Killing primers

[gaboon]

I was given a bunch of old ammo. I pulled the bullets and dumped the powder. I'm going to deprime the brass and throw it in the scrap bucket. What is the best solution to soak the primers in to deactivate them. I don't know the make of the primers.

 

[Dans40X]

Throw them in a fire...preferably not indoors in your wood stove!

 

[riflewoman]

The usual way is to soak them Ina penetrating oil. But this takes a long time and may not be effective. What is effective is putting them in a small fire that is contained like in an old cast iron stove. No more than ten or more at a time. But the fire MUST BE CONTAINED in a metal container. A cheap BBQ might work.

 

[Shrek]

Are you wanting to kill the primers before depriming or after when disposing of them. I've never had a problem just depriming live primers. I just gently push them out with my lee decapping die.

 

[joshb]

You could cycle them through your gun and make them go bang. Yes?

 

[gaboon]

Kill them after deprimed.

 

[mikecr]

Like Daveinjax, I've never had an issue depriming live primers & I just throw them away in regular trash.
Other than heat(fire/spark), it seems mechanical shock is needed to set em off.

I hand de-priming myself, and use safety glasses were they're live.

 

[amlevin]

Any live primer I want to discard merely goes in the brass bucket. They're made of brass and just add to the weight. My local recycler never says a word, just hands me the money.

 

[amlevin]

I avoid placing explosives in my trash and primers do contain explosives.

I soak the cases that have no bullets or powder for 3 months or so in water then should the brass be reloadable de-cap them, if not the whole works goes into the trash.

Attempts to fire water soaked 7.62X51 brass have shown that this works. None of the primers went bang despite being sealed with lacquer on the outside. CCI #41 primers (mil spec small rifle) appear to have some internal lacquer coating but I have not soaked them.

Should you attempt to fire loaded rounds primed in wet primer pockets as a result loading undried wet cleaned brass a very high percentage of those will not go bang. 90 days or so submerged should fix the problem. The lead explosive compound is not very water soluble but 90 days is a long time and the amount of primer compound is small.

Your caution is admirable but really a bit over the top. With all that caution I'm a bit surprised you shoot and hand-load.

 

[amamnn]

Some years ago there was an article written for Precision Shooting Magazine in which the author described his various methods and attempts to kill primers. What he found most effective was to soak them for a day or so in a lightweight oil, even used motor oil.

I have never deprimed more than a few live primers at once and would not worry about them in the trash. More than ten would give me pause to reconsider and use the oil. I don't think I would want to fire off a lot of primers in empty cases since I have heard that lead stryphate (the stuff that makes your primer go bang) leaves a lot of nasty byproducts of combustion behind when burned at low pressures. I don't mind cleaning my rifle, but why dirty it up and never even shoot a group?

 

[maxscm]

Kroil will Kill 'em.

 

[mikecr]

I don't think I would want to fire off a lot of primers in empty cases since I have heard that lead stryphate (the stuff that makes your primer go bang) leaves a lot of nasty byproducts of combustion behind when burned at low pressures.

I believe this. Shoot a few primers(only) through a barrel, and then look at the mess that leaves behind. It's worse than any other fouling I've seen.

 

[gaboon]

I think I will soak them in some used motor oil and mix in some kroil.
thanks for the tips.