Upsidedown primer.......Primer explosion in progressive press

davide montini

davide montini

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So in the 15 years plus I have been reloading...about 10 with the Dillon ....I started to notice 1 or 2 primers some how flip ??? Like how does this happen in the tube or in the rotation disk
Any one know why this happens ??
Has this happened to you in your 650
So ......

Holy Hanna !!! And jumped about 3 ft
Son of a biscuit!!!!
Ok go ahead and change the words to what ever!!
So like before...load up primers ...and everything else...and start to pull the handle on the xl 650.....
I have about roughlsay 10.15 left and then
BOOM
Talk about filling the pants right full !!!
I still don’t know how or what the Sam hell happened...better yet how and why it happened
No damage to me ....thank god and no damage to the press....
Eh this stuff happens
So always were safety glasses
And yes I was wearing them
 
I've had the odd primer flip upside down in my 650. I think they are all right side up when I fill the primer tube by hand. The only time I think they can flip over is when I'm loading the primer magazine from the primer tube.

I've never had one go off. (knock on wood).
 
I've had a # of primers go Bang in my Lee Loadmaster over a few thousand loadings and a total of 2 since I switched to a 650 after many many thousands of loadings. I have never had a primmer flip in the 650 machine until it reaches the primer punch opening... It is impossible to flip one between the top of the tube and the journey down the tube to the feed wheel rotation... the tolerances built into the machine simply will not allow it to happen. That doesn't say that they wont detonate in the travel route tho, they will and both time it has happened to me it was a chunk of carbon residue from a previous primer removal that got lodged under the live primer anvil in the feed wheel. When the feed wheel is rotated by the machine mechanism that carbon jams between the anvil & the primer feeder frame and shifts the anvil against the priming compound and like striking a match it ignites the compound (contrary to popular conception primer do not have to be struck or hit to detonate) ...and as Ganderite suggested all my ca-booms were Federal primers.

If your primers are flipping on the up-stroke of the primer punch there may be only a small burr somewhere on the shell plate or it could be a major manufacturing defect to the shell plate not allowing it to "time" properly with the punch at one of the shell stations.
 
The primer can flip in the primer pick-up tube if the plastic mouth of the pick-up tube isn't fully seated. I had that problem with new large primer tubes and after checking all of the plastic mouths I found that they all had a tiny bit of travel left to go. Problem-free since.
 
Out of curiosity, how loud was it? Is it like a pop from a cap gun? I want to get a reloading press and this would freak my wife the hell out...
 
cdndfs said:
Out of curiosity, how loud was it? Is it like a pop from a cap gun? I want to get a reloading press and this would freak my wife the hell out...
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One is not too bad. But if it sets off the entire magazine, it is impressive.

But I don't wear ear defenders when loading. I get less than one incident per decade....
 
I don't have a Dillon but I once had one go off in a Lee hand primer. My wife just happened to walk by just as it happened. She asked if that was supposed to happen and I replied not usually! I am not sure why it happened and took the ignited primer to the gun club and showed it around. No one had any idea.
But it sure scared me.
 
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Ganderite said:
One is not too bad. But if it sets off the entire magazine, it is impressive.

But I don't wear ear defenders when loading. I get less than one incident per decade....
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Eef. That sounds loud enough to get the cops called in some places...
 
I used to set off one in condo and it was a Large Magnum primer, it wasn't that bad and I doubt people would call the cops for the first one unless you are setting off at least 10 of them.

No worry guys, almost nobody ever call the cops for the fist shot anyway, Lol.
 
cdndfs said:
Eef. That sounds loud enough to get the cops called in some places...
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Not that loud. More of a loud snap.

I had one go off in a Lee AutoPrime hand primer. Blew it to bits. I ignored the Lee warning not to use it with Federal primers.

I was loading Large Pistol primers into 45 ACP and hit a case with a small primer pocket. BANG!

No one else in the house noticed it.
 
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I started with the Lee classic sets. Every once and a while a primer would get pinched while hammering them in. Definitely gets your attention. Sometimes I’ll still hammer the primers in, not as fast as the hand primer but it feels good and it’s a bit more exciting Lol.
 
I had a primer flip on a 308 case while I was loading the other day on my loadmaster
cci magnum primer. It didn't go off but I have a case with a primer seated upside down in it
I'm a little scared to try to push it back out as the decapping pin is gonna hit the striking side of the primer
 
Deathrawt said:
I had a primer flip on a 308 case while I was loading the other day on my loadmaster
cci magnum primer. It didn't go off but I have a case with a primer seated upside down in it
I'm a little scared to try to push it back out as the decapping pin is gonna hit the striking side of the primer
Click to expand...

Decap as usual. I doubt you could make it go off with the decapper if you tried. Push it out. Don't hit.
 
Ganderite said:
One is not too bad. But if it sets off the entire magazine, it is impressive.But I don't wear ear defenders when loading. I get less than one incident per decade....
Click to expand...
I point to the damage in the ceiling above my primer magazine with pride...:cool: and yeah, they were Federals - but I still use them!
(6 years later, I still haven't found the magazine follower)
 
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Yes it was federal primers...small pistol primer...
And what buddy said in the earlier post about a piece of carbon or dirt.....I looked at the press over and over.....and I did see a piece of Cacca or dirt or what ever it was ....looked at the primer and it was caved in by that junk and bingo primer went off
As for the flipped primer I was watching some YouTube videos and ...wtf so cal that’s what he goes by he has a video of a primer that has flipped on him ....and if I remember correctly he too says that it’s the plastic mouth gets sloppy...and that’s what causes it to flip!,.....
Thanks to all who talked about there experience as well ......and for the ideas on what cause it .....to make me fill my pants ...lol..lol
And go boom
 
worst one was a primer that somehow flipped sideways and got crushed into the primer pocket, more mashed into the primer pocket, it didn't go off.

I just pushed it our with the universal de-priming die.
 
I've had 2 primers go off in my 1050 that happened during decapping. Because they were in the sizing/decapping die it wasn't too loud. My reaction was pretty much "cool, nothing broke". On my 650 the only times I have had issues were 1. when I left the large primer mag tube in after switching the rest of the primer assembly over to small primer. 2. When a little spring in the primer assembly broke and it wasn't moving the primer disk to the right spot.
 
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