A new "first" for me...

[Dean1818]

Yesterday, my wife was running a kirby vacuum (Yes I fell for the pitch)
on the carpet near my reloading bench

A loose primer had somehow gotten in the carpet... and you guessed it....


Went BANG!........Scared the dickens out of her.......


I would never thought that could happen in a thousand years...

 

[ljnowell]

I have heard many people say that it happens. It hasn't happened to me, yet. Of course, having lived through a couple component crunches I treat primers like little gold nuggets.

 

[TMCCOY]

I'd find that pretty funny until I got "the look" and then I'd probably laugh! I friend was finishing a mantle from shot up tree that looked very unique and was using 38 special cases to fill the drill holes used to mount the mantle and used cases with....live primers. On about the third one tapping it in it went BANG and scared him quite a bit too. Didn't stop him from finishing the job and installing the rest though. :banghead:

 

[witchhunter]

Good thing you got a Kirby, our Hoover didn't survive, blew the belt off it!

 

[Dean1818]

Good thing you got a Kirby, our Hoover didn't survive, blew the belt off it!

The Kirby is actually cost competitive

We were getting the $400 specials that barely sucked anything and were broken in 4 years or less.

The kirby guy used my sweeper and ran it over a spot 10 times.

He took ONE pass with the kirby after my sweeper ran........ there was a ton of gunk in my carpet still that the kirby got up


Still amazed that there would be enough force to set off a promer

 

[captmoto]

I saw a warning somewhere that said not to use a vacuum cleaner with a metal fan/cage. I think that's a Kirby sales point. All metal construction or something. I usually just use a shop vac to pick up. With the filter around the motor housing, nothing enters the motor.
That might be a funny prank on the wife though.

 

[climbnjump]

Yesterday, my wife was running a kirby vacuum (Yes I fell for the pitch) on the carpet near my reloading bench

Of course I don't know what model of Kirby you were using, but my folks used to have one that had a cast centrifugal impeller. That thing could have been used as a wood chipper, I think. We lost a small house cat once. I'm not sure the Kirby wasn't at fault.

 

[Zach S]

If you had got the rainbow instead, youd be mad about the primer that got wet...

I've heard dysons dont hold up well to tiny explosions. The bigger issue was how mad his wife was.

 

[MachIVshooter]

I think my wife would just roll her eyes at me if this happened. But my reloading room is concrete floor, so I just sweep it.

my wife was running a kirby vacuum (Yes I fell for the pitch)

Ain't just a pitch. They're worth it.

I've heard dysons dont hold up well to tiny explosions.

Dysons don't hold up to vacuuming floors, either. Overpriced junk, IME.

 

[Drail]

Reloading over a carpeted floor is a not a good idea.

 

[Dean1818]

I had no choice

Living in Texas, there are no basements in most houses, and the garage is just too hot.

So..... Spare bedroom, or..... No reloading

 

[bannockburn]

Thank goodness for concrete floors in basements, along with a broom and a dust pan.

 

[Deus Machina]

I've got a Kirby that has been around since before I was born. All metal. I love the thing; it still has replaceable parts, if you can find them.

Yes, the impeller is metal. Good luck, if you run over a pen at the wrong angle!

Also, vacuums tend to cause a lot of localized static electricity. This means you might want to avoid sucking up spilled powder, but also that I figure enough sparks will set a primer off.

 

[GJSchulze]

Also, vacuums tend to cause a lot of localized static electricity. This means you might want to avoid sucking up spilled powder, but also that I figure enough sparks will set a primer off.

Mythbusters disproved that vacuums will set off powder. Someone else posted that older vacuums might have done that, but not the way new ones are built.

Does anyone know if there have been any tests on static setting off primers? I'm dubious about that. I'm looking for first hand knowledge and not "I heard."

 

[9mmepiphany]

I had no choice

Living in Texas, there are no basements in most houses, and the garage is just too hot.

So..... Spare bedroom, or..... No reloading

Rip up the carpeting and lay down Commercial Grade vinyl squares...if you want to get fancy, you could use ceramic tile

 

[Jackal]

Kirby's are the best. They are like a log truck, made to be maintained, rebuilt and repaired. They are certainly not throw aways. Also, nothing sucks like a Kirby.

 

[25cschaefer]

I've had a few experiences with explosives, flamibles, fire, and vaccuums (they didn't all survive).

My two year old (at the time) was playing with those pop-its, little fireworks (under direct supervision) that pop when you throw them on the ground, and was having a tough time until I realized he was ripping them open and sprinkling them on our welcome mat. I decided to see what would happen if you sucked the little grains up. No damage, just sounds like pop corn.

I was cleaning our fireplace out two days after we light it and apparently there was still something smoldering that proceeded to cause a huge fire ball to blow out the back of the machine and start the whole thing and kindling box on fire. coals flame up when oxygen is introduced, there must be a lot in a vacuum.

I sucked up a 22lr shell in our bagless (on accident) and after a while of spinning around the tub, it went off and cracked the plastic making he vacuum spit dust and loose suction.

 

[xjsnake]

Yeah. Kirby vacuums are actually really good. I use a $40 walmart special vac but my parents have a kirby that's older than I am and it's fantastic.

 

[230RN]

Somebody check my 'rithmetic here, but...

Just figuring a 4" impeller and, say, 5,000 RPM (a low estimate), that means the tip speed of the impeller is over 1000 feet per second. I know someone who used to reliably set off small pistol primers by shooting them at steel plates out of his air rifle* with an estimated muzzle velocity of, say 4-500 feet per second.

Just noodling it out.

Terry

* All due safety precautions observed. I am told the anvils can come back with a decided zip to them.

 

[Gottahaveone]

What you didn't tell us....was how much sleep you got on the couch that night

 

[CLP]

The important thing, aside from no one getting hurt, was that you weren't the one having to vacuum- though things may change now.

 

[Dean1818]

its a spare bedroom first and doing anything to the carpet would lower the value of the house

 

[Dean1818]

Speaking of primers.....

The owner of reloading shop I go to in Mesquite told me that he had a childhood friend who was playing around with a hammer and a primer on a flat surface and the hammer came back up and the claw stuck in the kids forehead and nearly killed him

he said he saw it happen I dont know if its a BS story or not, but the guy seems like a straight up guy

 

[CLP]

Sounds suspicious to me. You know those Lee caliber specific reloading kits? You use a hammer and metal rod to seat the primers. I detonated a few primers with that kit but there was no recoil or pressure felt. Just sounded like a loud cap gun. But hitting it directly may be different.

 

[Scooter22]

Just don't store loose primers in a bottle. Mini Clamor. But my wife gave me the death stare looking in the oven the other night. 500 cast boolits heatreating on one of her good cookie sheets. I told here the "silver" boolits were for all the werewolves in those goofy TV programs she watches.