Depriming question (need help-live primers)

Daniel

Daniel

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I have a conundrum and I'm hoping to get some suggestions. A buddy of mine offered to reload some 6.5x55 rounds for me if I sent hime the stuff he needed. Long-story shorter:

Some of the brass I bought was from a guy who said ' Some of em are primed, and some of em are just neck-sized' Now, my buddy's in new brunswick, and I'm here in thunder Bay (with the 6.5x55).

So I can't very well check to see which brass has only been neck sized, presenting the problem that reloaded bullets (that really shouldn't be 'sized' with dies with the primer in) may not fit in my rifle.

How would you remove live primers?

As far as I see, there are a few options:

1) buddy sends me the primed brass (primers in or not) and I check every one to be sure they fit, then just load'em over the live-primer.

2) we find a way to either get the primers out of 'detonate' them (suggestions?)

3) no, I'm not interested in throwing this brass and buying new. I haven't even seen the stuff, but I'm pretty sure it's mostly Lapua and Norma.

what would you do- we're talking about 150 rounds - my buddy's looking into 'how many' are already primed.

any help you can offer would be appreciated

Dan
 
Full length re-size the bunch and deprime the ones with live primers in the process.

I've done this for dozens of rounds without incident.
 
If I understand correctly, just full-length re-size the lot of them. For the 'already primed' ones, take the primer punch out of the sizing die - why throw away a perfectly good primer?

that really shouldn't be 'sized' with dies with the primer in
Click to expand...
I don't know why not. Nothing touches the primer when you're sizing as long as the primer punch is out of the die.
 
thanks, so far.

in terms of depriming - I guess my buddy was concerned with applying any pressure to the primer (side, or otherwise), to keep it from blowing up.

How concerned would you be with the primers blowing up?

thanks in advance.

D
 
Check out this article:

w w w.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/tworeloadingtools/index.asp

To disassemble some old milsurp corrosive ammo he uses an RCBS kinetic bullet puller, and then kills the primer with WD-40. Then he deprimes with the Lee universal depriming die.
 
You should remove the primers because you know nothing about them, i.e. which make, magnum or non-magnum, could even be pistol primers.

This same situation has been addressed many times on Gunnutz and elsewhere. The worry warts say once thing, and the experienced reloaders another. Just deprime the bloody things - they won't go off, but so what if they did? I've had half a dozen go off priming with a Lee Loader - big deal. If you are that concerned about a possible "explosion", and they will chamber, then fire them off, or if not they won't chamber, I suggest that you throw them away.
 
Andy said:
You should remove the primers because you know nothing about them, i.e. which make, magnum or non-magnum, could even be pistol primers.

This same situation has been addressed many times on Gunnutz and elsewhere. The worry warts say once thing, and the experienced reloaders another. Just deprime the bloody things - they won't go off, but so what if they did? I've had half a dozen go off priming with a Lee Loader - big deal. If you are that concerned about a possible "explosion", and they will chamber, then fire them off, or if not they won't chamber, I suggest that you throw them away.
Click to expand...

ditto:eek:

Rich
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"...experienced reloaders..." This experienced reloader says you can remove them with your regular sizing/depriming die. Run the case into the die very slowly and the live primer will pop out just like a spent one.
You're going have to full length resize them to get them to chamber in your rifle. Neck sizing is fine if they're used in the rifle they were originally fired in, but not for a different rifle. Chamber dimensions are different in every rifle.
"...with a Lee Loader..." Me too. The primer went 1/2" into a solid wooden chair.
"...with WD-40..." WD-40 doesn't kill primers reliably. Regular oil might, but there's no guarantee with that either.
 
Andy, Russ and sunray are right as far as I'm concerned. Just apply pressure slowly and it is a non-issue.

I've had to do it for dozens of rounds unfrortunately. My Loadmaster will flip primers when the trough gets too low. If I'm not watching the level I can crank off a couple or more each time it gets down there. I just save 'em up and do a deprime run when I don't have powder or other primers out. I've yet to have a problem...
 
After popping out the old primers, kill them in oil, then get rid of them.
As mentioned above, you do not know what brand or lot number, so don't recycle them.

If you are still geeked out about de-priming live ones, chamber the primed empty cases in a gun and pop them off first.

You are not wrong to be concerned about safety, but it is a non-issue in this case
 
tootall said:
After popping out the old primers, kill them in oil, then get rid of them.
Click to expand...


You don't need to kill primers with oil, water works very well. If he is worried about depriming live primers, just soak the cases in water and deprime when primers are still damp.
 
I agree. The problem with oil is that it's messy and not appreciated by recyclers. Water has its obvious charms, but it has been observed that when the primers dry out, they become alive again. Not an issue if deprimed while wet, but for curiosities sake I'll try an experiment to determine the effectiveness of water. Not scientific, but might be enlightening.

I'll take 10 1940-vintage corrosive berdan primed cases, soak them in water for 48 hours, dry them, then try to set them off: immediately, and then over progressive two day periods (e.g. 2, 4, 6, ...18 days.). I'll report back on what happens.

EDIT - I'll do the same with another 10 by boiling them in soapy water for 10 minutes vice sitting in water for 48 hours
 
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When I first started wildcatting I bought a copy of John Donnelly's "The Handloaders Manual Of Cartridge Conversions".Over time I have read it cover to cover several times.One interesting paragraph I have found was the following on page 65 "When removing LIVE Primers from military or any other ammo ,you must first "kill" the primer .This can be done effectively by boiling the cases for 10 minutes in soapy water and soaking them overnight in acetone or lacquer thinner , then reboiling them in soap , followed by a clean water rinse .
For myself I WOULD NOT trust WD40 or oil.I had an interesting mishap with WD40 and blackpowder.An inline blackpowder rifle was brought to me with a 2 year old charge in the barrel.They couldn't get it to discharge with #11 caps so finally they tried to remove the nipple and broke it off.Somewhere along the way they had soaked the barrel down with WD40 from both ends to loosen things up and kill the charge.as the barrel,action and end cap were 1 pc construction I had to fabricate long drill bits and long taps to tap out the nipple.Once it was drilled out I drove out the sabot and bullet with a piece of drill rod.Then I removed what I thought was all the BP charge .I installed a new nipple and put a small piece of paper over the muzzel and fired it. Nothing happened .I tried this a few times and the paper never moved.So I ran a brush to the end of the chamber and got nothing else out.Even tried a hooked rod from the flash hole and it seemed to be clear,so I recapped it and put my finger over the muzzel and pulled the trigger ,again nothing,removed my finger and WHOOSH nice burnt spot on the shop wall 10 feet away.:eek:

I don't trust WD40 :mad: It doesn't kill anything If anything it enhances it. IMHO

Rich
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