Removing a live primer?

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Ris

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I'm yet another newbie to reloading and have made my first mistake. I got a little over ambitious priming my cases using a RCBS hand primer. Some how I managed to wedge a primer in sideways into a casing. How would one go about removing a live primer that is installed incorrectly without losing a finger or a eye? If it is not possible what is the recommended method for disposing of this case?

My next question also relates to the RCBS hand primer tool. It seems that about 1 out of 10 of my primers comes up sideways (hence my earlier problem) Is this a common problem? is there anything I can do to correct this?
 
Soak in oil

X2 for the above. However, you will have to clean the case afterward or the oil will contaminate the powder later on. Use brake or carb cleaner. It cuts the oil and dries pretty quick.
 
Put it through your resizing die and just push the primer out.

No need to bother with oil/wd40/water/soking for a week/flying it to outer space etc.
 
pdubois64 said:
I got a couple primers in upside down. I don't think I want to push those out with my depriming die:eek:
Click to expand...

That happens once in a while. What I do: I carefully (key word), with my safety lenses on, use a tiny screwdriver (I think I should refer to it as a "precision" screwdriver) to remove the "anvil" part (not sure if that's the right word) of the primer first. Then, I can easily loosen the stuff in the primer and remove it.

When the primer is in the right way but you want to remove it, I fire it in a rifle... Ouside of the house of course. sounds like a little fire cracker, and it gives you the impression of being at the range (ok maybe not but I can live in my dreamworld once in a while :) ).

Lou
 
"...don't think I want to push those out with my depriming die..." No big deal. Just push it out, slowly. Same thing if the primer is in sideways. No need to do anything else.
 
Sizing die.

You should be wearing safety glasses anyway, so no need to say that, right? :)

Picking at the anvil with a screwdriver is probably even less safe than just using the decapping pin to push the primer out, but ... you can try it. I won't.

It takes a fairly brisk motion to set the primer compound off, by design. Slow pressure generally is the safest way to do what you need to do.

IIRC I read that most of the priming compounds are water based, which made sense to me, as it would cut way down on the amount of flammable chemistry around the shop, and the recommendation was to use water, over choosing oils or solvents.

Cheers
Trev
 
Just push it out slowly with your sizing die, there is no need to contaminate the case with oil. I have decapped swaged in military brass primers with no problems ever, though as trevj said it is always advisable to be wearing safety glasses in case.
 
trevj said:
It takes a fairly brisk motion to set the primer compound off, by design. Slow pressure generally is the safest way to do what you need to do.

IIRC I read that most of the priming compounds are water based, which made sense to me, as it would cut way down on the amount of flammable chemistry around the shop, and the recommendation was to use water, over choosing oils or solvents.

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

Water is all you need. I really don't know where all the nonsense about WD40 and oil came from, but water is the way to go.

Oil just makes a huge mess of the case and you will need to clean the case in solvent before you can reuse it.
 
Use your decapping die. No big deal.

Shock is what set off a primer. Slow presure, with in reason, is no big deal.

I get one in sideays from time to time. When i feel the resitance I stop and i just flick it out with a small screwdriver.
 
I was using my rcbs priming tool last night for the first time, and got 5 in a 100 in side ways. Maybe not advisable but i used my sizing die to remove, took little or no pressure. but do with caution!
 
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