Wear Safety Glasses and think about what your doing

iconix

iconix

Regular
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Kingston Ontario
Hey everyone,

I'm just getting into reloading and my Mentor Crashman is teaching me a lot.. Hard to remember everything. But I made one mistake awhile ago, he said not to go near the top of the press when priming, just in case one goes off... He gave me crap when I did it when he was priming, I put my arm over top to grab something beside him.... I was lazy. But I won't do it again specially after I found this while looking at reloading stuff. Now this person was using a hand primer but I'm sure it can happen with any priming device. So keep in mind what your doing and where safety glasses.

Taken off another forum
I have reloaded ALOTof ammo in the last 12-13 years & never had not one primer detonate on me,(knock on wood)=''knocks on head''.

A good friend of mine just got into reloading & had a bad day over the weekend....He said he was using a RSBC hand priming tool,20 or so primers in the tray- said everything felt right & all his brass was prepped,but he must have had one turn on him-in a split sec. one primer popped & then the rest of them instantly daisy chained

I never would have thought those little boogers had this kind of energy...

87297d1361729113-respect-hand-priming-tool-521517_10151527948640879_1179255723_n.jpg



He had a scan done & the doctors told him his right eye socket was broke....he told me he remembers seeing light from when the doctors were checking him out,but everything is swollen shut - so its a toss up if his right eye will be 100%
Click to expand...

Love the sport and hobby but always respect it.

Be safe out there!
 
Primers are tiny little packets of high explosive. Some brands (especially Federal) are more prone to sympathetic detonation.
(i.e. if one goes off it's brothers in close contact may go in immediate sequence too).
It's for that reason that reloading equipment manufacturers have quantity recommendations for priming tools.

If you're handling primers outside of their shipping packaging for any reason, your eye protection should be worn.
 
That's the main reason I would rather not use a handheld primer. Perfectly happy using the turret press to do that for me. No chance of sympathy detination. Even more so now that Fedeal primers are the only thing I have.
 
iconix said:
Hey everyone,

I'm just getting into reloading and my Mentor Crashman is teaching me a lot.. Hard to remember everything. But I made one mistake awhile ago, he said not to go near the top of the press when priming, just in case one goes off... He gave me crap when I did it when he was priming, I put my arm over top to grab something beside him.... I was lazy. But I won't do it again specially after I found this while looking at reloading stuff. Now this person was using a hand primer but I'm sure it can happen with any priming device. So keep in mind what your doing and where safety glasses.

Taken off another forum


Love the sport and hobby but always respect it.

Be safe out there!
Click to expand...

Holy !!!
 
Not sure why but something I've noticed is that the RCBS hand primer uses a plunger with a radius on it!!!!
Why! A flat ram is used on the press and a radiused one only increases the pressure directly over the primers anvil.
Crunch boom! Ya no thanks. I'll stick to on at a time in the press.
 
i JUST started reloading recently, and did a lot of research about it, and just stayed with my turret press. When i am reloading i am not in a hurry and enjoy it. and after reading things like that it makes me feel more comfortable one at a time!
 
ciphery said:
Not sure why but something I've noticed is that the RCBS hand primer uses a plunger with a radius on it!!!!
Why! A flat ram is used on the press and a radiused one only increases the pressure directly over the primers anvil.
Crunch boom! Ya no thanks. I'll stick to on at a time in the press.
Click to expand...

Turn the ram around, radius to the bottom I believe.
 
I have hand primers made by Lee, RCBS, Wilson and Hornady.

And yes, on that RCBS priming rod, the radius goes to the bottom!!

I have no idea how many cases I have primed with these over the years, but it would be in the 10's of thousands.
I have yet to have a primer blow up while priming. [This does NOT mean it could not happen!]

I always wear safety glasses when loading....we only get one pair of eyes.

One small point I would like to make...pay attention to the "feel" when you prime.
If it does not feel right, it probably is not. STOP!!! and find out why before proceeding.

Our hobby is relatively safe if we pay close attention to what we are doing.
Enjoy.....Eagleye.
 
I've set off the primer magazine twice in my Dillon 1000 - the only damage was a new magazine liner, a new plastic follower and some neat holes in the ceiling that make great conversation pieces. These two times; I was stupid. I thought - "it's stuck, don't try to figure it out - apply more force" and paid the price.

Back when I loaded on the Lee Jammaster, I purchased the "optional" blast deflector that put a piece of sheet metal between your face and the primer tray when the primer was being compressed into the case. It went off once; the entire tray - not because of anything dumb I did - just the constant failure of the plastic priming system on that P.O.S. press. I thought "Why on earth would anyone make a $2 piece of safety sheet metal optional when it is so obviously needed and can do so much good?" Then I got the Dillon.
 
I have been loading for over 30 years, mostly Federal primers, and using a hand primer exclusively for nearly all of those years. I have yet to have a primer go off while priming. If a small primer does flip on it's side, which can happen, it is easy to feel, and then stop trying to force it in the case. However, if you were to try and force a primer that wasn't lined up properly, or force a second primer against an already primed case, I can understand how this could happen.

As the previous two posters also stated, if it doesn't feel right, don't force it.
 
When I first got my Co-Ax, I thought I'd try using its primer, fully expecting to hate the tedium of handling each individual primer. Now I have become used to it and actually quite enjoy it. Primers stay in the flip tray until one is picked up, and all of the seating is done 18" away from the other primers. Not much chance to screw up, no matter how hard I try, but I still wear glasses every time.
Sure hope Buddy healed up alright.
 
silverfoxdj said:
If safer, that's the way I'd go...
Click to expand...

Much safer. The primer being seated is a ways away from the primer tray. If the one being seated goes off, I really don't see how it could take the rest with it.

I'm sure the handheld primers are just fine but something about having that many primers so close to the one being seated that never really appealed to me. Having a handful of explosives while compressing one of them just strikes me as a bad idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom