De-capping Live Primers Test

[D Coots]

Don't try this at home. You may injure yourself. This is not a joke. Primers are not nitroglycerin. They are really hard to set off from the backside. I did have leather gloves and safety glasses on when I did this experiment. I gripped the die so it was enclosed by the glove.

You can reuse primers in fire forming loads and foulers with out any problems IME.

I used 205 Federal small rifle primers.

 

[BoydAllen]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[bozo699]

So is this post in regards to the other post on is it safe to deprime live primers or just another post on it?
Wayne

 

[ballisticxlr]

I've done it for 25 years without problem, sometimes in quite large numbers as when pulling down a big lot of ammo I just want some components from. Primers are almost impossible to set off from the front with a low velocity push from a decapping pin. I NEVER reuse a decapped live primer because they failed a lot the one time I did try it. I just drop them in water now. I consider this process completely safe if you take normal precautions that you would when reloading normally... work slowly, methodically and pay attention to anything that doesn't feel right.

 

[JimSC]

anyone who is nervous about a primer going off in a depinning die has never used a Lee hammer loader. Back in the 70's I loaded several thousand .38's and 357's on my back porch using one and I figure at least 100 or more popped that summer when seating. Being a bit heavy handed probably 1 in 15 went bang until I learned to tell the sound change that meant the primer was seated and one more tap would make a bang. Anyone that has ever used a hammer loader can identify. It made me jump and sting the fingers holding the tool but a bit but never did more than that. Now that I am older and wiser I would put on safety glasses and some light gloves.

 

[D Coots]

So is this post in regards to the other post on is it safe to deprime live primers or just another post on it?
Wayne

I didn't want my test to get lost in the other thread. My test, simple as it was, is just the facts I found. There's a lot of conjecture in the other thread IMO.

 

[Murray Brook]

About 5 years ago I was depriming some of my 30/378 Weatherby brass so as to get a more precise shoulder bump measurement. I chose 3 cases with fired primers to deprime. Because it is such a large case none of my depriming dies would work so I was to do it manually with a Lee decapping rod. Picked the first one up , held it in my left hand , placed the rod in the case and gave it a slight tap and out comes the primer. All good. Picked up the 2nd case to deprime but by mistake I picked one that had a live Fed 215 in it. Went through the same procedure as above, but when I tapped the primer it went off. The force of the explosion drove the primer out of the case and completely through the third finger on my left hand and fractured my little finger. There was blood everywhere. I ended up at the ER in our local hospital. I'm posting this so as to let guys know that depriming live primers is not something to take lightly. It can be done safely but precautions such as safety glasses, etc should be taken. JME

 

[foxguy]

Murry in the interest of everyone staying safe thanks for sharing.

 

[jpx2rk]

I de-primed a couple hundred 22-250 cases I bought that were ready to load per the seller, but he had NS'd them so I needed to FL size them I just de-primed them slowly, stored all of the good primers (seller could not remember if 200 or 250), and use them for foulers. Not one FTF so far.

 

[divingin]

I de-primed a couple hundred 22-250 cases I bought that were ready to load per the seller, but he had NS'd them so I needed to FL size them I just de-primed them slowly, stored all of the good primers (seller could not remember if 200 or 250), and use them for foulers. Not one FTF so far.

You didn't remove the decapper and full length size the primed brass? That's what I would have done (and have done on more than one occasion.) Never had to do it on a large number, but one-offs, yes.

 

[jpx2rk]

You didn't remove the decapper and full length size the primed brass? That's what I would have done (and have done on more than one occasion.) Never had to do it on a large number, but one-offs, yes.

No, did not like the idea of a live primer being in a FL sizing die, so went ever soooooo slow on the first few to get a comfort level going, then just eased the live primers out with a de-capping only die on the entire batch. I have a single stage press set up for de-capping only, so......

 

[venatic]

Decapped 50 30/338 Win Mag’s today. No issues just slow and steady with decapping die.

 

[FNSafari]

I've done it for 25 years without problem, sometimes in quite large numbers as when pulling down a big lot of ammo I just want some components from. Primers are almost impossible to set off from the front with a low velocity push from a decapping pin. I NEVER reuse a decapped live primer because they failed a lot the one time I did try it. I just drop them in water now. I consider this process completely safe if you take normal precautions that you would when reloading normally... work slowly, methodically and pay attention to anything that doesn't feel right.

I have carefully decapped pulled down benchrest ammo and have never had a problem using a wilson die and arbor press. I re-use the primers in my fowler rounds. I have never had one not go off.