Which way to do it safely?
I pulled a bunch of bullets out of some old Remington ammo that for some reason (stored incorrectly perhaps?) wouldn't cycle the action. I'd like to reuse both bullets and brass and now I have a collection of primed brass the trouble is if the powder had deteriorated enough to lose it's moxy, the primers should also be suspect and I'd so like to get the brass decapped.
How do I do this safely? Maybe soak 'em with WD-40 before running through the die?

I used to just pop them in a gun. Then I caught myself sizing and depriming some brass that I had no idea was already primed. I didn’t even notice it until I was half way through a thousand of them. I stopped what I was doing and let my heart catch up. Then I thought it over and put my safety glasses on and just kept going. Maybe all the primers were bad I thought at first, so I just kept right on depriming them while wearing safety glasses. I stopped for a bathroom break and washed up. Then I got overly curious and grabbed a 1911 and fussed it into the chamber. I try to be overly carful with the extractor or I would have just dropped it into the tube. POP! So maybe I just got lucky but out of a full thousand pieces of primed brass, not a single one popped in the die. I’m not advocating it as a way to do it, just sharing the experience. Now that I think about it, maybe I should wear those safety glasses all the time when reloading, not just for some of it.

You can safely deprime with your sizing die. Commercial and hand loaded primers take very little pressure to push out. The problem is magnified if you are talking about crimped military primers. I deprimed 400 rounds of Korean KA 30-06. A lot more pressure needed but I didn't take any chances and had gloves on and, of course, safety glasses.

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regards....roger (no sig)

There are dies that just pop the primer. I have never had a problem depriming a live primer but you may want have them drop into a container with oil in it. If one going off in the press it is probably no big deal but if one ignites in the pile of live ones you can have a real mess.

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Len

I have had one or two go off in the decapping die. No harm done, safety glasses were on. Still makes you jump a little though. Just go slow and steady with the pressure, and eye and ear pro are always good.

Sounds too dangerous to proceed. Send them to me and I'll have them safely disposed of.

I have deprimed them before but being a wuss I wore safety glasses and wrapped a large bath towel around the entire press. They did not pop.

Protect eyes and ears, go slow. This is what has worked for me.

Don't forget, the brass is likely worth less than a dime each, decide accordingly.

I'd try firing a couple. If they fire OK, go ahead and use them.

In my experience, 40 + years of reloading I use a soft, easy, steady pressure and have not had problems. Eyes/face protection are a must. I use a clear full face shield when doing this.

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Semper FI

I have been depriming both commercial and military brass with live primers for years and have never had one fire. I don't take any more precautions than I do when I prime cases. I would always wear eye protection when doing any reloading if I didn't already wear glasses.

Each case may not be worth a whole bunch, but if they are still usable you don't have to buy them twice if you process them instead of throwing them away.

It's simple, oil kills the priming compound... put a few drops in and then you don't have to mess around trying to finesse them out.

And since you're not planning to reuse them, you would want to deactivate the little suckers anyway before disposing of them.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

I've never had a problem depriming live primers with a sizing die. I'd probably put on a pair of safety glasses, whit is a good idea anytime you're reloading. If you're really concerned about it, chamber each shell and drop the hammer on it. Then you'll be depriming spent primers.

I have not yet found oil to be reliable in deactivating primers. I tried it once or twice, it didn't work (I fired the primed cases in a gun), and I have no intention of experimenting further.

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Formerly Model520Fan

I used to give each case a small squirt of WD-40, thinking it would kill the primer as I had always read. But I never did test them.

I have read about lots of folks having the same experience as yours (oil, WD-40, etc. don't kill primers even after soaking them for weeks).

I haven't read anyone writing that actually did kill them. I'm beginning to think primers aren't as easy to kill as I have been lead to believe.

Everyone thinks when they see the primers sealed that it is for the primer "WRONG" it is for the power.

I've decapped literally thousands of live primers without a problem. Just don't mash the handle down, go nice and slow. No big deal, if you're careful.

In addition to the previously mentioned precautions, I take the lid off of a GI ammo can and hold it against the side of the press with my free hand. It makes me feel better.

I have never had one go off on me, even ones that I seated upside-down.

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6/23/2022

Huh?

He meant powder. The primer and case mouth are sealed to keep the powder dry, not to save the primer.

I thought I was the only one depriming live primers...glad to see I'm not the Lone Ranger!!!

i never had a problem either decapping live primers

I RELOADED FOR ABOUT 30 YEARS AND I DID IT ALL THE TIME. MAYBE I WAS JUST LUCKY, BUT I "NEVER" HAD ONE GO OFF. That's kind of like they tell you NOT TO TUMBLER LOADED BRASS BECAUSE OF THE DANGER OF A ROUND GOING OFF. I DID IT FROM DAY ONE. WINCHESTER DOES IT. IF YOU EVER GET A CHANCE TO OPEN UP NEW AMMO, I DON'T CARE WHOSE BRAND IT IS AND TAKE A "REAL CLOSE LOOK AT THE PRIMER END OF THE CASE YOU CAN SEE SOME OF THE CORNCOB STILL IN THE PRIMER POCKETS. I was a personal friend of the President of 3-D AMMUNITION CO. OUT OF DONIPFAN NE. I TOURED HIS PLANT AND THEY DID IT ALL THE TIME. THEY USE "CEMENT MIXERS" AS TUMBLERS......................CookE

Dang. And to think all these years I have tried to keep the corn
cob OUT of my primer pockets! Little did I know.

Going back to your original post and the comment that the ammo "wouldn't cycle the action". To me that implies the primers were firing but the ctgs had light or contaminated powder charges. If the primers were going off I would not de-prime the cases at all.

If you put oil in the cases how do you plan on de-oiling completely to reload?

I don't often have the need to de-prime cases with live primers, but when I do, I soak them in the same NRA formula (water, vinegar, salt and detergent) I routinely use for washing cases and decap them while they're damp with a Universal Decapping die. So far, none have popped, but I always wear eye/ear protection.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I would reload a magazine full of them with your favorite powder and see if they cycle the action. Sounds like the primers could be OK. How many cases are we talking here to deprime?

FWIW:
An exploding live primer will propel itself to about 1400 ft/sec out of the primer pocket (I read in Guns & Ammo…I think.) Now, depending on a type and design of the reloading press you’re using this could either hurt your knee if spent primers travel straight down the ram or bounce right up in your face if you have RCBS press! Best way to “disarm” life primers is to fire them in your gun! Pull the bullet, dispose of powder, load empties in a gun and pull the trigger.

Take the primed brass, your pistol, eye and ear protection and teach a youngster to pull the trigger and shoot without a flinch and develop a healthy respect for just how powerful those darn primers are.

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Idaho , Elmer and Milt

I had this problem - primed cases needed depriming, due to my inexperience. I read the posts, then went & deprimed 50 cases. I used a Lee universal deprimer. No problem. Now I'm wondering if I can reuse the primers? They seem ok, dia is the same.

What say you?

I say no. reason is, the lasT time I decapped a bunch of live ones there was a noticable amount of green primer dust afterwards. This tells me that the mixture must have been somewhat compromised/crushed in the process.

Also, FWIW, I can speak from experience that oil WILL NOT reliably kill primers.

I have decapped hundreds of them with press and the Lee decapping set and never had one pop.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

As has been said, consistent pressure and safety glasses, however you can always spray the inside of the case with some wd and allow to soak for a few hours. IMO that's all wd is good for anyway.