50 BMG Primer Popper the safe way

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H&R Glock

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I have about 75 rounds of primed 50BMG brass that I am going to make dummy rounds from. The brass was all FL sized and primed before it was found it would not chamber in my gun. It was fired in a friends 50 rifle. His rifle has a sloppy chamber that allows the brass to expand about .005 right at the head. That bulge cannot be taken out by my dies as that portion of brass is too low to be sized.
I have pushed out a few of the primers with my sizing die, but chickened out after a while. If you have ever heard one of these go off in the open it would scare the heck outta' you.
I designed this 3/4" pipe popper. With the help of my gunsmith, he drilled the pipe cap and machined a firing pin from a bolt to mount in it.
Put the brass in the pipe, screw on the cap, drop the whole thing onto a 3/8" steel rod that is stuck in the ground, then whack it with a hammer. Most of the primer is blown out under the cap and the gasses are vented down, mostly on the outside of the brass and out the bottom. The outside of the brass is blackened with primer residue, but that will clean up. MVC-001X.JPG MVC-002X.JPG MVC-003X.JPG
I also droop an old T shirt over the whole thing before popping it. The explosion is "surpressed" and made into a mouse pop.
 
Made one out of pipe and pipe caps myself. Mine uses a threaded rod with a primer punch to push out live primers. Has an anvil with a hole to push the primer through. It is vented in the back so should a live primer ignite gas and debris will be vented out the back and away from the operator. So far out of 20 or so none have ignited. I used larger diameter pipe and it has caps on both ends.
 
RGT have you got pictures? I'd like to see your rig.
I have about 15 live primers that I pushed out and will probably get rid of them by the fire pit method. Rather noisy and dangerous if you are too close. A shame as these cost me on the order of 45 cents each when new.
Oh well, as the Gunny sez: "It's only money."
 
Here's my crude primer decapper. Made from a 6" pipe 1 1/2" nipple with pipe caps. One pipe cap is drilled and tapped for a 3/8" all thread rod. Holes are drilled in the back of the 6" nipple to exhaust gas if a primer goes off. The anvil is a 3/4 to 3/8" bell reducer flattened on top. The bell reducer is drilled also to vent gas. The bell reducer in my nipple fits the 1 1/2" nipple and stays centered. The rod is a 9" long piece of all thread rod with nuts and a 1/8 drilled hole in the end to accept a 1/8" dowel pin epoxied into the rod. I place it in a vice with vents away from me. Put a primed case in and turn the decapping rod in until you feel the pin enter the primer flash hole then slowly turn the threaded rod until the primer is pushed out. I have not had a primer ignite but they could easily. Don't put the primer punch into the flash hole until you have the caps on. Wear safety glasses, leather gloves, and ear plugs. Like I said this is a crude apparatus but has decapped about 20 or so live 50 primers. Not responsible for accidents and use at your own risk.
 

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A dandy device RG1. Yours is really designed to de-cap while my was planned to fire the cap. Mine vents the primer gas around the outside of the brass as the unsupported primer blows out the rear, then down and around. Mine is surprisingly quiet. So far no shrapnel exits around the supporting 3/8" support rod. (but I always wrap an old rage around same to make sure.) Thanks for the picture and answer!
 
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