting.

There are some old pistol die sets that do de-prime on the flaring die. In that case just remove pin so it does not de-prime.

As Blue68f100 said, if your flaring die de-primes, just remove the pin so that it doesn't. I've removed the de-priming pin in my resizing die, when, for one reason or another, I'd had to resize some previously primed cases.

 

[mdi]

I've done a lot of experimenting during my reloading "career" and have punched out many live primers. Not desperate, not cheap, but just don't want to waste good components so I re-seated them and have never had a misfire. Large and small pistol primers, large rifle primers, standard and magnum. Tossing them would be like tossing skivvies after they are worn once and removed....

 

[edwardware]

if I clean my press of any debris or residue, is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

I'm a little worried by this. You should not be priming a charged case. Primer, then powder, then bullet.

And there's no reason at all not to prime before flaring; the two operations don't interact.

And I've used previously seated primers in the past. Never had a problem, but I wouldn't use them for anything really critical.

 

[Walkalong]

Have re-used de-capped lice primers a number of times. Have a few de-capped Fed 210s to use. I forget why I did it.

 

[cfullgraf]

So I got a little ahead of myself in reloading. I tumbled my brass, deprimed/sized, then after seeing how dirty the depriming process was, I tumbled once more. I then made a (possible) mistake: before flaring my brass, I primed a few.

Since the cases have been sized, there is no need to run them through the sizing die again. You just missed the mouth expanding step.

When you flare the case mouth, the outside of the case will not touch the inside of the expander die so no dirt will get transferred to the case. You do not have to worry about the primer. Of course, if you have an older expander die with the decapping pin in the expander button, remove the decapping pin before flaring the case mouth.

No need to clean the cases again.

Then charge the case and seat the bullet as normal.

On another subject, live primers can be carefully removed from a case. You want to press the primer out slowly and be careful to not hit the primer with the decapping pin. As others have suggested, decap live primers for certain instances once in a while and not make a habit of decapping large numbers of live primers.

Generally, I only have to decap live primers when I discover a failed case that I had not seen earlier or I damage a case in the bullet seating process.

 

[FROGO207]

Another here that has removed hundreds of primers and reused them all with no problems. They all went boom as well. Still I agree that they should not be used for anything but plinking/practice in case they might not work.
I would not remove them just to flare the case and reinsert them. Seems a waste of effort.

 

[rsrocket1]

Hate to say it but I use deprimed live primers all the time. 99% of the time the anvil legs spring back up and pop up above the edge of the primer. If not, the anvil is in contact with the primer compound and it will still go off. I've never had a reused primer go off in the press when reseating it.

 

[mdi]

So my question is two fold: even if not the best practice, if I clean my press of any debris or residue, is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

Well, there have been millions of primed cases/brass sold over the decades and I don't remember hearing any problems...

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
This is a timely topic for me.
I primed, charged and seated some cases the other day and had a few cases split when the bullets were seated.
Never had that happen before.
I disassembled the split cartridges, saved the bullets and powder, but was conflicted about attempting to save the primers.
After doing some research, I decided to go ahead and punch the primers out. Surprisingly, I managed to accomplish the task without any inadvertent primer detonation. I inspected the primers and they look fine, so I am going to use them in some general purpose)plinking loads to see if they will function nominally.
Hopefully I will be able to be seat the primers without any dire consequences. I actively attempt to avoid those types of consequences as a general rule but I am going to expand the envelope just a bit as a test.
If I am vaporized by an inadvertent primer detonation, at least, I will know it was by my own doing. Hope the resulting mess caused by my possible demise isn't too much of a problem for my wife to clean up. She really doesn't venture into my reloading room very often and certainly not to clean up after me.

 

[BlackEagleSpeer]

So I got a little ahead of myself in reloading. I tumbled my brass, deprimed/sized, then after seeing how dirty the depriming process was, I tumbled once more. I then made a (possible) mistake: before flaring my brass, I primed a few. Now I have to run them through the press two more times after their last cleaning in order to flare then seat/crimp the bullet, rather than just once more if I had waited to prime after flaring (and subsequent tumbling).

So my question is two fold: even if not the best practice, if I clean my press of any debris or residue, is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

If I should avoid this, is it possible to save the extremely valuable primers by carefully depriming all of the newly primed brass? Because of the design and composition of modern primers, I suspect the depriming process has a pretty low chance of fouling a primer if done competently, but I'm still new to all of this.

I use lee powder through expanding dies, so i always prime then flare. For 50AE, where i use RCBS, i started flaring first. Someone suggested that the belling portion might create pressure enough to unseat the primer. Is that what you were worried about?
As many said, this isn't a big issue. I've recently reused just 2 primers and they fired (will not make a habit of it, potentially bad practice) and i i ma a few hundred 50AE primed then flared. Never a problem, but that doesn't mean there isn't a better way. I'd stay the course and waste nothing, then I'd be sure to have the stwps in the right order next time. I've learned to question myself everytime i i ththk i read something right or thought I grabbed the right die before cranking on and daydreaming about building go carts for goats.

 

[.38 Special]

When I was new to handloading I made some sort of mistake which forced me to deprime 500 cases. All of those primers worked fine. I suppose I would not use them for defensive loads or hunt-of-a-lifetime loads unless I had to, but generally speaking I think they are fine.

 

[kerreckt]

If you are asking, will they go bang? Yes they do.

 

[BlackEagleSpeer]

So I got a little ahead of myself in reloading. I tumbled my brass, deprimed/sized, then after seeing how dirty the depriming process was, I tumbled once more. I then made a (possible) mistake: before flaring my brass, I primed a few. Now I have to run them through the press two more times after their last cleaning in order to flare then seat/crimp the bullet, rather than just once more if I had waited to prime after flaring (and subsequent tumbling).

So my question is two fold: even if not the best practice, if I clean my press of any debris or residue, is it a big deal to bell/seat/crimp a primed case?

If I should avoid this, is it possible to save the extremely valuable primers by carefully depriming all of the newly primed brass? Because of the design and composition of modern primers, I suspect the depriming process has a pretty low chance of fouling a primer if done competently, but I'm still new to all of this.

While im im thinking about it, i i pulled 2 cartridges, too. They were frangible 10mm, so i had to see if i was cracking bullets with the crimp. It would have been one hell of a coincidence if it was the 2 with carefully reused primers, but there was a yellow dusting on the case. I shook it out and hit it with a torch lighter and it popped like lead styphnate, so it probably was. I primed all of those cases as i resized then sent the primed cases through the bulge buster. Might have punched the head and crushed them. Just examine it carefully to make sure your anvils aren't too deep and breaking it up. I can see a hangfire happening this way...maybe mark and separate these cases.