Depriming brass with live primers

[Hovnnes]

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?

 

[Maximumbob54]

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.

 

[rewster]

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.

 

[Leonard]

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.

 

[ajpelz]

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.

 

[gwalchmai]

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

 

[deanodog]

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.

 

[m1gunner]

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.

 

[moxie]

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

 

[Beans]

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.

 

[Snapdragon]

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.

 

[Gunhacker]

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.

 

[gregintenn]

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.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

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.

 

[jepp2]

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.

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.

 

[Bullseye Smith]

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

 

[papajohn428]

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.

 

[armadillo]

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.

 

[Hovnnes]

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

Huh?

 

[ajpelz]

Huh?

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