Unseating an upside down primer

[jaymoore]

What's with the 24 hour business? Wet the primer if you're concerned about it going off. Then push it out as usual. It's no big deal.

Can only go by what I've seen. Friend had some backwards primers during a run of .50 BMG. Depriming was LOUD! And those anvils moved right smartly. Then the remainder were oiled and no more excitement.

But y'all do whatever you want. As long as I'm not in the room.

(Btw, another odd discharge was when a fellow dropped a sack of loose .40 S&W onto the concrete floor at a pawnshop I happened to frequent. Rim of one must have hit the primer of another just right. Pop! Got everyone's attention, but that was about it.)

ETA: Seem to remember reading about oiling primers way back in either Sixguns by Keith or maybe the 3rd ed. Hornady manual. Late '70s early '80s. Never got all speculative about it, just doing as instructed!

 

[David R]

That's fun, too. Reminds me of the time I put a whole roll of caps on the cement and whacked it with a big hammer. It was the first of several events that drastically affected my hearing.

Ditto.

What I read was a LEO had cleaned his 38 ammo with a rag and WD40 over and over. When it was time to use the gun, it did NOT go bang. This is all I know.

I had one press that put a lot of primers in upside down. It was a pain to pull the bullet and remove the primer. Never had one go off. I DID press a primer into a live 45. It went off. Split the case and launched the bullet into the ceiling above the press and left a little dent in the soft wood. No other harm. There was no die in that station.

I will never do that again.

I Always wear glasses (I am blessed with poor vision) when doing anything including brushing my teeth.

David

 

[rwsmith]

I have another problem.....

I couldn't count the number of upside-down primers I have removed over the past 50 years - probably well into the multiple hundreds.

I don't usually get them upside down because I can see with the hand primer if it's right or not. Often though everything looks right and I squeeze and the primer is crushed into the pocket sideways. They aren't salvageable then.

 

[gwpercle]

So what if it does go off?

Years ago I had to knock out an upside down live primer with a hammer and pin punch. Yep, it went off. No big deal. Nothing to get "the vapors" about.

You right , I never wear any kind of protection but people get so hung up on safety I didn't want to lead anyone into a discomfort.
The noise of a primer going off just scares you a bit, it wont hurt you.
When I learned how to drive cars had metal dash board and no safety belts. We learned to live dangerously!
Gary

 

[rwsmith]

Oh, I need to point out....

I have NEVER had a primer go off either with a press or depriming live or dead. The one that DID go off was from my tapping on it to seat it with the Lee Handloading tool.

 

[mikld]

Push it out, turn it over and push it back in.
It's not a big deal.

Yes, Yes, Yes! But, there's so many "fear driven" opinions and old wive's tales going around it's difficult to respond with common sense (oh no! you'll shoot your eye out!). It becomes a "big deal". I have had primers go off when not in a case and a gun, and yep they are loud, nope no shrapnel. I had a Lee Loader for .44 Magnum and one out of 25 or 30 would pop (had to change my panties a couple times). I didn't/don't have that problem with any of my other Lee Loaders. I've loaded some primers upside down (thanks to a Hornady hand primer) and popping them out (no not popping but removing them) is a no brainer.

Look at how a primer is constructed. Look at how a primer works (how many threads have been posted about misfires from improperly seated primers, with the firing pin/hammer just pushing the primer deeper?). Pushing out an upside down primer is just a matter or running the case back through the size/deprime die...

If someone wants to don a bomb disposal suit with full face protection and ear muffs, cool go ahead, but it isn't necessary...

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Can only go by what I've seen. Friend had some backwards primers during a run of .50 BMG. Depriming was LOUD! And those anvils moved right smartly. Then the remainder were oiled and no more excitement.

But y'all do whatever you want. As long as I'm not in the room.

(Btw, another odd discharge was when a fellow dropped a sack of loose .40 S&W onto the concrete floor at a pawnshop I happened to frequent. Rim of one must have hit the primer of another just right. Pop! Got everyone's attention, but that was about it.)

I find it hard to believe a 50 cal primer went off without user error being part of it. They do not ignite without being firmly struck against the cup side and even when struck the anvil legs have to be firmly up against something. Look how many correctly orientated primers don't ignite when struck with a firing pin when not completely seated.

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe 40 S&W ammo went bang by dropping it on the floor, no matter what the floor was made of. That just does not happen.

 

[Warren Sear]

Banging on live primers with a hammer should be avoided.

Those were the only tools available to me at the time, and actually, it worked very well. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a broken de-capping pin and no spares available.

 

[mikld]

Those were the only tools available to me at the time, and actually, it worked very well. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a broken de-capping pin and no spares available.

One time long, long ago, when I was young and stupid (no it wasn't last month!) and way before I understood anything about firearms, ammo, etc., I placed a rifle case, primed but sans powder and projectile, in a vise and used a nail and hammer to pop the primer (remember: young and stupid!), Yep the primer went off, yep it was loud, but, the primer cup was pierced and blown up the nail and hit my finger hard enough to open a split mebbe 1/2" long, and damn! it hurt. Blood everywhere and I very quickly exited the garage and went out back and cried. Being a quick study I never did that again...

 

[Shooter Magaven]

I find it hard to believe a 50 cal primer went off without user error being part of it. They do not ignite without being firmly struck against the cup side and even when struck the anvil legs have to be firmly up against something. Look how many correctly orientated primers don't ignite when struck with a firing pin when not completely seated.

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe 40 S&W ammo went bang by dropping it on the floor, no matter what the floor was made of. That just does not happen.

If a primer can be ignited by pointy bullets in a tubular magazine, then they can be ignited by a large bag of loose cartridges being dropped from a reasonable height onto a very hard floor.

However, I'm not convinced either of these can actually happen.

 

[DWalt]

"...another odd discharge was when a fellow dropped a sack of loose .40 S&W onto the concrete floor...."

I have heard of one such incident involving someone dumping shotshells from a box into the pocket of a hunting jacket. I wasn't there, so I don't know if it's true or not.

 

[Black_Sheep]

I've pressed out primers that were seated upside down or sideways, just be slow and gentle when you do it. Of course, always wear eye protection while seating or unseating primers.

 

[Engineer1911]

The dead horse thread

http://smith-wessonforum.com/reload...let-puller-kaboom-theories.html#post137942611

If there is any life left in this topic, it's contained in this old thread. Post #3 in this old thread gives an analysis of why it is safe to punch out the inverted primer slowly.. As stated before, this is no reason for drama.

Now beat that pony -- just one more time.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

Not to keep beating on the same topic, but I've carefully pushed out and reused many upside down primers.

Go slow and steady, and I'd venture to guess the chance of one going off is slim.

 

[e3mrk]

I have done that on many occasions and I just cover My Press with a heavy blanket and slowly remove the primer.
I never had a problem yet.

 

[jaymoore]

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe 40 S&W ammo went bang by dropping it on the floor, no matter what the floor was made of. That just does not happen.

I would be in the same camp, except that it happened, and with several witnesses! Why make this sort of stuff up? Certainly doesn't help my credibility or anything.

BTW, looked, nothing in Sixguns. But oil killing primers in both Hornady and Speer manual #10. About pg32, IIRC. Went so far as to state it's standard procedure to kill unwanted primers. Why the extended soak? Guessing that's on me.

 

[mikld]

If a primer can be ignited by pointy bullets in a tubular magazine, then they can be ignited by a large bag of loose cartridges being dropped from a reasonable height onto a very hard floor.

However, I'm not convinced either of these can actually happen.

But, a pointy bullet can/does act like a firing pin against a properly seated/supported primer. I've read (nope never happened to me), and seen photos of tubular magazine recoil induced firing. And I think dropping a bag of ammo and one going off is a one in ten million occurrence...

 

[Shooter Magaven]

But, a pointy bullet can/does act like a firing pin against a properly seated/supported primer. I've read (nope never happened to me), and seen photos of tubular magazine recoil induced firing. And I think dropping a bag of ammo and one going off is a one in ten million occurrence...

I should have said round nose jacketed bullets in a tubular magazine, since that's what I recently seen discussions on when researching this fact-vs-myth.
Back story:, I bought some 170 gr Sierra rnd nose and thought they would work great in my lever action. Well..still haven't tried them, as I'm still not sure if its an issue or not.

 

[mikld]

I should have said round nose jacketed bullets in a tubular magazine, since that's what I recently seen discussions on when researching this fact-vs-myth.
Back story:, I bought some 170 gr Sierra rnd nose and thought they would work great in my lever action. Well..still haven't tried them, as I'm still not sure if its an issue or not.

I would do an experiment; prime a case and load if first into the magazine, no powder, no bullet. Load up one of your bullets into a case and load it in the magazine after the primed only case. Then use some hefty loaded rounds (flat nose) and fire a bunch. If the first, uncharged case goes off, don't use any of the Sierras, or load yer gun as a two shooter (one in the chamber, one in the mag.).

I'm one of those guys that will listen to all opinions/ideas but like to see for myself, using common sense of course...

 

[50 target]

I find it hard to believe a 50 cal primer went off without user error being part of it. They do not ignite without being firmly struck against the cup side and even when struck the anvil legs have to be firmly up against something. Look how many correctly orientated primers don't ignite when struck with a firing pin when not completely seated.

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to believe 40 S&W ammo went bang by dropping it on the floor, no matter what the floor was made of. That just does not happen.

Never say never. Many years ago while working part time in a gun/pawn shop we were cleaning up and found an empty primed 50BMG round.Did not want to throw away as is afraid someone would find it and get hurt. Sooo... we decided to deprime it. Put it in a vice we had in the area near retail sales and we got a pair of welders gloves from the pawn shop, hammer and punch. Not a problem, right? Force will go out the case mouth, right? Welllll... not so much. When we put it in the vice we put the mouth over the bottom of the vice that had the bar that closed it. Yep, just sealed up the force escape route. The Lord sure takes care of dummies. We whacked that primer and it sounded like a 12 ga. went off. The case took off out of the vice airborne and took out 2 fluorescent ceiling lights and the punch and hammer landed on a glass showcase. I didn't take any money home that week. WOW !!
Second situation has to do with the round hitting the ground and discharging. Was a time I would have the same opinion as you until it happened at my feet. At the range qualifying with the Sheriff's Dept. and someone was trying to get his ammo ( 9mm ) out of the box too quick and dropped a handful on the concrete. BAM. Everyone is checking themselves and each other and we find the ruptured case on the ground and the bullet pretty much where they landed when he dropped them.
Be safe. Never proceed with any activity with the thought that it is entirely without risk.

Bob