What To Do With Live Primers?

[Hank Ellis]

I was given a sizeable lot of 45 rounds that had been in a flood to salvage what I can out of them.

Pulled the bullets and disposed of the powder. Now I have these cases that have live primers.

Running them through the decapper on the press is verboten. I have a problem with tossing the cases in the trash with live primers. Just doesn't seem to be the right thing to do.

I'm assuming that running them one by one through the gun would do the trick. The question is what method would work best in a SA 1911 without damaging any gun components. One method is to chamber the brass then slowly close the slide. The other method is to place the brass between the extractor and slide them slowly close the slide.

Any ideas?

[short_round]

Try going to this thread here and look for a post by bonedaddy. He has an interesting use for WD 40. Also there is some discussion primer handling as well.

[uscbigdawg]

Buy a revolver and start firing them off would be my guess.

If nothing, it's a great excuse to buy another gun!

Rich

[Steve Anderson]

I would save them for use in removing squib loads.

If you get a squib, a primered case or 2 pushes 'em right out

SA

[Carlos]

I use Ballistol non-toxic lube mixed with water & let em soak in a plastic jug. As for disposal, when the jug is full, it should not be any more toxic to the landfill than throwing out spent primers (which do contain lead styphynate and mercury salts).

[John Heiter]

Not too long ago I was disassembling some rounds and needed a way of firing the primer so I built a quick jig out of a scrap 2x4. I drilled a hole all the way through the side of the board that was slightly smaller than the diameter of the case. I then used a drill bit that was slightly wider than my case to drill back down the same path as the first hole but only as deep as the case length. Basically creating a simulated barrel and loose chamber. Then all I had to do was drop a case in the hole, tap the primer with an awl (firing pin) and hammer (hammer), dump the case and repeat.

I primarily did it this way because I needed to fire the primers in about a dozen cases for a caliber I didn't have a gun or dies to match but I'm thinking that if you created about ten such holes in the end of your board you could go through a bunch of rounds as quickly as you could tap the primers. I did wear eye/ear protection and gloves while doing this and suffered no ill effects but I'm sure someone will still correct me for my reckless disregard for safety.

[lynn jones]

if these bullets were just water damaged, why not just reload the cases. the primers won't fire when wet, but when they dry the should be fine. try a few. what's it going to hurt? of course, i'd use these rounds for practice only.

lynn

[TBF]

What Lynn said.

Be sure they are dry, load and shoot. Be aware during shooting.

IMHO primers are much less sensitive to adverse conditions than some people think they are. You may experience no problems in shooting these.

But, be aware during shooting, if something goes POP, or PING, instead of BANG, check the bore.

Travis F.

[dajarrel]

Hank,

I too, agree with the last two posters. Primers are very hardy. True enough, I would use them for practice listening for duds.

OBTW, cool avitar

dj

[Hank Ellis]

I could tumble and load them up. However I don't get a warm fuzzy not knowing what primer it is and it's condition. Granted they're probably good, but maybe not.

So my plan is to take Steve Anderson and Patches ideas. Throw a few in the range bag for squibs and pop the rest in a 2x4.

I should have mentioned that the flood was a salt / brackish water flood from Hurricane Andrew. Some of the cases are going to the trash due to corrosion. Corrosion in the primer pocket is a possibility. If was fresh water I wouldn't be as concerned.

dajarrel, the avitar is a representation of my last Bill Drill. 1.85 first shot and .38 average splits. All A hits. Seems a lot slower visually than when I shot it. It's there as a motivator to myself. Done with Paint Shop Pro 5 and it's Animation Shop.

[LPatterson]

Hank,

Did you try loading them in a magazine and chambering them to shoot them? My Carniak tuned Colt Series 70 with the Shooting Star magazines he tuned will cycle empty cases. I only throw away split cases and the occasional AMERC or military crimp case. If I couldn't shoot them then I would probably deprime them on my single stage press. YMMV

[flame suit on] But first I would stand the case up and squirt some WD 40 inside the case and cover the primer, let stand for 6-8 hours. Deprime in the following manner: Put on true safety glasses, place a piece of sheet tin between you and the press rod, empty WD 40 and deprime. Personnally I have never had a detonation using this method but this is not a recommendation just my method. [flame suit off]

I also play with dynamite but that is not recommended for everyone either.

[CaptToyota]

Just fire the primers in the firearm, no need to create a un-needed mess by involving solvent-oils and other disposal problems..

Depending on quantity, might take some time, so what, you're gaing the brass back. If you are in Ohio, I'll take the works off your hands.

[bompa]

I have a decapping die and have used it to remove more than a few live primers..

In my opinion if the body of the die is larger than the brass so there is no compression if a primer should go off all should be allright..Use a slow steady stroke of the press and everything works fine.. Haven't had any problems doing this in all the years that I have done it,thirty years or more.. Put the scrap primers in a pill bottle with some oil and dispose that way..

[38supPat]

Gotta fireplace???

J/K....don't do it

[SiG Lady]

...this is an interesting thread...