Deactivating Live Primers

[BE Mike]

I have a few live primers that I have removed from cases. One thing or the other has made them unusable for loading. I'd like to deactivate them, but I've heard that soaking them in penetrating oil or water doesn't deactivate them. Anyone have an answer?

 

[ronnie gore]

primers

oil will, that is what i do just put a drop of oil.

 

[Andy Griffith]

Put them into a junk empty case with an enlarged flash hole and fire them.

 

[FloridaFlier]

I don't remove live primers from cases, I toss both. When I do have to toss a charged case, I just put in a drop of oil. Never had a problem yet, but to be fair, never tested them after dropping in the oil.
If I really wanted the case, I'd fire it with a range gun after shooting, so I had to clean the gun anyway. I would guess that's the only 100% sure way.

 

[Rule3]

If it's just a few, I have been know to put them on my vice anvil and smash them with a hammer. Eye/ear protection of course.

Yes, I blew things up as a kid.

 

[Maximumbob54]

If it's just a few, I have been know to put them on my vice anvil and smash them with a hammer. Eye/ear protection of course.

Yes, I blew things up as a kid.

All day I have been trying not to say this.

 

[Switch]

I've done the same thing in putting them into a vise (but not so tight as to ruin the case) and then use a punch and hammer. no different than a firecracker type noise and flame out the open end of the case

 

[eyegots2no]

I do not understand what you are meaning to do. You have already removed them from the cases???

Then just toss them. BTW Primers are nothing to be risking your 100% health and vitality with---hammers---vises---wellll----that is asking for something you will regret

IMHO

 

[Rule3]

I do not understand what you are meaning to do. You have already removed them from the cases???

Then just toss them. BTW Primers are nothing to be risking your 100% health and vitality with---hammers---vises---wellll----that is asking for something you will regret

IMHO

Yes this is true, it is not a smart thing to do and I do not recommend it.Kids, don't try this at home!
But this is from someone as a kid that held real cherry bombs and M-80's in their hands lit them and tossed them. And that was tame.

 

[sar4937]

A drop of any kind of gun oil, I use WD40.

 

[jepp2]

but I've heard that soaking them in penetrating oil or water doesn't deactivate them.

I used to put some WD-40 on them because I heard that would deactivate them. But I never tested them to check.

When this topic has come up before about using oil or a penetrating oil to deaden, I always ask if anyone checked to see if it really did work. And to date, I have never gotten a reply that confirmed it worked.

So for all the folks that responded that they did this, did you ever check them?

 

[TAROMAN]

I soaked some .50 BMG primers in WD40 to kill them. To my great and everlasting surprise, it had no effect.
Did I mention that one of these popping in my basement sounded like a .357 magnum?

 

[Cyrano]

Primers are not to be fooled with; particularly 50 BMG primers. My father, an Ordnance officer in WW II, told me of seeing someone put a cal 50 case, empty except for the primer, in a vise and tapping the primer with a punch. The crimped-in primer came out with enough force to bounce off a pipe in the ceiling and go one inch into a pine board. Those things have a lot of energy.

The sensitivity of primer sealing compunds to WD-40 has received a lot of publicity. As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if primer sealants now have been changed to be resistant to WD-40. If anyone has any practical experience in de-activating primers, I, for one, would like to hear it.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

And to date, I have never gotten a reply that confirmed it worked.

And if you did, it would only confirm that it worked that time. I've done it, and it didn't. That's good enough for me. I will NEVER count on oil or WD-40 killing primers, but, as pointed out above, you don't really need to.

 

[Mike_in_VA]

I keep a screw capped plastic jug with about 1" of old motor oil in it in my shop. I just drop any primers I want to dispose in it. Should last me the rest of my life .

 

[elundgren]

A drop of oil will not always deactivate a primer. I have tested it. Had some primers that I took out of some primed cases that I thought had been sitting out for too long. I squirted WD-40 into them and forgot about them. Days later I saw them and put one on the vise anvil and smacked it with a hammer, not expecting anything but the thing went off anyway. Surprised me quite a bit and no I didn't try any more and yes I am sure there was WD-40 in the one I hit.

 

[jaysouth]

I glue them into the hollowpoint cavity of a 185 gr. SWC HP. Shooting at a 'retired' railroad tieplate, some go bang, some don't

You can also glue them to a piece of paper and see how good you really are with a handgun from two hand offhand.

When I was young and dumb, I lay them on the concrete floor and hit them with a 4 pound shop hammer. Usually they went off. If my grandmother was around, she would try to beat me with a riding crop or fly swatter. I could always outrun her.

 

[oldRoger]

I am not certain that this is the answer wanted, but-------

I have about 200 old primers removed from various, mostly rifle rounds, some because they may be corrosive.
They have been soaking in a mix of paint thinner, WD-40, and motor oil for months, some for years. I recently removed 10, folded them into a cardboard box which I put on very small fire in the burn barrel.
I think they all popped, I am not sure because some of the pops were close together. Certainly most are still "hot".

 

[papajohn428]

I'm a reloader, so I'm cheap. Therefore I don't throw them away, I reuse them in my plinking ammo.

 

[enfield]

Bury them in an out-of-the-way spot.