Knocking out live primers?

DAA
That's what I remember also. I have removed live, unkilled, primers from many predicaments. Gentle pressure never set any off.

The punch thing, I would not do. That is too much like a sharp blow.

Jack
 
Primers are funny things. At one time I did not have a hand primer and did all my priming with one of those priming type dies on my press it did a pretty fair job as long as I was carefull in my die setup. The problem was that I had to handle all the primers individually. Man the effort that I went to to keep things lean and oil free. I even washed my hands in rubbing alcohol from time to time during the priming process and still lost about one 1 in 150 from a dead primer. I switched to a imilar lee priming system tha had a primer tray, all the rest of the set-up was the same. My dead primer problem went away. Now I prime with an RCBS hand primer and have not had a dead primer in 15 years. What is there about hand oil? Is it the oil or the salt or a combination of the above.

I've not had to deprime many cases but have done a few. I've never had a problem de-capping live cases. But wonder about the potential problems. The ram of your press is set-up with a hole for dead primers to fall out. Wouldn't an ignited prime simply pop out and travel down the de-capping hole?
 
Michael,
In my press, it would send the cup down the tube to the catching jar at a high rate of speed!

As was said above, I have never had a problem pushing out primers slowly either. But I like to put a drop of Kroil in them first cause it makes me feel like I at least tried.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

-MP
 
Michael, there's no telling what the deal was with those dead primers you were getting years ago. Possibly, it was the hand oil, but if I had to guess, I'd guess it was something else. I've used mostly Sinclair hand priming tools for almost ten years now. Handling every single primer with my hands. Figure over 20,000 primers. I've only ever had but a handful not go bang, and they were all from the same box or primers. So I don't "think" hand oil is a big deal. But, maybe it is with some types of primers?

Maybe it was from over crushing them, with the massive press leverage? If there isn't enough "crush" left in them, the anvil can't break the pellet and they don't work. I know for sure I've seen a lot like that from press priming operators.

- DAA
 
This batch happens to be Winchester Large Rifle primers.

Yep, it'd be worthwhile to try a bunch of different ones to see if I get different results. I'd expect the same brand to respond about the same, ie WSR I'd expect to do about the same as WLR. But Federal & Remington primers may respond very differently. I'll probably try to continue this as time permits, do one type at a time & compare the results.
 
Day 1, after 24 hours:

Untreated - normal discharge. Could see smoke exit the rifle muzzle.

Liquid wrench - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

WD-40 - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Rem Oil (spray) - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Dillon Case Lube - Very Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Water - Very Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Alcohol - Very Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Kroil - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

In short, all primers ignited to some degree :eek:
 
Day 2, after 48 hours:

Untreated - normal discharge. Could see smoke exit the rifle muzzle.

Liquid wrench - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

WD-40 - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Rem Oil (spray) - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Dillon Case Lube - Very Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Water - Strong. Primer ignited, but not as strong as normal. Smoke visible inside case.

Alcohol - Very Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Kroil - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

All primers still ignited to some degree
:eek:
 
Day 3, after 72 hours:

Untreated - normal discharge. Could see smoke exit the rifle muzzle.

Liquid wrench - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

WD-40 - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Rem Oil (spray) - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Dillon Case Lube - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Water - Extreemly Weak, almost dead. Primer ignited, but I could not hear it and not enough discharge at the muzzle to move a bit of dead grass. VERY slight trace of smoke visible inside case.

Alcohol - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Kroil - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

All primers still ignited to some degree, though this time the one treated with water just barely did.
 
THIS IS WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY.

Soaking with oil or water will reduce the sensitivity of the primers, but
not actually "kill" them. Best would be to try to fire the primers in a gun
first, then proceed normally.

Otherwise, use the water or oil, but still take care when decapping. Wear
eye, and, perhaps, ear protection and be certain not to impact the primers.
Make careful contact with the decapping pin and then apply steady pressure
to decap. For additional safety, you might have some sort of shield between
you and the primer just in case.

The likelihood of detonating one is slim with proper care, but they are
quite powerful if one should explode.

Guy Neill
CCI-Speer Technical Services
 
Day 4, after 96 hours:

Untreated - normal discharge. Could see smoke exit the rifle muzzle.

Liquid wrench - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

WD-40 - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Rem Oil (spray) - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Dillon Case Lube - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Water - Dead. I could not hear it. No trace of smoke visible inside case.

Alcohol - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Kroil - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

All primers still ignited to some degree, except the one treated with water.

Water is so far proving to be the most effective agent in killing primers, but it still took 3 days, 4 to completely deactivate.
 
Day 5 (last day), after 120 hours:

Untreated - normal discharge. Could see smoke exit the rifle muzzle.

Liquid wrench - Strong. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

WD-40 - Strong. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Rem Oil (spray) - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Dillon Case Lube - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Water - Dead. I could not hear it. No trace of smoke visible inside case.

Alcohol - Very weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

Kroil - Weak. Primer ignited, but could not see smoke exit muzzle. Smoke visible inside case.

All primers still ignited to some degree, except the one treated with water.

Water wins, for WLR primers, but it still took 3 days, 4 to completely deactivate.

I'll pick a differnt brand primer for the next test.
 
I just set up another batch using fresh Federal 210 GM primers. The only change is that I won't bother popping any untreated ones this time. I just did the others to confirm they still fired normally after all this time.
 


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