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Remove a live primer?

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The safe way is to use a sizer die or a universal decapping die and slowly decap, but I routinely use a home made brass hammer and a Lee decapping pin to knock out the odd primer here and there. Set the case on a base with a hole in the middle and gently knock them out. I assume that some day one will go off, but not yet. If I had more than one to do, I would get out the appropriate die.

I am not saying you should do it this way, you probably shouldn't, I am just using it as an example that they don't go off that easily, and so de-priming with a die is highly unlikely to set one off, and not dangerous if it does.

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I recently received a bag or 38 special brass from an unknown source along with all kinds of other goodies. Two plastic grocery bags full to bursting just dumped together. Some is fired some is resized and decapped some is primed. At least 1/3 seems to be primed but not knowing the age or origin every one will be treated as fired range pick up.
I have deprimed a few live primers but it looks like there is soon to be a lot more expericnce under my belt.
Just go slow and wear your eye/face protection if one goes pow wipe off your stool and keep on going.
I do like the idea of putting a towel over the press great idea thank you I'm going to adopt that one.
T
 
I have a suggestion:

T Bran said:
I recently received a bag or 38 special brass from an unknown source along with all kinds of other goodies. Two plastic grocery bags full to bursting just dumped together. Some is fired some is resized and decapped some is primed. At least 1/3 seems to be primed but not knowing the age or origin every one will be treated as fired range pick up.
I have deprimed a few live primers but it looks like there is soon to be a lot more expericnce under my belt.
Just go slow and wear your eye/face protection if one goes pow wipe off your stool and keep on going.
I do like the idea of putting a towel over the press great idea thank you I'm going to adopt that one.
T
Click to expand...
I have a suggestion:

Chamber the live primed cases and fire the primers. That way you don't have to worry about disposing of live primers.

After setting off a lot of them you might change your mind and decide to load some light plinking loads so you can have some fun while cleaning up your unknown source brass.

Lost Sheep
 
Primers develop quite a bit of energy. Enough to send the primer cup down the slot in the press at a very high rate of speed, and from there who knows where?

That said, be careful. Yes I have many times deprimed live primers. Go slow and cover the slot in the press with a towel as already suggested and wear your goggles. I have never had one go off depriming them, but it seems some have, so it is a definite possibility.
 
Walkalong said:
The safe way is to use a sizer die or a universal decapping die and slowly decap, but I routinely use a home made brass hammer and a Lee decapping pin to knock out the odd primer here and there. Set the case on a base with a hole in the middle and gently knock them out. I assume that some day one will go off, but not yet. If I had more than one to do, I would get out the appropriate die.

I am not saying you should do it this way, you probably shouldn't, I am just using it as an example that they don't go off that easily, and so de-priming with a die is highly unlikely to set one off, and not dangerous if it does.
Click to expand...

I do the exact same thing, except I don't have a hammer on my bench so I use a screwdriver handle as a hammer. Done it hundreds of times.

I pull apart any rounds I find at the range. I would rather risk popping a primer than shooting something unknown.
 
I recently received a bag or 38 special brass from an unknown source along with all kinds of other goodies. Two plastic grocery bags full to bursting just dumped together. Some is fired some is resized and decapped some is primed. At least 1/3 seems to be primed but not knowing the age or origin every one will be treated as fired range pick up.
I have deprimed a few live primers but it looks like there is soon to be a lot more expericnce under my belt.
Just go slow and wear your eye/face protection if one goes pow wipe off your stool and keep on going.
I do like the idea of putting a towel over the press great idea thank you I'm going to adopt that one.
T


I would load up the primed cases with a middle of the road target loading and shoot them. Heck half the work is already done for you! "Shooting" primers in a revolver will 9.5 times out of 10 tie up your wheelgun. Bad idea.
 
I stick a rag in front of the ram. Decapping corrosive '06 WRA45 military ball as a kid (and then re-using the powder and bullet) I had many primers go bang in the press. The cup comes down a curved RCBS primer slot, bounces off the press frame, and you don't want to be in its way after that. An old washcloth will stop them quite well.
 
I have accidentally de-primed live primers (Federal SP Magnum) before, with no issues- I somehow got my primed & belled cases intertwined with the spent ones on my bench. "Slow and smooth" is the key IMO.
 
I too have deprimed live primers without incident. Judging by the number of people who have accomplished this and had no adverse effects, I would say go slow and remove the primer.
 
I too have removed live primers with a resizing die. I have removed upside down primers, sideways primers, and primers installed correctly of unknown origin. If you are in doubt at all simply throw them away. It is better to lose $5 worth of components than sleep over the issue.
 
Correct, and were removed with the above hammer and de-capping pin.

I still recommend one use a die, and go slow, not a hammer.
 
Walkalong said:
Correct, and were removed with the above hammer and de-capping pin.

I still recommend one use a die, and go slow, not a hammer.
Click to expand...
Walkalong...

I think its odd that some of those didn't ignite. The compound in a primer is pressure sensitive, believe it might be potassium perchlorate. That being said, it wouldn't matter how the compound ingredient gets crushed, it would ignite.

I will go slow and easy on the press.
 
Last edited:
I think its odd that some of those didn't ignite. The compound in a primer is pressure sensitive, believe it might be potassium perchlorate. That being said, it wouldn't matter how the compound ingredient gets crushed, it would ignite.
Click to expand...

Wrong. It takes impact. Not just pressure on the primer.
 
The priming compound must be crushed between the cup and anvil with sufficient speed/force.

If guns with weak springs can't set them off, even after showing a small dent in the cup, de-capping with a die, which does not even harm the cup at all, certainly isn't prone to do so.

There is always that oddball, super sensitive, one in a million primer waiting out there, but in general, they are hard to set off.
 
Out of curiosity I took some primers out to the shop one time to see if I could get one to go off in the big vise out there.
No matter how fast I tried to crank the vise jaws shut, they would not fire.
With a primer squeezed between the jaws to about the thickness of a piece of tissue paper, if I gave a sharp rap to a jaw with a hammer they would finally pop.
 
why not just fire the primer in the firearm? Wear hearing protection tho, a lrp sounds just lie a .22lr going off.
 
I may be a bit paranoid, but if an unfired round that I pick up at the range looks like it might possibly be a reload, I pull it down for components. This has given me a fair amount of experience in decapping live primers. The first few times I did it, I took all precautions, gloves, long sleeves, face plate etc. After pulling many hundreds (possibly thousands), with nary a pop I changed my technique to what an EOD friend called the "Modified Half A--ed Method" that he used for crimping detonators. He was trained to always hold the crimping tool and cap directly behind the largest set of muscles that he (or any other human) possesses. That way, if the cap goes off while crimping, you just get a lumpy behind for the rest of your life, instead of losing eyes, lips or teeth.
I always use a single stage to decap live primers, my current method is to place a shop rag around the bottom of the ram, don a work glove and then to turn the least attractive portion of my anatomy in the direction of the press. I then sort of bow away from the press while I slowly pull the handle down. It takes a lot more time to describe than it does to perform and I can probably do eight to ten cases a minute, although I've never actually timed the process.
As I said, I've never had one go off, including a bunch of WWII era '06 with crimped primers that I've decapped over the years, so I may be over-cautious. I will say that I think the operation should be well separated from the actual loading process, particularly if, as in Uncle Richards case, you've got a hopper full of powder right next to the decapping die. I doubt you'd ever have a problem, but if you did, and it was filmed, I bet you'd have a couple million hits on YouTube within a week. Decorum prohibits me from even speculating on what the videos title might be...
Swampman

It just occurred to me that I didn't mention wearing eye protection during my process, not because I don't, but because I've just gotten into the habit of wearing them pretty much all the time when I'm loading.
 
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