Primer Detonation

[Bzcraig]

Earlier this week I wet tumbled some 45 Colt brass. After drying, while putting them away I noticed one piece of brass had a good primer in it. Yeah, I had accidentally mixed some brass that I thought I had correctly separated. Anyhow, just for kicks and giggles, I stuck the brass in a gun and darned if it didn't still go bang! That was after 2 hours wet tumbling with Armour All, a drop of Dawn and Lemishine.

[M-Tecs]

Primers are hard to kill. I tested some of the various oil methods. Given time even the oils won't keep them inert for long.

I was give about 6K of primers that had been under water for several days. After drying I used them for shooting prairie dogs. Maybe a 6 or 8 misfires total.

[Reddirt62]

Tough little dudes, and not as sensitive as many believe.

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[XDROB]

I had the same experience. Primer in water for days. Put it in gun pulled trigger, BOOM. Did not think it would go off. What a surprise. Was told you can kill a primer with light oil.

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[M-Tecs]

. Was told you can kill a primer with light oil.


Yes and no. WD-40 and penetrating oils when put directly into the primer will inert it for a while. When I tried it the inert phase lasted a couple of days to a week or more but everything fired after a couple of weeks.

[bullseye67]

Good evening,
I have missed a loaded round and it ended up in the wash. Wife found it in the bottom of the washer. I though for sure it would be completely dead....much to my surprise it fired the next day!!! No wet powder, no wet primer, just a bang and a hole in the target where I aimed. I was gifted some old, from the 60's primers, that had been stored in a damp cellar. At the time they were close to 40 years old. The paper boxes was moldy and dissolving, the trays were wood or a pressed paper that looked like wood, most were falling apart. I didn't think they would still work, so I loaded,primer only, a couple of the worst looking ones and bang, bang, bang!! I then used 10 to reload ammo and it worked fine, Out of the 4 or 5 thousand only a couple didn't go bang. Primers today are even better and less issues are had with them, which makes them harder to make inert.

[labradigger1]

I never buy new primers. Most of my personal stock I use is from the 60's and newer. Many are decades older than that. Of tens of thousands loaded I have had 2 duds. The only ones I do not like are the old rws primers from the lasc. They are domed and wreak havok in primer tubes.