depriming live primers

safehunter

safehunter

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Time to laugh at my expense.
Some years ago I thought I'd give it a go with neck sizing. Worked great for the 220 swift. Accurate AF and brass has zero stretch.
So I bought another neck die for a different cartridge. Thought it be the same as the swift so I arrogantly just threw myself into it. Cleaned and neck sized 50 rounds, then primed.
When I tried to chamber one to my surprise the bolt wouldn't close. Tried a handful of rounds, none chambered. No powder, no projectiles, just brass and primers.
I put the box of 50 primed & neck sized brass aside and forgot about it for a couple years. I'm just recently starting to purge the gun room, so I just pulled the box out and I'm staring at it thinking "now what?"
Do I scrap the whole 50 rounds? Probably safest, but I'm wondering how dangerous is it to deprime live primers. I'd like the brass back. I had no issue running a full length resizing die. Could I "deactivate" the primers, perhaps by soaking them in oil or some solvent? I also wondering about disposal of brass with live primers, and disposal of live primers in general. I'd hate for one to go off when the garbage truck compacts.
Lesson learned I guess, try chambering before priming on a new die. Googlefu says no issue depriming live primers (safety glasses of course), however I wouldn't mind the guru's opinion on this one.
Thanks in advance.
 
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Slow and gentle, or fire a few drops of oil in there, let them sit for a few beats, then go ahead. It's not that bad LOL.

You fireformed the brass first?
 
It’s one of those things thats probably safe but still not a great idea. Sort of like jacking up a car is safe; but crawling under it raises the stakes. Too much downside, not enough upside. Unlikely is not the same as safe.
Assuming you have a full length die, remove the decapping pin and size the primed cases. Risk avoidded, primers saved and unmolested.
 
It’s one of those things thats probably safe but still not a great idea. Sort of like jacking up a car is safe; but crawling under it raises the stakes. Too much downside, not enough upside. Unlikely is not the same as safe.
Assuming you have a full length die, remove the decapping pin and size the primed cases. Risk avoidded, primers saved and unmolested
 
I have decapped hundreds of primers without incident. The anvil is upside down and the decap pin is going in the center of the anvil! BUT as mentioned be slow and steady and always wear eye protection when performing any reloading. As Dogleg mentioned just resize without the decap rod.
 
Soaking the primed brass in a container of penetrating oil will dissolve the priming compound - the oil will turn green - and render the primers inert.

 
Dogleg said:
Assuming you have a full length die, remove the decapping pin and size the primed cases. Risk avoidded, primers saved and unmolested
Click to expand...
I thought this was the best idea, but I'm loath to mess with my dies once I have them set up perfect. Wouldn't removing the decapping pin mess with neck tension?
Primers are cheap, I'm thinking oil soaking as suggested by Wendell.
 
Years ago I ended up with 200 rounds of 270 win reloads from an estate sale, there was no load info on any of the boxes so of course I didn't take a chance using them, I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and given that I had no idea what primers were used I deprimed in my resizing dies, never had an issue, chucked out the powder and primers and salvaged the brass and bullets.
 
Go slow, and in the end who cares, don't stick your face, or fingers near the die, and even then it's a primer, not going to hurt the die/press, not that big of a pop.
 
In Modern Reloading, Richard Lee recounted a story of a guy who decapped a live primer right into his own leg.

Like John Farnam often says: "It's not the odds, it's the stakes."
 
safehunter said:
Time to laugh at my expense.
Some years ago I thought I'd give it a go with neck sizing. Worked great for the 220 swift. Accurate AF and brass has zero stretch.
So I bought another neck die for a different cartridge. Thought it be the same as the swift so I arrogantly just threw myself into it. Cleaned and neck sized 50 rounds, then primed.
When I tried to chamber one to my surprise the bolt wouldn't close. Tried a handful of rounds, none chambered. No powder, no projectiles, just brass and primers.
I put the box of 50 primed & neck sized brass aside and forgot about it for a couple years. I'm just recently starting to purge the gun room, so I just pulled the box out and I'm staring at it thinking "now what?"
Do I scrap the whole 50 rounds? Probably safest, but I'm wondering how dangerous is it to deprime live primers. I'd like the brass back. I had no issue running a full length resizing die. Could I "deactivate" the primers, perhaps by soaking them in oil or some solvent? I also wondering about disposal of brass with live primers, and disposal of live primers in general. I'd hate for one to go off when the garbage truck compacts.
Lesson learned I guess, try chambering before priming on a new die. Googlefu says no issue depriming live primers (safety glasses of course), however I wouldn't mind the guru's opinion on this one.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
So, perhaps you are focused on the primers - like others who have posted, I have pressed out many hundreds of live primers over the years - it most definitely can be done. As I recall, simply screw the de-capping pin well below the die - you can do this with FL or with Neck Size dies - and then use that decapping pin assembly to press out the primer in the case held by your shell holder - you do not even have to lube the case, because the case is not going to go far enough up into the die to touch the case walls (in the instance of FL re-sizing dies) - the case neck might get touched in most dies.

However, you leave a lot that is not related to primers? Is that a controlled round feed rifle like a Mauser? - it will not "push feed" - a normal milsurp extractor will not "snap over" the cartridge rim and a single case inserted into the chamber will not normally allow the bolt to close. The leading edge of a Mauser claw extractor can be ground to allow it to do so, but that was not normally done by various militaries. For those rifles, a single round has to be inserted into the magazine, then the bolt closed - the case rim will slide up behind the extractor claw as the cartridge moves forward, and the bolt will close once the round is chambered.

OR, you could have some mis-dimensioned brass or a mis-dimensioned chamber. You can resize the case with the primer pin rod and expander ball completely removed from the die. Note, with many brands, that will size the case neck to be "too small" - after successfully chambering your round, you will want the remove the decapping pin from the expander ball and then open up the neck by pressing the case "onto" the expander ball, rather than the normal sequence of pulling out the expander ball from the inside of the case. Not all brands of dies will allow you to do so - some brands have the decapping pin as an integral part of their expander ball.

Once you have the primer out, or perhaps even before going through that commotion - use Jiffy Marker and colour up a case and find out where the interference is.
 
safehunter said:
I thought this was the best idea, but I'm loath to mess with my dies once I have them set up perfect. Wouldn't removing the decapping pin mess with neck tension?
Primers are cheap, I'm thinking oil soaking as suggested by Wendell.
Click to expand...
Most dies you can unscrew the decapping assembly with your fingers, remove the pin and replace the expander ball without changing any settings.
 
tiriaq said:
Removing only the pin won't affect anything else.

This business about using oil - leaves the case oiled inside. That would need to be removed completely. Another complication which is unnecessary.
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I think soaking in hot water and soap with a good rinse would take care of that. I usually wash & dry my brass after sizing anyway to remove any case lube.
For the $5 the primers cost (vs the $50+ for the brass), I don't want to risk reusing primers in a hunting scenario and I don't want them going off in the garbage truck. My lefty city would have a $hit.
You're probably right about removing the pin, but again I'm loath to mess with my perfectly set up full length sizing die. I'm OCD about reloading mainly b/c I only know enough to follow the book(s).
I appreciate the help gentlemen. I'll report back when they're out.

(EDIT: Good points and great info PotashMiner. I am wondering about my chamber, but I've cut the bullseye plenty with full length sizing and this one is for hunting so usually gets a box a year, although I am thinking about fine tuning a load. )
 
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safehunter said:
I thought this was the best idea, but I'm loath to mess with my dies once I have them set up perfect. Wouldn't removing the decapping pin mess with neck tension?
Primers are cheap, I'm thinking oil soaking as suggested by Wendell.
Click to expand...
Well, if you have the time, fire each primed round in your gun.
Place a 2l pop bottle over the end and fire away.
Yes time consuming, but effective.
As for rendering loose primers inert..as shown by the ewe toob demo provided by Wendell.
 
safehunter said:
I thought this was the best idea, but I'm loath to mess with my dies once I have them set up perfect. Wouldn't removing the decapping pin mess with neck tension?
Primers are cheap, I'm thinking oil soaking as suggested by Wendell.
Click to expand...
Consider that it is possible that you are fooling yourself or us - is obvious that your die is not set up "perfectly" if the product does not chamber in your rifle. You have about nothing to lose, until you discover the issue.

A young fellow was here to learn to reload - I use an RCBS RockChucker press - on the shelf are dies by Lyman, Redding, Hornady, RCBS, Bonanza and Lee - many are set up similar, but not all the same. I showed him how to set up his dies when re-loading - you have to do the set-up for case resizing die separately from setting up the bullet seating function. With practice, that takes part of a minute to do - is not "mysterious" - simply read the instructions and follow them - you will get "good" at it with practice. It is my view that a hand loader ought to be able to efficiently and quickly set up the dies, each time that he reloads.
 
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