A scary reminder today about reloading safety

[Kevin M.]

Well, it finally happened to me. A primer exploded in my press and I was not wearing safety glasses.

I was standing about a foot and a half away from the primer when it happened. I saw that my primer slide was not moving freely, so I unloaded the stations on my progressive press, removed the powder hopper, and bent down to see what happened.

Half of the primer was visible, so not thinking, I bent down to push the slider out and remove the bad primer that was causing the jam. As soon as I pushed it, BANG. The primer had exploded very close to my face, and I was hit in my left eye with burning powder and across the face with bits of the anvil.

I am lucky to get out of this with no serious injury other then a really red, swollen eye, and ringing ears.


From what I can determine from what is left of the primer, (Not much) it was a factory defect where there was one side taller then the other, causing the primer to get stuck in my primer slide. When I pushed the slider, the primer stayed where it was, but the ram moved upwards to seat it in the primer cup, crushing half of the primer, and detonating the explosive within.

I take two major things out of this.

1) If you have a malfunction on a press, unload all the stations before attempting to fix it.

2) WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES WHEN RELOADING.

This may just save your eyes one day! Remember, you can act as macho as you want, but it only takes one mistake or malfunction to lose your sight forever.

 

[Z06corvette]

Wow! Glad you are alright Kevin, and once again it drives home the importance of safety. With experience comes complacency, we all need to be diligent to ensure that accidents are not allowed to happen!

 

[buckbrush]

was it a Dillon press?

 

[colt45cz75]

Federal primers are more susceptible to kablooies as well. One of Dillon's tech's told me 90 percent of their primer system claims were due to federal primers.

 

[slushee]

my girlfriend always giggles when i put on my safety goggles in my own apartment to reload ... but its posts like these that make me 'remember' how important my eyes are..

 

[Slugo]

I have never worn safety glasses while reloading.

After reading this post, I'll never reload without wearing them.

 

[Until the Angels Fall]

Good reminder.....I can't think of many worse things then losing your eye(s). I'm glad you still have both of yours.

 

[surfer365]

I ususally forget to put them on until half way through my reloading session, this is a good reminder. Glad to hear you didn't lose an eye!

 

[gushulak]

Glad to hear you are okay, very close call and a good safety reminder.

I always use safety glasses when reloading, I have never had a primer detonate in my press but I know that the risk is there. I hope it never happens but I will always where my PPE when reloading. Besides, my glasses fit perfectly in the right hand bin on my 550!

Glad you are okay and can still see. Would hate to lose an eye and be a shooter, it would suck.

 

[Northof49]

I store my safety glasses directly in front of my box(es) of primers so that I must pick up the glasses before I can grab a box of primers. This story and my last weekend experience of finding a 45 ACP with small pistol primer reinforces the fact that safety glasses are a must have/must wear for reloading.

 

[Donnie]

Almost everyone has one of those close call stories... this is a good reminder to those that haven't experienced it yet. Thank goodness you're alright.

 

[Antoine22]

Wow I guess that I am very lucky. I load quite a lot and I crushed also quite a lot of primers. I even tried to swage a primed brass lol. Most of the time I use CCI primers.

I will definetly wear some safety glasses from now on, thanks for the heads up.

 

[Drachenblut]

Excellent reminder of the need for safety. Personally, I ONLY use the Lee Autoprime handheld device, as I find it a much more reliable and safe device to use. Even then, I wear glasses and hold it away from me when I go to seat it.

 

[DarkSyd]

Somebody told me to always hang your safety glasses off of your press...that way you actually have to handle them in order to reload something. Seemed like solid advice to me.
Glad you're OK

 

[ttruscott]

Good reminder.....I can't think of many worse things then losing your eye(s). I'm glad you still have both of yours.

Remember, your eyes connect you to the world...your ears connect you to your loved ones.

 

[thebigslide]

Good to hear you're OK. Make sure you get all the bits of metal out of your face from that anvil.

 

[Ar180shooter]

As someone who is just getting into reloading (my first set of .223 dies arrived this morning), it's good to hear about these things so I can take the appropriate steps to avoid them happening to me.

 

[Ganderite]

I have had a primer fire in my Lee Auto Prime. According to Lee, that sometimes sets off ALL the primers in the tray. One primer destryed the Autoprime and blew a bit into my gut. Iff they had all fired, it could have been worse.

Wear glasses. read below...

 

[sheetmetalglock]

thanks for the reminder kevin. Just might saved my eyes