My Primer went ka-boom tonight

[dverna]

Hard to believe that someone would bring out a priming tool and then say you can only use 10 of 1 brand or 20 of another, 100 of a third brand, and no Federals...what nonsense.

Exactly what I was thinking. They must have better lawyers than engineers.

Don Verna

[rbuck351]

I had never popped a primer while priming a case until I recently picked up three Pro 1000s. I Figured I'd see what the fuss was all about without outside help. In doing that I found that the primer slide needs to be full or stop loading. One apparently turned on its side or did not slide all the way under the case and bam it blew 3 or 4 primers in the slide as well as the one under the case. Other than being surprised and ringing ears there was no damage to me. It did blow a chunk out of the primer slide and sent the primer tray and a few primers across the room. I have an older round tray Lee but rarely use it. A face shield now will be used while loading with anything not loading one primer at a time. Gloves will be used on the Lee hand primer as well as a face shield. I have been lucky too long.

[pmer]

Thanks for the reminder about primer safety. My first hand primer was a Lee round tray and I used it till it seemed to get too loose where the pin goes through the black plastic guide and got concerned about alignment to the primer. Then I got the RCBS hand primer and that has been holding up pretty good.

[Bayou52]

Knocking on wood as I report this, but in several decades of reloading, I've crushed a few primers, but very luckily, never detonated one. I use hand priming tools, and in addition to the safety measures mentioned above, a rather obvious additional safety step is to always keep the case pointed away from the face/body while inserting the primer.

A pretty obvious step for sure, but then, I'll bet it's one that's not universally practiced.

Bayou52

[MTSWAGER]

I like the RCBS hand primer, Have crushed may primers in it, never had one go off, I have blown up 2 primer systems on a 650 though, I first time was doing 45, and it was about 90 primers in the tube. It was quite impressive. Now when hand priming, i wear leather baseball gloves and safety glasses just because.

[mold maker]

In 50+ years of loading, I have never popped a primer. Either I am doing something right or it's my turn. I've used the regular RCBS press mounted, and the older Lee round hand primers with great success.

[ironhead7544]

I started loading in 1972 with a Lee Loader in 44 Magnum. I was a bit leery of using a hammer to seat the primers but had no problem for a long time. Then one day one went off. My whole hand stung badly for quite a while. Got one of the hand tools that takes one primer at a time and kept it pointed away when priming. Wore a couple of them out, then got the RCBS bench mount that used the tubes. Never had a problem with that one. I dont like the looks of the hand primers with a primer tray. I guess I was right about that.

Now have an RCBS Pro2000 with the strips. Took a bit of a learning curve but the strips work nicely. The cam needs to be adjusted but that is not in the directions. Also you must work the handle with a bit of a snap so that you hear the mechanism click. If you work it slow it may not come into position properly. If it seems to be getting balky, take it apart and clean.

I always inspect the primers after loading. I have found that pieces of an anvil can fall into the primer ram and embed into the primer as it is seated. If it were big enough, it might set one off.

[Talon300]

I have not used a hand rig yet. I have always used one at a time on my RCBS presses. Back in the '80's when I bought my first pistol (a .45 Blackhawk convertible) and decided it would be a lot cheaper to reload. I called my dad, who had shot competition pistol (.45acp)and high power metal (.30-06) and reloaded. His advice, get a good rig and be careful! Told me some accident stories (didn't say any were his, he still had all his fingers and such), and said you have to develope a good feel when seating primers and seating/crimping bullies. He said you need to be able to feel when something is just "Not Right".
Many years and 1000's of rounds through the hands, no problems. I have crunched quite a few primers. Mainly due to the spring loaded cup catching and popping the primer around. Must have developed that "feel" that Dad was talking about. It's good to be reminded that anything can happen. But like others here have said, wear safety gear, pay attention to tool condition, AND don't hurry. There's not much more embarrassing than running across the yard, tripping over your own feet and landing face first in some fresh soft sticky dog poo!........with your mouth open;0

[ghh3rd]

Glad primers don't go bang by themselves when you carry condition one!

[exibar]

The strangest primer that I had go off unexpectedly was a berdan primer. It was in a 8mm Mauser case and I was using the punch and pry method to decap. The primer had a solid firing pin mark on it and wasn't loaded of course but still went off. Glad it was clamped in a holder in the vice, boy did it make me jump, surprised as to how loud it was. Got a couple dozen of the cases from a buddy who runs a reloading store and they were in his scrap bucket.
Still have a brick or two of berdan primers and will reload them any chance I get, just am a little more careful decapping them now.

I had the SAME thing happen ot me with a Berdan primer in an old surplus 30.06... punch and pry method.... although I was holding the brass and the AWL with my left hand, mostly pinky finger and palm, tapping the AWL on the top, and prying the old primers out... I hit this one and POP! it went off and I was wondering why my pinky hurt when the hammer was no way capable of hitting my pinky... as I thought I hit my pinky with the hammer.... until I looked and noticed that the primer blew into a very sharp U shape and decided that I no longer needed my pinky on my left hand.... it tried hard to remove that pinky finger let me tell you, it lodged in the bone and I wound up in the emergency room with an inside out section of finger It was very inconvenient and annoying to have to go into the ER
doctors were understanding, and I was careful to make sure I didnt' say bullet.... they got it out, patched me up, and now I have a neat story to tell with the war wound to prove it...LOL

its amazing the power in the primer... judging by how much it penetrated the bone and stuck in there, if that had hit my finger joint instead of the bottom bone section of my pinky, it would have severed my pinky at the joint they said.... that would have been MORE inconvenient!

Mike B