Primer Explosion

[David2011]

Not sure where this should be posted so here it is in Our Town since we don't have a reloading category other than reloading equipment.

This happened 2-3 years ago and was an isolated incident. I reloaded my first cartridges in 1978 and this incident was a first. I just wanted to share. I was up on a stool changing the casefeed plate on my Dillon 650. I saw a smooth, shiny object in the bowl of the case feeder and my first thought was that I didn't remember any rivets in there. A friend was there with me and I told him what I found and shat I was doing. I picked up some hemostats, thank goodness, to try to figure out what it was. It looked like a smooth shiny rivet head. As soon as the hemostats made contact, no pressure at all, it exploded. Nope, not a rivet! After pausing a moment to regroup, I picked it off of the plastic and it was clearly a primer that had been mashed to the point that it looked nothing like a primer. My guess was that it was pre-sensitized by being completely reshaped. Maybe a static discharge set it off. No idea how it got in there outside of a case. I can only speculate that it got in the case feeder in a cartridge that had a loose pocket and came out while tumbling in the case feeder. How it got mashed to the point it no longer looked like a primer without exploding baffles me. I was fortunate that I had on eye protection and didn't touch it with a bare finger.

Not much else to say about this other than if you see anything that looks out of place or out of the ordinary in your reloading area be very cautious.

David

[GhostHawk]

I have learned the hard way that a primer which has been disfigured in any significant way is one touchy SOB.

I normally prime with a RCBS universal hand unit. Good system and I love it. But somehow when I was priming some rifle cases one came up sideways, got mashed into place that way.

When I found it, it had just had a powder charge dropped in, and a bullet seated.
As part of the final process I like to wipe the noses of my cast boolits. And I spotted the sideways primer.

So pulled the bullet, carefully. Dumped the powder.

I have a spare pin for the Lee depriming die. And a piece of 2x2 with some step drill holes drilled into each end. So the pin goes in touches the primer and BANG.

I had not even tapped it with the hammer, yet.

On contact, BANG.

But, base was on a solid surface, no powder inside, case neck is pointed up, whole assembly is at least a foot from my face. Pin took a hop. But no damage was done.

Fingers holding the case tingled for a few seconds. Then I tapped that primer out, reprimed, recharged, and reset the bullet.

But I am very very careful with any primer that has been squeezed, misshaped, or damaged.

[Idaho45guy]

I've only been reloading for less than a year and haven't had any mishaps so far. Knock on wood. I've got a bunch of spent primers laying all over the carpeted floor and I need to vacuum them up. But I also know that I've dropped a couple of live ones, too. I've heard that vacuuming them up can make them go off so I'm a bit leery of doing it.

[Rufus Krile]

Back in the Mezozoic era when I first started basic reloading, it was with the old Lee Loader that had the base and seating rod that went in the case. Got pretty good at catching that rod when it hopped about 2ft in the air when the primer popped. Being the clumsy type, I usually lost 4 or 5 primers out of a box but got plenty of practice catching the rod. Probably didn't help my flinch problem any...

[JBinMN]

I've only been reloading for less than a year and haven't had any mishaps so far. Knock on wood. I've got a bunch of spent primers laying all over the carpeted floor and I need to vacuum them up. But I also know that I've dropped a couple of live ones, too. I've heard that vacuuming them up can make them go off so I'm a bit leery of doing it.

A suggestion that might help ya..
Take an old bedsheet, place it under your reloading location folded/rolled up if ya like, and when you are in the priming stage ( or even depriming stage also if ya like)... Roll the sheet out to where it is centered on your work location. The sheet is a better way to spot what ya drop & keeps the little buggers out of the carpet fibers so they don't get hidden. Then when ya are done, roll it up & stow it til the next time. Might solve your issue with the carpet & lost little items that can go BANG.


I do something similar when I am cleaning firearms & even when working on a vehicle to catch small parts so they don't hit the ground & bounce or roll off to who knows where, making me spend my time looking for the lil things instead of doing what I want to do.
-----------------------
On topic.. Never have had a primer go off on me unexpectedly, other than the little surprise ya sometimes get when testing a trigger on a new to you firearm. Hope to never have it happen when reloading though, either. I am pretty careful with those little bombs, and I reload on a tile floor, so I cringe a bit when I know they are going to hit the floor. That sheet I mentioned is a handy way to buffer the impact & slow the roll if one gets away from ya.

Thanks for sharing your story, David2011 & Thanks to GhostHawk too for his anecdote. These stories help all keep the knowledge in the back of our heads that there is a potential for some serious bad happening stuff if we are lax in our concentration in this casting & reloading stuff. It is not like painting where ya only have to worry about where the paint goes...

[David2011]

I've only been reloading for less than a year and haven't had any mishaps so far. Knock on wood. I've got a bunch of spent primers laying all over the carpeted floor and I need to vacuum them up. But I also know that I've dropped a couple of live ones, too. I've heard that vacuuming them up can make them go off so I'm a bit leery of doing it.

That's a challenge on a carpeted floor. I have heard the same thing about vacuuming them but have no experiences to relate. Fortunately my loading room has a smooth concrete floor so I can use a broom. I like JB's solution.


I broke down a bunch of ammunition recently. Some was unknown, some was missing primers, a few case mouths were damages and so on. It was a full gamut of the problems you encounter reloading and with old ammuntion. Unsure if the scrap yard would accept dead primers and pretty sure they don't want live ones, I decapped all of the brass. Mostly pistol brass, it was about 6-1/2 pounds of bad cases. I ended up with a small collection of live primers, some of which are misshapen and am seriously considering mixing some epoxy and encapsulating them for disposal. They are presently just sitting in a container and are not being disturbed. While I have a healthy respect for all reloading components, primers command the most respect. I'm just plain skitty around deformed primers.

I decap live primers on a press with a Lee Universal Decapping Die so things are well contained should one pop. In almost 40 years of loading I have not popped a live primer by removing it from a case.

I did pop one in a progressive press while loading one time but I was pretty sure it was going to pop. I could feel that it was hung up and not seated properly. I still jumped. There was no chain reaction.

[Ken in Iowa]

Thanks for posting David. Accounts like yours are valuable since primer accidents are thankfully quite rare.

Lee loader explosions seem to be the most common from accounts that I have read in the forums.

Most of my primer seating is accomplished with the RCBS hand tool these days. I am very happy with it and feel fairly protected in case of an AD especially wearing eyeglasses.

[OS OK]

Exploding primers in plastic hand held priming tools is where I first heard of an exploding primer incident while loading.
It wasn't the end of the world for the guy but he did go to the emergency room for stitches in one paw. That was sobering so I went to the RCBS bench prime and am careful to insert the primer when my left hand is ...not...over the empty case.

If there is a problem as the primer transfers out of the priming tube into a shuttle where it is carried under the press for insertion through the shell plate...if there is a problem in the shuttle fill, there is a possibility that the entire tube will explode sending all the primers headed towards the ceiling and if you don't have the secondary tube, the safety tube installed around the priming tube there 'could' be problems there with shrapnel of the priming tube itself.
I just quit priming on the progressive and treat priming as it's own unique process in the shop...kinda like cleaning brass is it's own stage of reloading.

I've never had a primer incident using the universal de-priming die by Lee and have removed and reused live primers.

Wear those Safety Glasses.

[lightman]

David, be careful with those primers that you have together in that container!
I have only had one AD with a primer. I was depriming cases with a Wilson benchrest base, much like a Lee Loader and a primed case found its way into the batch of fired cases. Yes, a primer will fire from a sharp blow, from either side! It was not a big deal, but it did get my attention! I had a few specks of the compound imbedded in the callous on my finger. I was wearing safety glasses at the time.

[w5pv]

I never had a primer to go off on me but saw a picture where one did and I put the handprimer up and now use the one on the press abit slower but much more safer than the hand primer.Today is good for getting ahead of primer hulls.I do all of my loading on single stage presses one for the priming and the other for loading the charge and then going back to the first to seat the bullet.My method won't work if you are going for the quantity and need for large production of ammo.

[Porterhouse]

****!
I just had a primer that missed primer pocket and half in half crushed shape. I simply decapped and put new primer and completely forgot about the bad one, until now.
That was Wednesday. Ughhh. Hate to be a worm on nice Sunday morning...

[David2011]

David, be careful with those primers that you have together in that container!
I have only had one AD with a primer. I was depriming cases with a Wilson benchrest base, much like a Lee Loader and a primed case found its way into the batch of fired cases. Yes, a primer will fire from a sharp blow, from either side! It was not a big deal, but it did get my attention! I had a few specks of the compound imbedded in the callous on my finger. I was wearing safety glasses at the time.

I can't imagine hammering a live primer out. I have a very healthy respect for those damaged primers. That's why I think I will pour epoxy on them. It's only about 20 primers but I don't want them to chain fire. When I collected them I handled them with long tweezers.

[Idz]

Rather than encasing live primers in epoxy it may be better to kill them by soaking them in something like wd40.

[JBinMN]

I have used old motor oil. But I did not check to see how it worked. I just got rid of them to a friends "spot".

[lefty o]

oil and wd40 does not kill primers. it may make them temporarily inert, but once they dry , and they will they will go bang.

[JBinMN]

oil and wd40 does not kill primers. it may make them temporarily inert, but once they dry , and they will they will go bang.

Could be. Never "tested" the outcome.

Once buried in some dirt though, like the ones I had...Either they are a land mine or they are a "inert" object. Been 10 years since I passed them on to my farming friend, with NO "Bangs" yet in that ravine, unless someone was shooting at something & expected the results..

Need to ask permission to be on the land, & the feller knows what is there...
So...I can't be certain... but, I'd bet there is more buried there that he would be worried about, than a half dozen or less oil soaked primers...


Thanks for your sharing.

[ghh3rd]

Those buggars travel like a boolit when they go off! I had some large unknown primers once and spotted my son's slingshot. I loaded the slingshot, turned my head the other way and lobbed one against a concrete block in the yard - kapow! Then I noticed a hole in the bedroom window about 6 feet away! Sometimes I wonder how I got to be 63 years old.

[David2011]

I believe it was Handloader that did a test a year or two ago and found that water, oil and WD-40 were all ineffective in permanently disabling primers.

[Bazoo]

Other than having a few pop when using a lee loader, I've never had a primer related bad experience, thankfully. Glad you werent harmed David.

If I had a container of primers to get rid of, I think the method I would use would be to fill the container with a flammable liquid, kerosene, or diesel, and then spread the mix over the ground, and light it. The liquid would temporarily disable the primers, and the fire would kill them permanently. If any of them did pop, it wouldnt hurt nothing.

[mold maker]

Luckily, in over 50 years I haven't had one pop. I've had several in sideways or inverted, but were safely and very gently removed without incident. I've disposed of their remains in a wood fired furnace after soaking in kerosene. Non of them poped noticably.