steve, 4/3/12
Yes, a kinetic puller can fire off a primer as I have done it. I had to pull the bullets on several hundred 9mm cartridges and the crimps were pretty tight. So I used a 2" steel bar and hit the plastic kinetic puller on the bar to decrease the number of hits I needed to pull each bullet. This worked fine till about round number 180 when the puller cracked. Not having local access to another puller and not wanting to wait several weeks to mail order a new one I welded up a kinetic puller out of one-half inch metal pipe, made a collet to hold the cartridge in place at one end and put a threaded cap over the cartridge and collet. I left the far end open in case of any unexpected ballistic events. I could whack the 2" steel bar pretty hard and unseat the bullet in two or three whacks. At about cartridge 300 I gave the puller a big whack and then "boom." As I was sitting on a concrete floor with the steel bar and bullet puller between my legs the first thing I did (after unpuckering my sphincters) was check my important manly parts for damage. No blood, a good sign. I found the bullet on the floor behind me. I opened the puller and pulled out the empty case. No primer indentation at all. As near as I can figure the primer was accelerated so fast and then suddenly stopped that the explosive primer components hit the anvil and went off. So I am now back to plastic bullet pullers and hitting hardwood or hard-plastic (like a bowling ball). I was wearing ear and eye protection so no problems there.
So in summary, yes it is possible to fire off a cartridge's primer in a kinetic bullet puller but it takes a lot of force, innovation and possibly stupidity.
best wishes- oldandslow