The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old January 15, 2012, 04:54 PM   #1
compglock17
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 15, 2011
Location: Ohio
Posts: 103
Backwards primer

I was shooting in a mach a week or so ago and one time, I pulled the trigger, no boom, just a click. I checked the round after the course and found I had seated the primer in backwards! I just wondering, is there any way to get the primer out? Id think that trying to de-prime with conventional methods would cause a "bang" and I don’t want that! Its only 1 round, so Im not too worried about scrapping it, but I was curious if there was any way to get the live primer out? Also, I have since increased my diligence of checking my loaded runs before they go in the box!
__________________
"You can't miss fast enough to win!"
"Smooth is fast if you practice to be fast! Slow is just f__ing slow!" Words of wisdom from C!
compglock17 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 04:57 PM   #2
Adamantium
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 6, 1999
Location: El Paso, TX
Posts: 1,021
I have never had a problem depriming a backwards primer. I'm not going to a speed record when I do it though .
__________________
New gun, same ol' shot.
Adamantium is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 04:59 PM   #3
hodaka
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 23, 2006
Location: South Texas
Posts: 2,010
Same here. Pull the bullet then deprime slowly.
hodaka is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 05:54 PM   #4
serf 'rett
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 25, 2009
Location: Stuttgart, AR
Posts: 1,569
^What they said. Wear safety glasses.
__________________
A lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part.
serf 'rett is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 05:57 PM   #5
Sevens
Senior Member
 
Join Date: July 28, 2007
Location: Ohio
Posts: 11,755
Another trick I have read on here is to drape a towel over the press as you do it slowly to slow/stop metal projectiles from blasting in every direction -IF- it should detonate.

I've also had to deprime these a couple times... no struggle with it. No "pop" either.
__________________
Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.
Sevens is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 06:00 PM   #6
hornetguy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 14, 2011
Location: on the north side of DFW
Posts: 970
I, also have deprimed a few backwards ones. Go slowly, gently, using "feel".
Should be a non-event.

As mentioned before, take all safety precautions for eyes, ears, digits, etc, just in case Murphy's around.
__________________
I always felt that if I got to the point where I thought it was time to bury my firearms, it was actually time to pick them up..
hornetguy is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 06:02 PM   #7
Jerry45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 18, 2000
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Posts: 890
Primer is in backwards right? Put a drop of WD40 on it, pull the bullet, decap at whatever speed you wish and throw the primer in the garbage.
__________________
Guns are not dangerous! People are! RKBA!
Jerry45 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 06:03 PM   #8
Romeo 33 Delta
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 27, 2009
Posts: 315
I have done that, but not often. Slowly and gently ... safety glasses and you should have no problems.
Romeo 33 Delta is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 06:31 PM   #9
Roughedge
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 24, 2011
Location: Monroe,NC
Posts: 669
If the primer goes off it's not going to blow your arm off. All it will do is make a pop. Just put it in your press and deprime like you always do. I drop them on the floor in the reloading room all the time and some go off when the wife vaccuum's and nothing happens. Just dont try to prime one after you install powder and bullet or you may get hurt.
__________________
The man that die's with the most stuff win's!
Roughedge is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 06:36 PM   #10
3kgt2nv
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 7, 2012
Location: hudson valley NY
Posts: 517
if your that worried about it you could render the primer inert by putting a drop of oil in it and letting it sit for a bit before depriming it. I would still use caution when depriming though.
3kgt2nv is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 08:06 PM   #11
Sport45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 25, 1999
Location: Too close to Houston
Posts: 4,196
Don't count on oil to deactivate it.

Put on your safety glasses and use an inertia bullet bullet to remove the bullet making sure the primer isn't pointed at anything important while swinging the thing. (I'd just go outside and bang it on something.) Once the bullet and powder is out run the case slowly through your sizing or universal depriming die. Save the primer if you want to reuse for range/practice ammo as long as the anvil is still in it.

Or just toss the whole thing in the dud bucket at the range...
__________________
Proud member of the NRA and Texas State Rifle Association. Registered and active voter.
Sport45 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 08:24 PM   #12
Edward429451
Junior member
 
Join Date: November 12, 2000
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 9,494
Indeed, oil probably will not deactivate the primer. If you think about how primers work then you will understand that there is little to no danger decapping a live primer.

When a gun fires the cartridge, the firing pin is hit with a sudden and fast blow which transmits a sudden and fast blow to the primer which sets it off. Make no sudden or fast movements with the firing pin in your decapping die (sic) and it will not set off the primer. Nice and easy.
Edward429451 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 08:45 PM   #13
Jerry45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 18, 2000
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Posts: 890
What Edward says is true. However WD40 WILL kill primers. Especially if dripped into an open primer.
__________________
Guns are not dangerous! People are! RKBA!
Jerry45 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 09:05 PM   #14
vladan
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 14, 2010
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 813
toss the round to the defective ammo bucket ???
vladan is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 09:22 PM   #15
Jerry45
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 18, 2000
Location: Metairie, Louisiana
Posts: 890
Do you know how much that bullet and brass is worth????
__________________
Guns are not dangerous! People are! RKBA!
Jerry45 is offline  
Old January 15, 2012, 09:30 PM   #16
Adamantium
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 6, 1999
Location: El Paso, TX
Posts: 1,021
Its called a liquid safing fluid and though I've never used it on a primer, they do work.

But really it is a primer after all. Don't have any bodily object right below your brass and you are fine if it goes off or not.
__________________
New gun, same ol' shot.
Adamantium is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 08:42 AM   #17
benzuncle
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 31, 2008
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 357
I've done this twice in 4 years of reloading a lot of rounds. Neither made it off the reloading bench as I check each round before they go into the ammo box.
I let my mother-in-law deprime them.
benzuncle is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 09:25 AM   #18
spacecoast
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 14, 2009
Location: Sunshine and Keystone States
Posts: 4,461
When this happens to me, I slowly/carefully remove the primer, turn it around and reuse it. No big deal.
spacecoast is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 10:27 AM   #19
CrustyFN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 2,258
Quote:
Primer is in backwards right? Put a drop of WD40 on it, pull the bullet, decap at whatever speed you wish and throw the primer in the garbage.
Quote:
What Edward says is true. However WD40 WILL kill primers. Especially if dripped into an open primer.
Quote:
if your that worried about it you could render the primer inert by putting a drop of oil in it and letting it sit for a bit before depriming it.
As others have said it doesn't work. I couldn't find the thread but when I do I'll post it here. Someone took around 12 case and primed them. Then shot WD-40 in all the cases. Fired one after an hour and it went bang. After two hours still went bang. After one day still went bang but a little weaker. Shot one every day for eight days and they all went bang but just a little weaker than a new primer.
__________________
I don't ever remember being absent minded.
CrustyFN is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 10:42 AM   #20
oldreloader
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 31, 2009
Location: Magnolia, Arkansas
Posts: 251
take the precautions everyone has listed and go slow. I wouldn't think it would go off not being set in a pocket to hold the anvil. Kinda like if you set one high and it won't go bang.
oldreloader is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 10:42 AM   #21
CrustyFN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 2,258
This isn't the one I was looking for but it's basically the same result.

Quote:
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
__________________
I don't ever remember being absent minded.
CrustyFN is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 11:20 AM   #22
mrawesome22
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 9, 2005
Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills.
Posts: 3,779
Pushing the anvil into the cup makes a primer sensitive.

I would imagine a primer loaded backwards would have the anvil pushed into the cup very firmly and would be ultra sensative.

Be careful and go slow. It is a primer not a nuke.
mrawesome22 is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 12:20 PM   #23
UncleLoodis
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 28, 2011
Location: Oregon
Posts: 160
easy decision

For me, it's an easy decision. It's ONE round. WD-40 it, and discard. Murphy's Law is alive and well. There's things worth taking chances on and there are those that are not worth it. IMO, this falls into the latter category. Good luck to you, regardless of which you do.
UncleLoodis is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 12:24 PM   #24
UncleLoodis
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 28, 2011
Location: Oregon
Posts: 160
by the way

By the way, maybe I'm crazy, but what I do is put all my new live rounds in plastic boxes (Berry's Bullets makes GREAT boxes!), and visually inspect them all, one by one, as I am human and have made the same error as you (backwards primer).

Then, I take a blue Sharpie pen and run it over all the backs of the rounds...it helps me quickly determine which are mine at the range when I'm picking them up! The ink comes off when I polish them before reloading, but it's easy to do again.
UncleLoodis is offline  
Old January 16, 2012, 01:04 PM   #25
CrustyFN
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 4, 2006
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 2,258
Quote:
Then, I take a blue Sharpie pen and run it over all the backs of the rounds...it helps me quickly determine which are mine at the range when I'm picking them up! The ink comes off when I polish them before reloading, but it's easy to do again.
I do the same thing when working up a load. I use a different color sharpie for each load and put a label on the box. That way if I drop them or they get mixed up some how I still know what they are.

Quote:
For me, it's an easy decision. It's ONE round. WD-40 it, and discard.
I would save the WD-40, why waste it.
__________________
I don't ever remember being absent minded.

Last edited by CrustyFN; January 16, 2012 at 04:16 PM.
CrustyFN is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.09238 seconds with 10 queries