[CrustyFN]

This isn't the one I was looking for but it's basically the same result.

To Kill A Primer
By Stu Farish


A lot of people hold to the notion that WD-40 and some other solvents will easily deactivate any primer. I got to wondering just how true this was in fact.

It seems that somewhere along the way, the companies started doing something that seals the compound a lot better. People have soaked them in WD-40, penetrating oil, water, for several days and then found that they fired just fine.

I happened to have some primed 30-06 brass boxed up. I had some loaded up, decided on a different load & pulled the bullets & powder. I decided to do a test of my own. Say 5 cases of each thing I try. They've been sitting around, primed but unloaded, in an ammo box for a year or more. So I can use 5 as is, 5 with WD-40, 5 with water, 5 with Dillon Case Lube, 5 with motor oil, 5 with Kroil, and 5 with Break-Free penetrating oil. Soak them for 4 or 5 days and then see how many go bang.


I have 5 cases each:
Untreated
Liquid wrench
WD-40
Rem Oil (spray)
Dillon Case Lube
Water
Alcohol
Kroil

Each batch of 5 cases were treated, then placed mouth up inside a plastic ammo box. The box is now closed, which should help reduce any evaporation.

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

Here is the link if you want to see all five days.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/killprimers.shtml