depriming live primers?

I agree with t-star wholeheartedly!
Only pussies are afraid to push out a live primer.
I have been loading my own ammo since 1963.
In that time, I have pushed out at least 1000 live primers.
I have NEVER had one detonate while removing it.
If I am removing several at one sitting, I re-box them in empty primer boxes, plainly marked, for use later.
I have re-used about 95% of those for practice/load development.
I usually do not re-use them in ammo I hunt with.
I have never had a reclaimed primer fail to fire in a subsequently loaded round.
However, Murphy's Law says that there would be a FTF at the worst possible time, so I relegate the reclaimed ones to practice, etc.
I have had the odd primer "lose" it's anvil when being pushed out.
Obviously, those were not re-used.
Just be safety conscious. [glasses, hearing protection, possibly gloves]
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Since this topic comes up so often, resulting in a variety of opinions, I am making it into a contest, with three sub titiles up for competition.

First sub division is for the best advice, given in the most precise and unequivicable language.
For this, the winner is----------------------Andy!

For this;

"This has been covered here dozens of times, and there are several opinions ranging from "Chicken Little" to mine.

Chicken Little - not safe. You must fire it off then remove.

In-Between - soak it in <insert here> (water, oil, etc.) to kill the primer, then remove.

Mine - deprime as if it was a fired primer. Wear safety glasses, keep your face away from the press and go slow. Re-use the primer."
__________________

Next catagory is for best advice, coupled with the most carefully selected language, most open for interpretation.

And the winner is---------------

thump rrr, for this--

"I've done it hundreds of times without a bang however you're supposed to be wearing eye protection when reloading."
_____________________________________________

Last catagory is for the poorest advice, coupled with the most ambiguous language.

And the winner is---------

madpat, for this-----

"No, it is not possible to do it safely (in my opinion, your veiw of safety might differ). If you do it slowly and carefully you might be able to do it without it popping, but it will likely be too deformed to re-use, but if the couple cents a primer costs is that important to you give her... might cause a misfire though. Hit the search bar for results of primer explosions... one going off is not too bad but if it chain fires your primer tray you are looking at quite a bit of potential shrapnel.
Toss the primed case in your gun, aim it in a safe direction and fire the action before depriming."

I am the creator of this contest, as well as the producer and sole judge.
Therefore, it becomes an exercise in futility, to contest, alter or complain about any, or all, portions of this contest.
H4831
 
madpat said:
No, it is not possible to do it safely (in my opinion, your veiw of safety might differ). If you do it slowly and carefully you might be able to do it without it popping, but it will likely be too deformed to re-use, but if the couple cents a primer costs is that important to you give her... might cause a misfire though. Hit the search bar for results of primer explosions... one going off is not too bad but if it chain fires your primer tray you are looking at quite a bit of potential shrapnel.
Toss the primed case in your gun, aim it in a safe direction and fire the action before depriming.
Click to expand...

You've never deprimed a live primer, have you? Then why post stuff you know nothing about?

Do you drive all the way to the range to fire that primer too?:popCorn:
 
Andy said:
This has been covered here dozens of times, and there are several opinions ranging from "Chicken Little" to mine.

Chicken Little - not safe. You must fire it off then remove.

In-Between - soak it in <insert here> (water, oil, etc.) to kill the primer, then remove.

Mine - deprime as if it was a fired primer. Wear safety glasses, keep your face away from the press and go slow. Re-use the primer.
Click to expand...

I fall into the "mine" category. Never had a bad incident.
 
haha thanks for the help guys. eagle eye you need to start loading them in the right way ;) just kidding man, thanks for the reassurance.
if this place wasnt so strict and i wasnt riding on several warnings already you guys would see some real creative use of words from me and ball busting in some posts :D posts much dumber than any ive ever made, lol
 
this was taken from richard lees book on reloading

Strange accidents happen with primers because of misuse. When I
was young and foolish, I laid a shotgun primer on my bench vise
and smacked it with a claw hammer as I had often done with multiple
caps from a toy cap pistol. Naturally, the primer exploded and
left a ringing in my ears. It also left a metal fragment imbedded in
my leather belt. Had the vise been lower, or I taller, it would have
been both a painful and an embarrassing experience.
A reloader attempting to drive out a live primer with a Lee Loader
decapper did it on his lap. The primer exploded and entered his leg
to the bone. Curiosity prompted me to chronograph the velocity of
a primer exiting the primer pocket. It checked an amazing 1412
fps! That's faster than a 22 rim fire and most handguns. It has to be
the world's shortest gun as a primer pocket is only slightly more
than an eighth of an inch deep.
 
Last edited:
JBD said:
this is take from richard lees book on reloading

Strange accidents happen with primers because of misuse. When I
was young and foolish, I laid a shotgun primer on my bench vise
and smacked it with a claw hammer as I had often done with multiple
caps from a toy cap pistol. Naturally, the primer exploded and
left a ringing in my ears. It also left a metal fragment imbedded in
my leather belt. Had the vise been lower, or I taller, it would have
been both a painful and an embarrassing experience.
A reloader attempting to drive out a live primer with a Lee Loader
decapper did it on his lap. The primer exploded and entered his leg
to the bone. Curiosity prompted me to chronograph the velocity of
a primer exiting the primer pocket. It checked an amazing 1412
fps! That's faster than a 22 rim fire and most handguns. It has to be
the world's shortest gun as a primer pocket is only slightly more
than an eighth of an inch deep.
Click to expand...

and therefore........?

I am trying to be more patient and understanding in my posts, but the responses on subjects concerned with safety are my greatest tests. Nothing is 100% "safe", so we need to go by what is "reasonable", and of course that varies by person. "Reasonable" contains the word "reason". I'm not a complete idiot, nor do I have no care for my or others' well-being, so my actions follow reasoning on the subject and weight the risk against the rewards. The chance of a primer going off exists, but if it goes off in a press, the likelihood of injury exists, but if normal precautions are followed, it is so close to zero that I am willing to accept it.

I am safer driving out a live primer than I am driving to the mall, or walking outside in the winter, or eating in a restaurant, or.....

As Homer Simpson once said: safen up! :p
 
you guys need to go easy on old EAGLEeye-i'm sure he doesn't mean at one sitting, but over the years- after 40+ years it tends to add up, esp if you're using LEE equipment- that primer trough has a nasty habit of flipping the primer upside down when there's 10 or less left in the trough- personally, i stop and recharge the primer feed when it gets to the trough,and this seldom happens- if you run across a guy that's NEVER had it happen, well he's either a newbie or a downright liar
and it is POSSIBLE to load a primer upside down in other presses as well,at least with the lee, you can SEE the primers in the feed- with the dillon et el, once they enter that tube, you have NO IDEA the attitude until you go to seat them
 
The reloading manual would instruct you not to deprime a live primer.

You will note that there are many people who disregard this instruction, and you are free to disregard it as well.
 
t-star said:
............................. if you run across a guy that's NEVER had it happen, well he's either a newbie or a downright liar
and it is POSSIBLE to load a primer upside down in other presses as well,at least with the lee, you can SEE the primers in the feed- with the dillon et el, once they enter that tube, you have NO IDEA the attitude until you go to seat them
Click to expand...

If the primers are loaded into the primer tube correctly it is virtually impossible for them to get flipped over until they are transfered to the primer seater. Once they leave the primer tube in any press, all bets are off if you are not paying attention.
 
yes, but you can SEE the primers in the lee primer feed, open the copver and correct the problems BEFORE IT HITS THE FEED- you can't do THAT with your vertical tube feed- i've never gotten a tray of primers yet that has had all the primers the right( wrong) way up- there's always some that are incorrect- even using the flipper tray- and it's primer seater itself that flips the primer over in the lee- what happens is that the primer gets "caught" halfway on the feed platform and b/c there's only a half primer on the seater, it flips, then the weight of the next primer seats it properly on the seater, but now it's upside down
 
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