My Primer went ka-boom tonight

[Collo Rosso]

I just recently went from using a RCBS universal hand primer to priming on the press. Never had a ka-boom but every now and then would have a primer I missed flipping in the tray pop onto the ram upside down. I always wondered what would happen If I tried to seat it as the ram would be pushing on the anvil.
Hope your not left handed burning your thumb like that. It would shut me down being a lefty.

 

[MichiganScott]

I currently use a press mounted Lee Auto Prime II. I like it so much that I bought a back-up when I found that it had been discontinued. If the second one ever wears out I will switch to a bench mounted primer like the RCBS.

 

[Rule3]

If it was the original round LEE Auto Prime they specifically warn against using Federal primers due to Federals sensitivity.

Sounds like indeed a primer was upside down but we can only speculate and never know for sure.

 

[jimbo728]

So far, so good with the Rock Chucker and Piggyback primer feeding system. 37 years with RC and 24 years with the PB.
A good warning, thats for sure.
The only thing I have taken notice to is the occasional foriegn particle that finds its way onto the seater plug and causes a slight indentation on the seated primer. When I see that I take some time inspecting and cleaning the whole shabang.
Jim

 

[rsrocket1]

That's one reason Lee recommends not priming Federal primers on their old hand primer. Another reason might have been that Federal did not give Lee free primers to test.

The conventional thought is that Federal primers are softer than CCI/Win/Rem/other primers and are easier to set off both in the gun and in the reloading room. That's why I made it a practice to not buy Federal pistol or rifle primers for my reloading. I love their 209A shotshell primers and they are my first choice, but not their metallic primers.

That being said, I had 2 primers go off on me lately. One was when I tried to finish seating some botched .308 cases that were sold to me.
That primer went off on a Lee Challenger press. The guy was trying to reload crimped primer cases and didn't swage the pockets. After that episode, I deprimed all the botched jobs, swaged all the brass and everything went well.

The other one was when I was priming .223 cases in the living room. A slightly stubborn case actually went off while using the newer Lee XR hand priming tool. Fortunately the tool uses an "elevator" to bring the primer up and away from the rest of the primers in the tray. The bang was loud, but there was no damage to the priming tool or my hands, just some ringing in my ears. I was using CCI SRP's which are known to be hard primers. It was probably a crimped pocket that got through the processing.

 

[bigggbbruce]

Tore / burned most of the skin off left thumb.

So I never want to hold a priming tool in my hand again.

What about the RCBS auto bench priming tool? Not sure how it works, advice?

Keeps fingers and face away from the open cartridge end while priming. (You learned the hard way)

I use an RCBS auto bench primer. Had it about 25 years and it has served me well.

 

[Bat Guano]

I like and use the straight ram priming system on a C press too. Easier, better feel as well. Zero unexpected "bangs" in a LOT of years. Also used the older, simple RCBS bench priming tool, but gave it to my daughter. Wouldn't mind finding another, but no luck so far.

Anyone got one they'd part with?

 

[happy1]

With the RBCS bench mount primer it brings the primer away from the tube that holds the rest of the primers, so I doubt that if one was to go off it wouldn't set the rest off, I HOPE.

Paul

 

[MikFinkel]

Wow. I started to reload in the late 70's and have done so on and off since then. Have probably reloaded 50K+ rounds. Mostly 45 acp. Used a Rock Chucker and mostly CCI primers. Never had a problem. Thank goodness. Just started to us a Dillon XL650 and have not had a problem yet, except for the occasional upside down primer and they did not go boom!

 

[chaparrito]

Personally, I've never been comfortable priming by hand. I'm also not in love with any priming system that positions the primer being seated right against the other 100 primers in the tube/tray/chute. While I've never lit off a try in my old lee hand prime, I have lit off a chute full in a full progressive press. Scary to say the least.

To be honest, (and this is again a personal thing) I never found the value in a separate priming operation unless doing very small batches.

So to your question: I would suggest the Lee Safety Prime system mounted onto one of their single stage or turret presses. ( I prefer the Classic Turret Press for near everything these days.) This system works like a swinging Pezz dispenser to drop one primer at a time of seating. Very easy to fill and even easier to use. Best of all the primer being seated is far away from the priming device ( and powder hopper if so equipt.)If you pop one, it's completely isolated from anything that could cause trouble or injury. Beyond the safety and ease of use aspects, this system also gives me a very good leverage and "feel" during the priming process. Can't imagination going back to anything else.

This is what I have and it works very well in spite of seeming kinda cheesy. A few years ago when I first started learning to load, a friend had lent me a hand primer, Lee I think and a Lee single stage press. I hated that hand primer with a passion. Sore thumb and it scared the willies out of me. Used to hold it out at arm's length with my head turned away at every squeeze.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

Sitting here at 3 in the morning because I'm in too much pain to sleep. Typing with one finger. I'm not a newbie, been reloading 20+ years. have always used Lee priming tool to seat primers. Tonight while doing 45 colt BOOM. No clue why. Brass was trimmed , pockets cleaned, primers seated with normal seating pressure. Tore / burned most of the skin off left thumb. Plastic tray fragmented like a fragmentation grenade.

So I never want to hold a priming tool in my hand again. Still want to prime and load 50 cases at a time in loading blocks. Need recommendations for new priming tool.

What about the RCBS auto bench priming tool? Not sure how it works, advice?

It works very well, and fast.

 

[Magload]

I preprime all my deprimed full resized 223 cases on the 550 it just take a extra stroke to drop the new primer. If I can trust it to load thousands of handgun rounds it is fine for this. I can't watch TV while priming like you hand primers do but it gets the job done with out buying something else that will take up space on my too small of bench. Don

 

[jb19152]

Dogwalk

I've been loading for thirty+ years and never had a problem with primers. I use a RCBS rock chucker press and one case at a time. Not a progressive loader or turret with multiple dies. The sizing die is carbide, so no lubing is required. I know it's a slow process but it works for me. Cleaning the primer pockets on the cases is very important too. Good luck, Dogwalk

 

[fredj338]

These stories always interest me. Primers generally require a moderate blow to detonate, so I just don't see how this happens in the normal reloading process, on press or off press. I am not doubting it happened, just can't see how. I've been at this for right at 4 decades, more than 250k rds on a ss press & progressive, hand priming with lee, rcbs or Hornady tool, & the rest on Dillon progressives with the dreaded primer tube. Nothing. Nada, zip. I too have crushed primers into a case sideways on the press. So I feel there is some other missing something to these stories.

 

[mtgianni]

That's one reason Lee recommends not priming Federal primers on their old hand primer. Another reason might have been that Federal did not give Lee free primers to test.

IIRC, it was the loss of a lawsuit when a Fed brand primer went kaboom in the late 70's early 80's. Lee lists what is approved, many primers and brass rushed out during the last few years are not as true to size specs as the older stuff is. Combination of a tight pocket and a wide primer can cause troubles.

 

[kbm6893]

How loud was it? I usually prime using my Hornady hand primer while watching TV. Maybe I should switch to priming on the press while I expand the case. Anybody use the attachment that goes on a single state press to do this?

 

[THEWELSHM]

My RCBS JR3 has a slick deprime and prime system, with the tube prime application. My LNL has a pretty smooth priming system with a safety blast tube that encompasses the primers. RCBS and Hornady have pretty good hand priming systems.... In the OP case it sounds like the primer brand was the culprit,not being recommended for the Lee ???

Thewelshm

 

[Collo Rosso]

How loud was it? I usually prime using my Hornady hand primer while watching TV. Maybe I should switch to priming on the press while I expand the case. Anybody use the attachment that goes on a single state press to do this?

Not single stage but I recently added Reddings priming system to my T-7 turret press. Once I got it set right it has worked great. It has a heavy duty steel tube that drops down over the aluminum primer tube. I've been jokingly calling it the blast shield, guess I wasn't far off!
I don't do anything reloading related while watching TV. Besides dividing your attention, watching TV will only rot your brain.

 

[lebomm]

In my 50+ yrs at the bench, I've never had one go off in the press. One time, I had some corrosive .30-06, and decided to replace them with NC, using a Lee Loader mallet-n-punch. I had the socket set into a counterbore in the bench, over a through hole with a flanged pipe leading to a metal wastebasket. Heck, I was TRYING to make 'em go off, and only managed to fire about 3 of 100 cases.

Larry

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

I've primed thousands of small pistol primers on the older Lee hand primer. Never had a denotation. If something doesn't feel right I stop and start over. I use the RCBS bench mounted primer with the pickup tubes for large pistol and rifle primers. Never had a problem with it either. I would like to know what caused the primer to ignite.