Being a newbee to reloading, I have made some mistakes, by learning from my errors...now I want to remove live primers to discard live set primers...the bullets and powder charge have been removed...just want to make these errors safe.

is there a procedure that is recommended?

thanks in advance, c.w.

Slow and steady, just push them out same as spent primers.

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John

How about pushing out one that got into the pocket backwards? Same thing?

No problem, just go slow and steady.

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John

If you push them out cover the casing with a rag to contain things if they go bang. A heavy glove might be handy, too.

If you are going to discard the primers, you can kill them first by squirting a drop of oil on them from the inside, I use WD-40. You will have to clean the brass of the oil but that's just a little time in the tumbler.

Good luck!

I prefer soft primers to insure reliable ignition with striker fired handguns. I've deprimed live primers. I find that with soft primers, the surface of the primer becomes convex, or bulges out. I discard these primers.

First recommendation is to simply leave them alone! Primed cases are not a safety issue in any way.

What was the mistake that caused you to want to dismantle the rounds you had loaded? The only legitimate reason I can see after over 50 years of reloading is if your powder selection/load were not compatible with the cartridge.

If you insist on removing the primers because they are inverted, or crosswise in the pocket it is very simple. First, there will be several who will tell you to oil the primers, throw the cases away, etc. and tell you all the horrible things that will happen if you a primer fires when removing it! There is caution, a super-abundance of caution, and simple paranoia! These people are paranoid!

You remove the un-fired primer just like a fired one except for being more gentle about it. With either your sizing die, or a universal de-priming die just run the case into the die gently until you feel the de-capping pin contact the primer, the gently pull the handle until it is ejected. Makes no difference what position the primer is in, this is not the least bit dangerous, and there is absolutely zero chance of firing the primer!

Primers are fired by percussion, being struck, not by simple pressure! If they could conceivably fire this way you would never hear of a primer failure-to-fire because of a light strike. Any strike would be adequate, and everyone knows this is not true!

As has been mentioned I would load them and shoot them.

If you must just push them out. By the way you should always wear safety glasses!

Why not just put them in the gun and pop them?

All the info in this post is time proven with people with many years of reloading. You don't need oil them you don't need to fire them like a cap gun. Fellow the what was said and decap them.

The built in anvil in a primer needs the primer to be bottomed out in the case for back up when it is hit by the firing pin. Pushing out a backward primer doesn't allow the anvil to work.

Just keep your eyes and ears away in case one goes 'pop'. They are loud little jobs. Only time I had one go off was when I was tapping one into the pocket with a Lee Hand Loader. If you are careful I doubt one would ever go off.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

If I only have a couple to do, I just go slow and haven't had a problem. More than a couple and I soak them in warm soapy water for a few minutes, water kills them faster than oil.

I am going to have to strongly disagree with this. Zero chance means it will NEVER EVER happen. It may not have happened to you or to me but there is a possibility, however slight, that it may detonate. You should always be cautious around primers because they are explosive.
Primers are fired by striking them but you made a incorrect correlation. Primers need a certain amount of force applied to the anvil and light strikes do not supply enough force it's not because it doesn't detonate with pressure.

Having said all that you could make the argument that using too much seating pressure causes the primer not to fire. I think this cracks the priming pellet material.

When you're dealing with explosives you should always be cautious.

Why do you want to remove live primers?

Leave the case primed...........
You could damage them when removing them, when they are perfectly safe and ready for a new loading.
Just put them in a ammo box or plastic container with a label of the primer type.

You may have to resize the case and rebell the mouth for the new bullet but that is no biggy.

I never did understand why people think they need to de-prime a mistake, mostly if the case is not damaged and can receive another powder load and bullet.

Again, why remove them? If they are the "wrong" primer like you used Mag primers instead of non Mag it doesn't matter you can still use them.

As mentioned you can leave primed brass for future loading no problem. They actually sell brass already primed.

If you do de prime you can still use them.

Always wear safety glasses and primers are harder to "kill" they people think, water and WD 40 or oil do not kill them.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Modern primers have a film barrier to protect the priming compound. It takes more than a dunk in a handy open drum (that everybody has in their garage) of oil to neutralize them.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

l don't ever try removing live primers..lf the wrong primer is in the case l pop them in a gun before removing them. lf one gets inverted in a case l spray WD40 on it and then throw the round away..
l had my primer ''lesson'' many years ago with a Lee Loader
that required using a hammer to seat primers..

That first surprise ''POP'' was enough for me and my pants TOO!!

I have never had any problems removing live primers but as stated earlier do wear safety glasses just incase. One reason for removing and replacing primers, especially if the Federal brand, is as I commented on in another thread as follows. This is depending on how the bullets were removed, peh_7

"I've used kinetic pullers for years and in the past have had no problem with reusing the primed cases. Recently I was loading using Federal Match primers and needed to pull a couple of bullets because of improper seating adjustments. I noticed that there was yellow dust in the powder that turned out to be the primer material. Called Federal and they said this was normal. I have never noticed this with CCI primers which are what I normally use if available. So, a word to the wise, if using a kinetic puller on cases with federal primers you probably should replace the primers."

The only time I would remove a live primer is if I used a hammer bullet puller on a tough to dismantle round.
(Or if I just discovered I put in the wrong primer or made some other mistake).
I am just paranoid (there I said it) that the primer pellet can crack or disintegrate under more than a certain G force.
I'd rather throw away a primer than get a bullet stuck in a barrel.
I almost always use a collet to pull bullets and the primer is not affected at all.
I would not recommend firing just the primer in a gun indoors. Too much lead pollution.
Take that outside.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

I am assuming that if you wish to remove the primer, you either loaded the wrong primer or got it in backwards. I have deprimed both many times without issues.
Another option would be to fire the primer in a gun, then deprime it.

Here is what I do to remove live primers on a single stage press. Set up the decapping die and shell to be decapped. Place a plastic bucket over the whole press (excluding the handle) Put on your hearing protectors and decap. If the primer ignites, its inside the bucket and will do no damage , and you will be safe from any discharged material.

"First, there will be several who will tell you to oil the primers, throw the cases away, etc. and tell you all the horrible things that will happen if you a primer fires when removing it! There is caution, a super-abundance of caution, and simple paranoia! These people are paranoid!"

You are the guy I was talking about! Now, read your own post and you will find that after being critical of my statement that your post agrees with what I have said!

Primers require a minimum amount of energy to fire. Simply pushing them, with no velocity to the impact, does not provide the requisite energy required! I stand by my original statement, and even though you obviously don't agree openly, your own remarks substantiates it!

If I have a primed case that I want to make inert. I just put the case on an anvil and smash it with my 10# sledge. More fun that way.

As asked.. Why remove them?

Remove the decapping pin, resize and use them up.

I remember carefully depriming around 20 rounds, don't remember why but reloading the case was not an option. I did keep them separated and loaded them back up, correctly that time. They all worked like they were supposed. Wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Hammer pullers are great, and safe. Nothing is in contact with the primer. You can hammer the hell out of them and they won't go off. Collet pullers are good, but the impact kind are just as good, only different. Either way, dismantling bullets is something best avoided.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

thanks for the many responses...I've been away shooting my 1930's colt police positive in .32 long S&W!

Paranoia strikes deep (Love that lyric). Imagine you are trying to FIRE a live primer in an empty case with a de-capping pin pushed by a reloading press. Not saying there is a zero chance of success, but you could seriously deplete your primer stock before getting one to go off by pushing on the wrong side with a slow moving press ram. Good question and lots of good, cautious advice. Not a dumb question. If it was the reloading manuals would be full of bold faced, capitalized, italicized cautions and instructions. In any event, if you do manage to get one to go off there will be no harm except to your nerves, provided you are wearing safety glasses. It is surprisingly easy to get one to pop in a Lee Loader and they don't even caution you, at least they didn't 40 years ago when I briefly tried one out. Bang bang. Come to think of it, you might just get one to pop with a hand held de-capping rod and hammer like Lee used to supply.

Kinetic hammer/Inertia bullet puller kaboom theories??? Post #3 answers some of your questions.

Unseating an upside down primer Part 2 of this dead pony race.

Do a search on this forum on "primers" and you get a modest 134 results. Enjoy your reading and make some popcorn.

Attached Images

Dead horse.jpg (63.2 KB, 9 views)

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S&WHF 366

There is a story, maybe apocryphal but the source is reliable about a worker who was carrying a bucket of primers (probably when this happened it was a metal bucket) between buildings when they went off on him and of course the whole bucket chain fired. They surmised that he had raised, dropped and stopped the bucket to get a satisfying 'Ka-chink' and instead had a MAJOR explosion. This is why they package primers to keep them separated to prevent the same thing from happening. In my own experience you almost have to TRY to make on go off, but this tells me that the industry is more than a little worried about it.


I'll be looking this story up and maybe ask the friend that told me. If anybody has heard this, let me know.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Search brought this up:
Primer safety

Refers to Hatcher as one of the sources for that story.

http://www.darkcanyon.net/handloading_safety.htm

"MG Julian Hatcher relates a story in the 3rd edition of Hatcher's Notebook, page 525, about a technician in some ballistics lab bouncing down a hall with a bucket of primers."

Our own forum mentions this:
Jar of Primers,, these for reloading primers

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

Never say "never". The likelihood of a primer going off when deprimming a live one is very, very low.

Go slow and easy, and no issues. I have removed many.

Of course always wear safety equipment. I wear a Kevlar vest and eye and ear protection.




For those that feel a little more protection is needed and want the very best:

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Still Running Against the Wind