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Have you ever set off a primer while loading?

I've been reloading for over 25 years and can honestly say I haven't set a primer off. Several years ago my adult son was priming some GI 30-06 brass for me on the Rock Chucker while I was loading some .40 S&W on the Dillion. He found a case with a tight primer pocket and rather than set it to the side, forced it and it went off. Didn't help my diminishing hearing at all.
 
My bird Chloe set one off a couple of years ago. She's a red and green Macaw of about 2 pounds. She found it on the floor of the loading room. Upon hearing the ''POP'' she immediately ran straight to me bleeding from the mouth. Twas a tense night til the Vet opened the next day. Fortunately xrays found nothing:)
Chloe still does custom UNPRIMED BRASS. Each case is UNIQUE!
I haven't ever set one off, and I have deprimed a lot of live primers.

I am always concerned about my bird getting something because she always wants to jump down from my shoulder or lap and walk all over the house. Lead has been more of my concern.

Danny
 
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Yes I have also
Probably about 25 years ago priming LC 7.62 brass.I used a RCBS crimp removing tool and apparently didn’t remove enough crimp. It was my fault I was new to LC brass and when priming it felt hard to seat but I pushed when I should’ve pulled. Lesson learned without injuries
 
Loading for 47 years and have not set one off. However I went to a Bald Eagle primer and though I love it, I hate the idea that it places more of me above the open case neck than I would like. Maybe I will mount it differently to a tall mount.
 
I set one off in my Mec 9000 410 press. I run a 9000 pretty aggressively and a number 8.5 pellet somehow made it into the primer seating cup under the primer. When I pulled the handle down it detonated, flashed through the powder drop tube and burned the powder there. But the way the Mec is designed the charge bar has the powder bottle blocked off when the primer is seated so the fire didn't make it into there or things could have been bad.
 
I had one go off when I was trying to knock it out. I had a crimped piece of brass mixed in with my .223s that I guess either got thrown in the wrong bucket or got missed when swaging. The primer seated and was all mashed and gnarly so I wanted to knock it out to correct the primer pocket.

I dumped a couple drops of water in it first then proceeded to de-prime it. My wife was in the reloading room with me and about crapped her pants. No injuries, no damage to anything but the case the primer was in and a little carbon residue on the press and die.
 
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Only once. Doing 12 ga and I am guessing a pellet got into the hole for priming. Don't really know why, but boom. Luck was on my side because the MEC press is built so the bar is not in the powder position when it happened.
 
I've never had one go off on me and the dumb things that I've done...small primer pin and large primers just about turns them inside out and still nothing...yikes!
I have seen videos of guys trying to purposefully set primers off in a press, nothing happened. I think that it takes something else mixed in to do it.

Danny
 
No, surprisingly.....

In 50 years of reloading including 40 years with Dillons, I've crushed several sideways primers in a 550 and 650....some, fully seated sideways in pocket...but never had one go off.

You'd think I could feel the difference but not always ... One or two I haven't noticed until I pulled the cartridge from the ammo box on the prairie.
 
I've been at it for fifty years and, so far, no. Thank goodness . . .
 
A couple of months back, I had one detonate in the priming arm of my T-7. For some reason the primer failed to seat in the primer pocket and was retained in the priming arm. When I flipped the arm out of the way, the primer contacted the side of the press and detonated. First in more than 45 years of hand loading.

IMG_0038.jpeg
 

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