Decapping live primers

[Raindog]

For the first time in over 25 years of reloading I had to use the bullet puller. After loading tens of thousands on my Rock Chucker I finally stepped up to a Dillon 550. I'm really happy with how consistent the press is and the huge increase in production. The problem I ran into was because I need a new loading routine.

What happened was I resized, trimmed and uniformed a few hundred 308 cases using my single stage like normal. When I was done I tumbled them to remove the case lube. Using my single stage I would punch out any media and then hand prime them. I thought I'd do the same thing by putting a decap die in position 1 of the Dillon. Well I did what I consider a bang up job on the last three stations but I forgot to make sure the the decap pin stuck out far enough to always punch the media out. I discovered it on the 50th case when the primer wouldn't seat flush, thank goodness.

I pulled the bullets but now I have question. I've got 50 trimmed, uniformed cases with live primers and possibly blocked flash holes. I think I just need to throw them out, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a safe way to decap those live primers so I can save the brass?

I don't want to compound my stupid tax by blowing up a live primer. Anyone know a good way to do this safely?

[cyburg]

I may have missed something , but why can't you just load each case at the powder charge station and continue on? Like I said I may have missed something.

[HoMiE]

Just deprime live primer on single stage press. The danger is seating primer when you have a tube filed of other live primers and the whole thing blows. Make sure you don't let live primers fall into primer catch and pile up.

[Amerflyer48]

Depending on where you are, step out back or do this inside with an old pillow or a box full of non flammable loose stuff as a sound moderating device....

Snap caps! just pop them in the rifle since decapping them will trash said primers anyways...saves brass then punch out as normal

My routine,..for my Dillon 450

Tumble used brass then Size& Decap rotate out of press,... trim and then tumble to remove lube,..... dental pick to punch media/clean pocket while inspecting brass..

remove sizing die... Prime,Powder,Seat inspect box..

John

[calishootr]

i'd be a lil leery of de-capping a live/seated primer because with it seated flush(or below) you now have pressed the anvil down into the cup and thus sensitizing the priming compound to pressure or impact, the reason primers are relatively 'safe' to handle/transport is because the anvil hasnt been pressed onto the compound...jst my 2 cents...its only what??? 50 rds??? like one poster said, snap cap em into a pillow or somthing and start fresh

[Pat Miles]

Why not just look into the cases and see if the flashholes are clear of debris.

Pat

[MARKAVELI]

I might be missing something too, whats the problem with depriming on the 550B? Is there a difference between depriming handgun primers and rifle primer on a 550? (I dont load for rifle so im just curious, I have deprimed handgun primers on my 550)

[Raindog]

I might be missing something too, whats the problem with depriming on the 550B? Is there a difference between depriming handgun primers and rifle primer on a 550? (I dont load for rifle so im just curious, I have deprimed handgun primers on my 550)

The primers are live. From the manual, "Never attempt to deprime live primers – eventually one will go off. When it does it will detonate the others in the spent primer cup. Depriming live primers is the single most dangerous thing you can do in reloading and can cause grave injury or death."

I have thought about 'snap capping' them but I only have one 308, an AR. I think that will tweak the brass pretty good, but I suppose it's the best way.

Thanks

[Jeff686]

If you really have to deprime them, put a drop of oil in them, and let them sit. It will deactivate them.

[The Antichrome]

If you really have to deprime them, put a drop of oil in them, and let them sit. It will deactivate them.

This.

A squirt of wd40 works too.

[Guy Neill]

No, oil will not deactivate the primers. It will, as the chemists explained, "raise the ignition temperature" - meaning they will be safer to handle, and it will take more to detonate them, but don't consider them incapable of detonating.

Guy

[mscott]

I've knocked out plenty of live primers without incident, but I'm sure it is possible for them to go off. I'd just use the single stage press and go slow to remove them or as someone mentioned before ..... use a light to see if your flash hole is blocked and just deal with those cases.

[ebg3]

Use a bright light to look in each case, it should be obvious which cases have media in the flash hole. Then snap cap them or deprime.

Eddie

[MARKAVELI]

The problem was the seating right? so would there be a problem if you reloaded em? if so then I vote to snap cap em!

[rexican]

Everyone has chimed in with great advice here. This happened to a very knowledgeable friend of mine on who has been reloading for longer than I have been alive. He had decapped live primers without incident until the decapping pin punched through a primer... long story short was he ended up in the ER and needed surgery. We all have these moments, and I have certainly had my fill(My own personal trip to the ER after a live primer incident is another story)

[Powder Finger]

Everyone has chimed in with great advice here. This happened to a very knowledgeable friend of mine on who has been reloading for longer than I have been alive. He had decapped live primers without incident until the decapping pin punched through a primer... long story short was he ended up in the ER and needed surgery. We all have these moments, and I have certainly had my fill(My own personal trip to the ER after a live primer incident is another story)

+10,000+e on this advise, Case(Lapua?) primer and all $1.00 alternative? priceless.

why can't you look into the case's with a strong light to see if any have media? Then pop the bad ones in the AR10.

[Kyle O]

Load them, put them in your "practice only" pile. If media, then oh well, is it REALLY that dangerous?

[jaredr]

Load them, put them in your "practice only" pile. If media, then oh well, is it REALLY that dangerous?

i would agree. use a flashlight, separate out the ones (if any) which have some media stuck in the bottom of the case and use those for designated practice or plnking. a small piece of corncob or walnut media will have a marginal effect on accuracy (for me, it would probably be hard to tell whether it was the ammo or the shooter) and the media certainly won't be enough to remain stuck in there and interfere w/ignition. I say this only because the first batch of .308 I loaded, I did exactly what you described - decapped, resized, and trimmed on one toolhead, then tumbled clean and back to the press on another toolhead to load. After about 100 rounds, I realized that the decapping pin in station one of the "loading" toolhead wasn't screwed down far enough to punch out the media, so most of what I loaded still had a little kernel of corncob stuck in the flashhole (as did all the ones waiting for their turn to be loaded).

I was too lazy to pull the bullets, figured i'd segregate them and see how they worked for designated practice rounds. absolutely no problems setting them off, and couldn't see any measurable impact on accuracy.

what did i (re)learn - always check all dies, run a test catridge through the toolhead and check it at each station.

[Duane Thomas]

From the manual, "Never attempt to deprime live primers – eventually one will go off. When it does it will detonate the others in the spent primer cup.

Am I missing something here? The primers in the spent primer cup are....spent, right? How are we supposed to detonate dead, previously fired primers?

[High Lord Gomer]

If you're depriming many pieces of brass that have live primers, *all* of the primers in the spent primer cup will be live primers....until one gets really lively nearby.

[twodownzero]

just put them in the chamber of your rifle, drop the bolt on them, and pop them. it will be done before you even know it. 50 rounds? not even a big deal.

[kar45]

A good friend of mine has a 50BMG primer inbedded in his calf...surgeon said it would do more damage to dig it out so they left it in there. Like many of us he has deprimed live primers in the past with no problem. The primer had been squirted with WD40 but still went off. Handling primers is not without risk. Hope this helps, Kirby