Oops. Please help.

[TZaun]

I just screwed up. My brother asked me to find a load for his 7mm Mag. I started testing different loads using 168 gr. Berger VLD Hunting bullets and found a pretty good one for his Ruger 77. 71.0 gr. of Retumbo and GM215M primers will shoot about 7/8" group in that gun. Plenty good for shorter range whitetail hunting. Anyhow, I have all the brass prepped and was going to start loading up 250 rounds for him and I accidentally put CCI BR-2s into the first 50 cases. I have very limited experience with the magnum cartridges and wondering if that primer is hot enough to ignite that much Retumbo? Has anybody used this primer or do I need to pop them all back out of the cases? If so, how does a guy go about doing that safely? I have never done this before. If that primer will work I can see how they shoot and if they are not very good I can label that box as fouling shots or practice shot rounds. Thanks for any replies I get.

 

[Cort]

It sounds as if you have empty, primed brass. I have de-capped live primers in a single stage press with a very slow, steady movement of the ram. I use commercial quality safety glasses while performing the operation but have never had a primer go off during the process. I then re-use the primers in the correct application and re-prime the empty cases with the desired primer. Fortunately, I have not had to de-prime live primers very many times.

Cort

 

[Rtheurer]

Dang... I have been there too unfortunatly. I did the same thing as Cort.. Real slow and steady. With safety glasses on as well. I never reuse the primers however... Never thought to try it actually.

Not sure if its right or not but I got away with it with no issues.

RussT

 

[TZaun]

Hahaha OK. I was hoping I would get you guys to reply back that the CCI BR-2 primer would work just fine and that it would be more of an issue of how well do they shoot with that primer. I'll give this some more time and see what other replies I get before removing the primers. Thanks for the quick answers about depriming live primers though! I'm usually very thorough when reloading, must be the darn time change that has me clouded this morning.

 

[hedditch]

Finish loading up 5 or so and shoot them. If the point of impact doesn't change then I would load the rest. If your groups get smaller using those primers, please let everyone know. There is always a chance you might have hit on something

 

[azmetalman]

Come on guys. This is not a safe practice. Much safer to decommission the primers with WD-40 or something similar before punching them out. Primers are not that expensive compared to potential injury.

 

[mgx1138]

Load 5 of them with the CCIs, shoot them... report the results back here.

 

[Preacher]

It sure won't do any harm to try them, before you sloooowwwly pop them out...
I always reuse them too....

 

[JRS]

I use the CCI BR2 in my 264 Win mags and 6.5x68 improved. Have never detected a difference between them and magnum primers as far as lighting up the powder. They do however display a lower SD and better accuracy than magnum primers

 

[wapiti25]

The one thing that I can think of is using them in cold weather (below freezing). I would try some of them first at normal temps then if possible shoot some at a range when below freezing (ammo temp) before going on a hunting trip.

 

[M-61]

Do you have PRIMED BRASS or do you have Loaded cartridges?

 

[Erik Cortina]

I ignite 65 grains or powder in my 7mm FCM with CCI-BR2. Accuracy actually is better than with 215's.

Load some and shoot a group. If they don't shoot well, load the rest of the primed brass in the gun (with no powder or bullet) and just pop the primers at the range and start over.

 

[FryeGuy]

I had a 264win mag once, and couldn't find a magnum primer anywhere. I used regular LR primers. they did fine with H4831sc, 70.0, w/ 100hp bullet. when I did find magnum primers, I did a chronograph test on the two compared to each other. they were within 10fps on all loads I tried. you couldn't tell one group from the other. they were all about the same.

 

[nonliberal]

They will work unless he hunts in very cold weather. I can not count the number of live primers I have popped out. If it makes you nervous though 50 primers are very cheap. Just stick them in the gun and pop them off, then reload. Much less messy than soaking the primer.

 

[M-61]

If it's primed brass and you are unhappy it is much cheaper to stop now rather than be displeased with the end result. I too have de-primed numerous case in a press using common sense. Some are leery of doing this and that's fine. Rather then put a drop of oil in the primed case ( which will create a mess ) pointing the muzzle in a safe direction just fire the primed brass (Always treating it as if it were a fully loaded round). It might not be the best time to waste primers (availability) however what has happened here is what is called a mistake. I personally have never reused primers I had to remove.

 

[Desert Fox]

Go ahead and give it a try. I think you might be surprised with the result. If you don't get the accuracy you're looking for then pull all the bullet, dump the powder and pop the primer and start over. No biggie.

 

[NCFrank]

Hi flame,
I'm another among the bunch that has pushed out live primers. With me it's been situations of breaking down rounds to save the components. Done this with pistol and rifle ammo. This was my decision and I felt I could do it safely. I worked with explosives for a while in the military so maybe I'm a little more comfortable with this situation.

Never had one to ignite and I do reuse them. My motivation was and is simply that I'm not going to waste them especially with current conditions. I used a Lee depriming punch on a small arbor press.

If you really want to get those primers out you can wrap a small cloth towel around the case and up over the mouth and around the punch then go easy on the push out. Put on a pair of welders gloves too if you want, not that you would really need them, just added protection. As long as you go at easily I believe you'll get 'em out just fine.

I too would like to know just how they work out in that 7Mag.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I ignite 65 grains or powder in my 7mm FCM with CCI-BR2. Accuracy actually is better than with 215's.

Load some and shoot a group. If they don't shoot well, load the rest of the primed brass in the gun (with no powder or bullet) and just pop the primers at the range and start over.

I agree. I do not ever remove live primers. They are just too cheap to be worth damaging a die (or myself) for.

I go for the capgun routine and just load the primed cases into the rifle and let them go pop. Do clean the barrel afterwards though. Primers do make some fouling.

 

[jlow]

Depriming live primers is not unsafe as long as you do it slowely, I have done hundreds. Of course, make sure you wear safety glasses and if you are still scared, put on ear muff. Speed is the key here, primers goes off when you hit them fast and hard, pushing primers out which is what you should do does not set them off.

 

[Rem6br]

I too have also removed live primers and reused them without any problems