Please help with de-capping live primers

[XL105]

Water will not kill a modern primer, i do not know exactly when and some primer makers may have been later than others. priming compound has been water proof for years. I have pushed live primers out on several occasions and have never had one go off, but good safety glasses are a must. A well known benchrest shooter that posts at bench rest central let 10 primed case sit in a bucket of water for a month. dumped the water out of them and set in a window sill for a few days and primed another 10 loaded them all up and shoot over a chronograph and could not tell which were which till he looked at which bag was labeled wet. I would not waste them if it were me.

Good to know. Been doing the water idea for years and never had one go off, must be luck and going slow with decapping them.

 

[JimSC]

Popped more primers with the old Lee hammer loader making .38's on the back porch than I want to think about and I still have all 10 fingers, 3 on one hand and 7 on the other. Seriously just put on some safety glasses and do it, if one pops you might soil your tighty whities but that is about the worst thing that will happen unless you have your eye directly over the case with no safety glasses.

 

[ebb]

Ive remove a bunch of primers with the standard decap die and never had a problem. On cast Boolits there is a guy that tried to resize a loaded round that is stuck in the sizing die, THAT IS WHERE I DRAW THE LINE.

 

[Bill Norris]

Popped more primers with the old Lee hammer loader making .38's on the back porch than I want to think about and I still have all 10 fingers, 3 on one hand and 7 on the other. Seriously just put on some safety glasses and do it, if one pops you might soil your tighty whities but that is about the worst thing that will happen unless you have your eye directly over the case with no safety glasses.

Thats funny right there now.

 

[mousegunner]

I'd bet someone would use that primed brass if it was good brass i.e. not corroded. I got some 15 year old cases in a trade, never used it, and sold it easily, over 300 cases. I ran the brass through my sizer, no decap pin, trimmed it lightly, deburred, and it would have worked but I never got around to loading it.

If it's just a handful, bang! bang!

 

[Modoc Guy]

Thanks for all the good advice. I haven't inspected that brass yet, but they looked as if they'd been kept dry, and outwardly showed no corrosion.

I don't recall seeing a crimp or sealant on the primers either. Maybe I'll try easing them out to try and save them, seeing as they are difficult to get at the moment.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Twicepop]

DO NOT use a Wilson primer punch and a light hammer even if the primers are 90 years old (you can probably guess how I know this).

 

[cw308]

Depends on how many primed cases we're talking about . As others mentioned , load a few and see how it goes or just fire them off in your rifle ,will save time and is safer or if you have the time and want to carefully pop the primers. You have 3 options.

 

[expiper]

I was given some old .308 never been fired brass that has live primers in them. The person giving me the brass said I shouldn't use those primers due to their age.

How dangerous is it to de-cap that brass? What precautions, if any, should I take? And what should I do with the old primers?

BTW, I'm new to reloading, hence the "noob" question.

Thanks guys!

the big ?? is ,,,how many ???,,,are you talking 20 or 2,000 that need this solution ,,,,and are you going to used these ctgs at a prestigious national event ,,,or blasting pop cans and rocks in the back yard,,,no matter what I would load a few with your favorite load and see how they do,,,that shluld make the decesion for you much better than me sitting here in my lounge chair ,,,,one thing I get a kick out of is people saying that "I soaked them in water for a week and no problem decaping ",,,,well there would be no problem if you did not soak them either,,,,use common sense and let us know what you do to solve your delima,,,,so many times there are questons asked and answered and those who dedicate the time to give possible solutions are never thanked or given the final results,,,,Roger

 

[joshb]

With the primer situation as it is, I’d pick 5 random cases, load them in my gun and pull the trigger. If they all went off, I’d load those puppies and shoot them.

 

[Modoc Guy]

Gonna take a look at them today. I'll post a pic if I can dig 'em up.

 

[mousegunner]

I'd bet someone would use that primed brass if it was good brass i.e. not corroded. I got some 15 year old cases in a trade, never used it, and sold it easily, over 300 cases. I ran the brass through my sizer, no decap pin, trimmed it lightly, deburred, and it would have worked but I never got around to loading it.

If it's just a handful, bang! bang!

A little OT but I packed them real good so they wouldn't make noise and taped the box real good. Went to UPS and had the new label just in case.

UPS "what's in the box"

"primed cases"

"Ammunition?"

"No, empty cases with primers."

"They empty? "

"Yes just the primed cases"

"O.K. you don't need no other labels, where you get the label?"

"On your website, keep mine and make copies if you need some"

"Thanks, my brother in law refills bullets"

"Cool!"

Just under $25.00 to ship, still cleared $100.00 to buy a couple of other things I needed. One mans trash is another mans treasure or 100 bucks!

 

[Old Tanker]

I just shoot em. Then again, I live in a rural setting.

 

[danny]

Wear safety glasses, then "have at it", just like normal.

Danny

 

[JohnKielly]

If you desperately need to shoot them, stiff the rifle's muzzle in an old cushion or the like & no noise.

 

[wildcat3d]

IF, I were worried about these senior primers, I'd place the empty brass in my rifle and pull the trigger. Problem solved.

Yep

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I just recently decapped close to 600 38 special brass and I'm currently shooting those primers in pistol competition. They fit a little "looser" but function just fine. I dont think I would try crimped primers though.

 

[AR10T308]

I use a universal decapping die that is wide open inside the die. This way there will be less pressure inside the case and die if the primer did go off. That being said I have been removing live primers since 1973 and never had one primer go off. Just go "SLOW" and the primers will not go off.

If this makes you nervous then just fire the primers in your rifle and then clean the rifle.

Exact same advice here based on quite a bit of experience. Never had one fire while decapping, but I know it is safer with the open die in case one ever does.

 

[kneedtospeed]

Just advertise "Free Primers, you decap!"

 

[Walt Schmidlin]

How do you store the primers after removal? “New” primers come in relatively small compartmented trays, what’s a safe alternative?