Primer Deactivation

[Suputin]

This thread is for anyone who thinks that touching a primer or a little squirt of WD40 or other oil into a case will deactivate a primer safely.

Last night, by accident I dropped a couple of live primers into the steel pin tumbler. Those primers spent 4 hours rolling around under soapy water with thousands of steel pins.

I discovered the primers afterward when separating the brass from the pins. I left everything out to dry over night and then seated one of the suspect primers into an empty case just to see if it would work.

Shockingly it worked just fine. I really didn't expect there would be a hope in hell that primer would survive 4 hours under water.

The lesson here is that trusting your life or your safety to the idea that a little bit of contamination will deactivate a primer is seriously foolish.

 

[back40sniper]

Over on Accurate Reloading the owner did an article on primers. He varied times and liquids and brands of primers IIRC, bottom line, primers are "way" tougher than we give them credit for. I have no problem handling primers by hand now.

 

[floriosean1]

so i guess what the two gentlemen above are saying is that if you want to deactiave a primer, seat it in an empty case, put a rag on the end of your barrel to muffle the sound, and pull the trigger?

 

[H4831]

Over on Accurate Reloading the owner did an article on primers. He varied times and liquids and brands of primers IIRC, bottom line, primers are "way" tougher than we give them credit for. I have no problem handling primers by hand now.

Don't tell me you used to have a problem handling primers by hand!!!

 

[i-owe-so-off-to-work-i-go]

Don't tell me you used to have a problem handling primers by hand!!!

you aren't going to have one go off just by handling it. Some sort of blow (impact) or very strong force/pressure is needed for you to have an accident.

 

[ultimate_monkey]

so i guess what the two gentlemen above are saying is that if you want to deactiave a primer, seat it in an empty case, put a rag on the end of your barrel to muffle the sound, and pull the trigger?

not to hop on the waggon here, but primers are designed to go off by a sharp hard impact (fireing pin) the only way they will go off by handling, dropping, rolling around or even being stepped on is if they are defective and unsafe to begin with

id even wager youd have a hard time setting one off by crushing it

 

[rembolt]

I Deactiveate all my primers by seating into a case adding the proper amount of powder and a bullet chamber in rifle and squeese the trigger .primer is now deactiveated .

 

[i-owe-so-off-to-work-i-go]

I Deactiveate all my primers by seating into a case adding the proper amount of powder and a bullet chamber in rifle and squeese the trigger .primer is now deactiveated .

Wow, must be hard on the living room walls. How often do you replaster?

 

[moosedude]

When i was a kid we used to drop rocks on shotgun primers and that would set them off. After a good whoopin from dad, never did that again. Saw this and remembered that lol, just tried a CCI small pistol primer. Used a hammer and pounded on the anvil til it was as thin as paper, never went off. Tried it three times just to be sure, no dice, those things are pretty darn safe

 

[old enfields]

the old saw of soaking primers in water or bathing them in oil just doesnt work anymore.

SAMMI and CCI both have warnings saying that primers can not safely be deactivated by using oil. Apparently as chemistry advanced they created primes and powder that do not absorb ambient moisture or are affected by oil. It was bound to happen eventually.

 

[LUTNIT]

Found the article I was thinking about when I read this:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot39.htm

Anyone tried this? The WD-40 on the open end of the primers specifically. I would have guessed that primers in water, after being left to dry out, would still fire. Even powder if it gets wet and is allowed time to dry will still ignite (but its burn characteristics may change.)

People mention penetrating oil not deactivating primers in this thread but OP only mentioned water.

 

[maple_leaf_eh]

So, what should I use for a growing pile of old USGI corrosive .30 Carbine cases? I'm using the bullets for projects and the powder is often caked in the case.

 

[ultimate_monkey]

So, what should I use for a growing pile of old USGI corrosive .30 Carbine cases? I'm using the bullets for projects and the powder is often caked in the case.

meh toss em in the bon fire, with no bullet the case wont hold pressure, so the powder will just burn off, primer might make a pop if your lucky. adds a lil zazz to the weinie roast. just dont do it in ur living room fireplace

 

[Suputin]

Found the article I was thinking about when I read this:
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot39.htm

Anyone tried this? The WD-40 on the open end of the primers specifically. I would have guessed that primers in water, after being left to dry out, would still fire. Even powder if it gets wet and is allowed time to dry will still ignite (but its burn characteristics may change.)

it went just water. It was water plus dish soap plus four hours of agitation with steel pins. If the priming compound was going to be affected by water it would have been washed out of the primer cup and been inactivated.

 

[chemo]

so i guess what the two gentlemen above are saying is that if you want to deactiave a primer, seat it in an empty case, put a rag on the end of your barrel to muffle the sound, and pull the trigger?

rag is optional , but that's basicly it

not to hop on the waggon here, but primers are designed to go off by a sharp hard impact (fireing pin) the only way they will go off by handling, dropping, rolling around or even being stepped on is if they are defective and unsafe to begin with

id even wager youd have a hard time setting one off by crushing it

I came to the very same conclusion, but this impact doesn't really have to be a firing pin, just as long as the anvil hits de cup with vigor. I commonly set off primers on concrete with a small hammer (once in a while when I clean the room and find live primers but have no way to tell if they are for pistol or rifle). I even once set a primer that was not completely seated in the case by holding the case with pliers and hitting the case on the ground (primer first of course) and it went off on the first try


also, on an unrelated note, for people scared of setting off stuff with static electricity, here is a bit of Unique powder + electricity

 

[ultimate_monkey]

I came to the very same conclusion, but this impact doesn't really have to be a firing pin,

you are correct, i didnt mean it as only a fireing pin will set them off i was using the fireing pin as an example of the action required to set them off. Your hammering the case down onto the ground, another examlple as a quick hard impact to the primer. crush the case / primer in a vise and all you would have done is seat the primer

 

[Boomer]

Some years ago as an experiment I put a bunch of primers in a pan of oil and 24 hours later poured them out on a steel bench and gave each a smack with a hammer. In almost every case there was a (very) subdued pop and smoke, not enough IMHO to result in an injury, but possibly enough to ignite easy to light powder like FFFG or perhaps even Bullseye. What this proves I'm not sure, except that they were not completely inert after being exposed to oil for 24 hours. I'm sure the longer the oil had to work on the priming compound, the closer to inert it would become, but I didn't test that assumption. It seems to me after I posted this gem of information that Dogleg tried it too, with similar results.

 

[Gatehouse]

I left a 30-06 handload in a glass of water for 10 days. It went BOOM

 

[Count_x]

Some years ago as an experiment I put a bunch of primers in a pan of oil and 24 hours later poured them out on a steel bench and gave each a smack with a hammer. In almost every case there was a (very) subdued pop and smoke, not enough IMHO to result in an injury, but possibly enough to ignite easy to light powder like FFFG or perhaps even Bullseye. What this proves I'm not sure, except that they were not completely inert after being exposed to oil for 24 hours. I'm sure the longer the oil had to work on the priming compound, the closer to inert it would become, but I didn't test that assumption. It seems to me after I posted this gem of information that Dogleg tried it too, with similar results.

I tried to deactivate some primers years ago when I started reloading. Filled 35mm film containers with WD40, hoppes, 10/30, 3 in1 oil, water, and dish soap. I took 1 primer out each day for a week and fired it in an empty case. No noticeable difference in the muzzle flash. I used fed 210 match and rem 7 1/2 primers.

Just for fun:

(1) prime a couple of cases, put them in a vice facing away from you and see how hard you have to hit them with a hammer and nail to detonate. Rifle primers take a harder wack than pistol.

(2) Fire a couple of primed cases in the dark. You will be surprised the amount of flame out of the end of the barrel.

 

[tgt40]

Maybe an old Fudd tale? I remember reading this a LOT and consistently when I started loading about 30 years ago. Perhaps, as stated earlier, chemistry is just that much better and we don't have to be so paranoid any more....good news for sure!