Priming Incident.

G

Glock4ever

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:shock:
Had a primer go off in my hand today. First time for everything I guess. I had heard that it was possible to have a primer go off on a hand priming tool but didn't think it would ever happen to me. I now know how it happens. Sometimes I have noticed that primers won't go into the pocket smoothly (esp military/crimped pockets that I swaged) - anyway, applying a lot of pressure the primer slid into the pocket quickly and the seater acted as a firing pin. Sm. Rifle primers are still pretty loud. Thank god I wasn't pointing it at anyone/anything. Federal primers are very soft, I think...
 
Yes Federal are the softest primers.

And thats why I always point my hand priming tool in a "safe" direction and never just push harder if the primer doesn't seat easily. If it seems to be taking more than the "usual" amount of force I stop and check whats up.
 
Years ago I used the LEE hand tool kit that you did the operations using a hammer. To seat the primer, you tap the casing down over the primer that is held in a small 'anvil' for use of a better word. The odd one would go off. Since you are holding the whole thing steady with one hand I used to get a bunch of black soot in the palm of the holding hand. The only problem is the LOUD bang. Eveyone in the house including pets jump. The metal rod pushing the case down never flew anywhere. Now I use above said hand priming tool with no incidents
 
Yeah it was a real wake up call. Normally I am very attentive but since I got the Dillon I found that I was not always seating primers so I would pull the case and check the seating level - I was using an RCBS hand primer and tried to finish seating the primer in. Normally not a big deal - sometimes I have used a lot of force to get a primer to seat (not a banging away but pushing harder then usual) I think I got too used to military cases...
 
Funny thing, I was wondering about priming incidents just an hour ago.

I FL resized a batch of new .30-06 cases earlier this evening and brought the hand primer, some CCI BR2 primers, and the cases upstairs to do the priming while watching the idiot box. So, I hand prime 40 or so cases and then have a real close look at one of them finally. Usually I just run my index finger over each case bottom and primer as I take it off the shell holder to check for a flush fit. Did this tonight and all was golden until I had that look-see at one finally.

Turns out I had the small primer insert rod in the priming tool (from the last time i relaoded) and each primer i had put into a case had a small indentation from the smaller rod pushing it into the case. No booms, everything fits flush, but every primer has the rod diameter imbedded up into it - some more pronoundced than others depending on the force I had to use to seat the primer.

My question, will these primers fire okay? Should I just de-prime them and re-do it properly now or wait and see if the first couple shoot okay and go from there? My thinking is that they seem to be seated properly so if the firing pin still will make good enough contact to fire off the primer then all should be okay.
 
ILUVBR

They shoudl go bang! I don't know if you have effected thier consistency. I wouldn't use them to work up a load or for hunting, or competition, but if youare just shooting for fun, then they should be fine.
 
It was a like a .22 LR going bang in a pistol. As for your indentations in the primer - it should still fire. Don't bother depriming/repriming. Primers are pretty dirty....
 
Gatehouse said:
ILUVBR

They shoudl go bang! I don't know if you have effected thier consistency. I wouldn't use them to work up a load or for hunting, or competition, but if youare just shooting for fun, then they should be fine.
Click to expand...

Hey Clarke (& Glock),

Well, I was going to be using these for both working up a load and for hunting so was getting more and more nervous about it after I posted last night. Pretty much by the time i had finished typing I had already made up my own mind and went right downstairs and de-primed all 40 cases, tossed the primers (well, will be tossing them today - not sure about disposal etiquette of 40 live primers) and re-primed them all, just to be sure (read: anal retentive). BTW, turns out I didn't have the wrong seating rod on there at all, I had the rod in backwards and if you've noticed, one end is fully flush across while the other is beveled at the edges, hence the depressions in the middle of the primers. Man am I ever an idiot :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: .

Humbly,
ILBR :oops:
 
Glock,

check the pin in the RCBS hand tool. Did you have it in backwards? There is a round end and a flat end. I find the pin fallsout and its easy to put it in with the round end on the primer. It should be the flat end.
 
hgeo33 said:
Glock,

check the pin in the RCBS hand tool. Did you have it in backwards? There is a round end and a flat end. I find the pin fallsout and its easy to put it in with the round end on the primer. It should be the flat end.
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Wasn't Glock, twas I unfortunately. And, yes that's exactly what happened - see my post about 3 up from here. I'm a daft, daft booger!! :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:
 
Hgeo3,

I am aware of the different ends of the hand primer but what had occured was the military brass I had was not seating the primer easily (I swage my brass with the RCBS crimp remover) HOWEVER it doesn't always make a perfect primer pocket (even when I use a primer pocket uniformer) I accept a higher level of pressure for seating primers because of this (otherwise I would have to throw out all my military brass). So when I was reloading on my Dillon 550 I check the primer (esp. if the case holder doesn't move to the next station easily) for its seating depth. I have on occasion had to take the case off the first station and complete the priming operation by hand with a hand primer (RCBS of course). Anyway, the last time I did this the primer pocket had resistance but then it slipped with about 2-5mm of loose space. Because I was priming with a great deal of pressure the priming tool acted as a firing pin and fired the primer off. My new SOP is to now apply pressure and then keep turning the case in the shellholder to prevent myself from "muscling" the primer in... This has worked well and allowed me to prime with little difficulty...
 
John Y Cannuck said:
fogducker said:
how loud was the bang??
Click to expand...

Imagine a 22 going off in your hand :!:

Just for your information, prime a case, slide it in your gun, and fire it. The 'bang' will enlighten you.

Then clean your gun :lol:
Click to expand...

memo to myself :D play an old cowboy movie loud while primming :D that way if one goes off i say its the movie :D
 
Buy a RCBS or Sinclair primer pocket cutter. This will get all your primer pocket to SAMI specs and get rid of any defect left from swaging. This tool is cheap and can be operated in a low RPM hand drill. After this treatment, the primers will all go in smoothly and save you a scare at a minimum and an injury at the worse end of the spectrum.

The primer pocket cutter is better than chamfering and swaging. It cut the pocket to SAMI spec in all dimension.

There is absolutely no need to force a primer in a pocket - use the right tool - do the job right. :?
 
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