Depriming live primers???

[RustyReel]

I am in the group that says, if you don't have a 45-75, don't worry about it. As others point out primed brass ships without hazmat.

Yes, primed brass ships without hazmat but can it be shipped by USPS?? Post #8 claims that it can but I don't think so. Properly labeled UPS yes, but not USPS. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Walks]

I've used the old lee decapper punch and base, large & small. Only lee tool I owned for the 1st 5 years of having My OWN Reloading setup.
Still using them, one lee thing that will last forever.

[JimB..]

You can ship primed brass just label it per USPS regs.

I am in the group that says, if you don't have a 45-75, don't worry about it. As others point out primed brass ships without hazmat.

Yes, primed brass ships without hazmat but can it be shipped by USPS?? Post #8 claims that it can but I don't think so. Properly labeled UPS yes, but not USPS. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I’ve read the USPS rules and came to the conclusion that primed brass is not hazardous, that no extra fee or training is required to ship it, that there is no special labeling requirement and that it can be legally shipped by USPS. I therefore do this regularly, including shipping a MFRB late last week.

I have not read the rules for UPS or Fedex.

Of course, do as you wish.

[Bmi48219]

Over the past 5 years I’ve deprimed and salvaged at least a thousand live primers with Lee decapper punch and bases. Unless they’re crimped (or S&B brass) they seldom, maybe one out of a hundred, go off. Alway wear safety glasses and a leather glove on the hand that holds the punch. Gentle taps with a light weight leather or rubber mallet. I reuse the salvaged primers for target loads with a similar 1 out of a hundred FTF rate.
The last time I purchased primers they were about $30 per 1,000. So not a huge saving but that’s the way I was raised.

[Big Wes]

I just de-primed two 38 spl. on my Dillon 550b due to case split when seating the bullets (nickel plated brass) reused the primers in two new cases. easy peasy, just go slow, you'll be good to go.

[1hole]

It's not easy to kill live primers with oil or water. I've experimented by soaking them in kerosene (a light oil) and it took about 3 weeks just to kill most of them!

My first reloads started with hundreds of surplus (WW 2) .30-06 pull-downs using a Lee "Whack-a-mole". Pulled the bullets, dumped the powder, decapped the crimped corrosive primers with a punch and hammer. No more than about 80% of them went off (without harm of course) but I'd had the foresight to wear a cheep work glove on my left hand.

I've crushed live primers flat in my massive shop vise; never had one go off because there was no impact. Meaning that removing live primers from un-crimped cases is quite safe if we work the press at normal speed. If we foolishly slam the press lever down that might change.

Even if we hammer crimped caps out, the primer compound discs are quite tiny so they aren't like sticks of dynamite even when they do pop.

[tankgunner59]

Decapping gently doesn't require enough pressure to set off a primer. If you operate the ram slowly and gently until you feel the primer come out you will be fine. I have been decapping live primers for years with zero ignitions to date. I agree with those above decapp just go slowly.

[samari46]

I've done many thousands of primers and most of them were done on a Lee classic cast press. You have a spud to which you attach a section of clear plastic hose and I stick the other end in a jug full of water. I pull the handle down very slowley up goes the ram and down goes the primer into a jug of water. So so good haven;t one go off and this is with the crimped in primers on U.S. military ammo. Frank

[W.R.Buchanan]

Simple: get a Lee Depriming Punch and Base for a Lee Loader from Lee and push them out with a small arbor press or you can use a drill press as the arbor press.

no problem doing this unless you are trying to go too fast and hit the primer instead of pushing it out.

Randy