what is the safe way to remove live primers

[group therapy]

STS's comment was tongue in cheek, the natural oil on your fingers will not make a primer inert, 'tis an old reloader's tale (as opposed to old wive's tale).

I made a lot of accurate hunting rounds years before I heard about deburring flash holes and, even though I debur, it's likely the least significant operation in my brass prep process.

im gonna 2nd this. i recently started using a priming tool that requires EACH primer to be handled, no problems at all. i also, a long time ago, had read the best way to kill a live primer(besides discharging it) was to soak it in oil for a brief period. i soaked some for 36hours and fired them. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM FIRED!! so.........................

 

[group therapy]

and....... i guess this aint bad for a 5 year old thread!!!!

 

[jelenko]

Like fine wine.

 

[Twoboxer]

Didn't specifically know that. Figured at the least it would affect their reliability and accuracy, so I don't touch them. This is also why after all of my research with which press to start with, I chose the Hornady Iron press. Didn't want to jump into a progressive press without any experience and liked the auto priming feature. I set it up last weekend and just finished my first 40 rounds. Absolutely love the auto priming feature. Works without a hitch. I can't imaging using one of those hand held discs. Or placing them one at a time in the disc with my giant fingers. I'm sure I would drop half of them at the least. Thanks for the aded info.

For emphasis . . . he was joking. You can't render primers inert from "the oil on your fingers".

 

[rkittine]

I also just place the primed case in an appropriate firearm and fire the primer.

Bob

 

[JimSC]

even before the current shortage I simply deprimed and reused. Back in the mid 70's when I was loading .38's and 357's on the back porch with a Lee hammer loader I had a couple dozen primers or more go off when seating, stung the fingers holding the seating tool and the pop sound always made me jump and cuss a bit but never had one so much as break skin. Took me a few pops before I learned the sound change when seated and how hard to hit the tool. Once that "tip tip tip" became a " tap" if you tapped again it would be a "pop". Just wear safety glasses and you will survive, you might soil your tighty whiteys if you are the jumpy type but you will survive

 

[M-61]

I don't think an older thread regarding safety ever becomes too old to be gone over every now and then. In some endeavors familiarity can lead to mistakes so it is a good idea to go over procedures.
Not that I would trust it but I've read for years about WD-40 etc. rendering the primers inert. (in fact I think it is wrong) This afternoon I'll take a few loose ones I have around put some oil and/or WD-40 on them, prime some cases with them and see if they fire.
Regardless of my results, the slow depriming in a press is what I have done when this depriming needs to be done.

 

[Twicepop]

Do what several of the above post have recommended, slow and gentle pressure. I've done a few hundred this way with no ill effects. With the shortage of available primers, I've re-utilized several dozens of these for plinking rounds, also with no ill effects. On the flip side of that coin, I can also tell you positively how NOT to do this.

 

[JMayo]

The wake up to this thread was about deburring flash holes ....
Don't worry about it shoot em. Imo