I had 200 cases I primed and then realized some had a little residue in them. Probably case lube. I wrestled with what to do because I'm intending to put these rounds away against future needs.

But I remembered a thread here a while back about decapping live primers and one member saying he had done thousands over the years. I've also recently seen primers from pulled down ammo for sale.

So, I decided to try decapping the 38 SPL. I used a 44 caliber die and 38 shell holder. I
t took a little care to hold the case tight in the shell holder. A few required some finesse to get centered but they all decapped with little effort and look no worse for the wear.

The point of this is that with primers being precious these days, it is possible to salvage mistakes. I have a couple hundred 357Sig cases I'm going to recover the primers from next.

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Should have used a .38 die.

Carefully.

Either use the resizing decapping die again, or spend a few bucks and get a universal de-capping die for those emergencies. I might have been the one to make the post you’re referring to. I decapped 2 yesterday. No problems. They come out effortlessly if your using a Depriming die.

If it was me, for what it’s worth, I would try to carefully remove the residue and salvage the primed case.

Does anyone have any ignition issues with decapped live primers? I went through my container of cases damaged while reloading when I was running short of primers and recovered about 50 live primers. In the catch bottle on my Lee APP I noticed there was some yellowing from priming compound around the recovered primers, I reused them with no issues, but haven’t shot them yet. But the yellow tint in the bottle leads me to believe that some of the priming compound was lost, though visually, the primers seemed normal.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

case lube on cases? That's where that should be...

I have decapped and reused well over 100 primers with no ignition issues in the finished rounds.

I would not use salvaged and possibly contaminated primers like for anything other than range ammo, and even then I would watch carefully for duds and squibs.

Have fired decapped primers without issue...they all went bang. Yours will too.

Randy

That’s all I plan on using them for. I just hated throwing them away...they’re like gold!

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

I have done it many times with no problem. If you set off one primer it is just going to make you jump not blow up the press or dies. Of course don't set 100 other primers beside the case you are depriming.

For future reference, a Q-Tip with acetone will remove any residue from the inside of the cases, and acetone will not harm the priming compound.

I'd have to think about buying "pulled primers" but I too have reused many primers from my handloads with zero problems/misfires. There is no reason to relegate these primers to "range only plinking loads" and I have reseated some in my "Just in Case" ammo. The best tool is a plain old sizing die, especially if you plan on using the brass again...

Have never had any issues removing them .

I’ve done it many times for various reasons and never had a kaboom or a recycled primer fail to fire.

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213th FBINA

Then why not just load those cases.

This sums up what I was thinking... I’ve done it, but for practice ammo only, not for match or self defense ammo. With the prices of primers going through the roof, salvaging them and using them in practice ammo just makes good sense to me... YMMV!

Froggie

Not quite the same as OP, but some of my friends who shot high power rifle competition used to economize by reloading what they called “Mexican Match.” They would carefully pull the bullets from military ammo of dubious quality and dump the suspect powder. They would then put a carefully measured charge of “good” powder in the primed case, replace the bullet and go win matches. Economy is where you find it.

Froggie

If I used a salvaged primer, it would be single action only

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Pete
I ain't no fortunate son

I just replaced the bullets with 150 gr.Sierra Match Kings in M80 Ball ammo ,
and 168 SMK's in M118. Primers were good as was the powder and the charge.

Used it to make Master....

Randy

I don’t have a lot of them, but every now and then, I’ll get a case crunched in the press or split a neck.

Attached Images

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

You certainly do a bang up job on your mess ups!!!

Randy

Yes. You don't want a bunch of loose primers sitting together. They ship them in trays for a reason.

The 38 die was creating friction. The 44 made it easier to deal with only the flash hole.

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I thought of that, played with some Q-Tips but short of a liquid solvent of some kind I just didn't feel like I could avoid getting whatever I used into the primer I was trying to save.

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That's good to know. I considered that route.

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No. Every round goes bang.

A while back, I found the need to de-cap ~30rd of 5.56, and ended up using the whack-a-mole to start the process. Then I used my press to do the de-capping. Out of ~30rd, I think I had 3-4 of the primers lose their anvil insert. Other than that, they looked fine.

I was able to actually put the anvils back in position, but openly wonder if I should trust the final primer assembly on this "less-than-a-handful"...

My suggestion. Run "em" through the tumbler till the lube is gone. Load a few and see what happens.

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S&W Accumulator

I roll my rifle brass on a lube pad before resizing and then roll it on a towel on my leg, how do you get lube where it will interfere with a primer or powder? I use carbide dies on my pistol reloads and never lube them.

For 38/357 I don't have a carbide die so have to use case lube. I then hose them down with brake parts cleaner in a small can, shake the heck out of them, drain and dry.

Checking charge weights, I had one under weight. That NEVER happens with the Little Dandy. So, I head off to check all 50 and found a couple more. Kept thinking and went back to the first underweight case, dumped it and looked in the case. Couldn't see the bottom. I whacked it upside down on the bench and got maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 grain of powder it. Ran a Q-Tip down and it came out with ... something on it.

Putting 2 and 2 and 2 together, I'm pretty sure it's case lube from my brake parts cleaner bath that dissolved and stayed in the case.

Were I planning to shoot it i the next month or so, I'd have probably taken my chances. Where I intend to store it, I decided to go the de-prime and re-clean route.

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Not having a tumbler takes that option off the table.

I'm very confident 100% of them will work.

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I've lately been "rebuilding" a few primers just in case we never get any more at retail, so I'm familiar with how they're made. If you kept the few separate, I'd suggest loading them and shooting them all in the same magazine just to prove to yourself that they're dependable.

One method I saw involved repriming the cup, setting the anvil on top of it and driving the anvil home by seating it in a case.

Of the 200 I did, 0 came apart. I used a larger die so there was no friction between the case and die. It let me be very precise in touching the primer with the decapping pin and only applying very little force to the primer.

Kind of sad this is a conversation we need to have about what used to be a 3 cent component ...

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That was my first thought in reading through this thread.


I appreciate the info.

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- Post No Bills -

Indeed, I have these ~30 primers separate, and the 3-4 separate from them as well. I have been on hold because of this pandemic, playing it safe. Will get my 2nd vaccine Tuesday! So within ~3-weeks, I can start getting out and around again . I'll still wear a mask around others, for their sake, and do not want to get into the politics of pro/con mask wearing. I am just fortunate the VA has been responsive in getting veterans vaccinated, and for that thankful.

BACK-ON-TASK: I have been trying to come up with test loads using H322 and 53gr Sierra Match Kings, for AR use. Made mistake earlier when "trying" to minimally crimp this non-cannelure'd bullet. Ended up bulging the "new" brass and having many FTF. Lesson learned...

Purchased the proper case gauge for another go at it. Also picked up Reddings Competition Shell Holders to help with full-length sizing, and the 223 Remington Bushing Neck Die Set (Mfr Part: 58111), though I don't think I'll need that immediately, if ever.





ALL SAID AND DONE: Once I can safely get to the range and field testing my loads, I have 2k of brass and ~3.5k of MKs to work with. I have already been deep in all other supplies, though I only moved to the .223/5.56 platform early last year. Got lucky and was able to stock up on the .223 Brass (only thing I was lacking) without much/any real markup. That has allowed me to side-step the recent ammo crisis/shortage to a great extent.

My longer term interest has been my Remington #722 in .222, so still have ~1k of that to do to catch up. BTW, I already have determined my loads for the .222 (all trickled of course)... I have my one-owner (my dad's) #722 from 1953 and it still proves to be <MOA at 200yd. It shoots better than I.

So, I have much to keep me busy as Spring approaches...

I've recovered and reused hundreds if not more than a thousand primers from unknown loads, primed brass from calibers I no longer own, and even from odd and end pieces of factory ammo that folks had given me or I got in trade over the years.

I use a depriming die. I use low slow pressure and have yet to have one go off. I have damaged a few when removing some from imported brass that use staked or crimped primers, but they still went bang when I tried them.

There is one exception to my otherwise perfect record of noiseless extractions.

I had a few very deteriorated corroded shotgun shells given to me. People give me a lot of junk they don't know what to do with! I cut them open and removed their contents.

Instead of taking them outside and hitting them with a hammer (As I did when I was a kid) I decided to try easily tapping one out with an oversized punch. I placed the brass over a hollow in a jig and began to tap very lightly.

It was that third little tap that let me know this wasn't a good idea.

Other than the sharp edge of the brass making a small cut in my left index finger no harm was done.

Lesson learned. Hit em' with a hammer and move on...

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

In fact, when recharging primers, you can put the priming compound in the cup dry and then add a drop of acetone.

In this case, I didn't want to risk diluting the presumed case lube and have it run down into the primer.

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