Primer Survival

[tchepone]

I am thinking I may be the only one who has ever did this....

Last evening I was cleaning .223 brass. I was picking up odd boxes of fired brass laying around my bench, ammo cabinet and reloading room and dumping them in my RCBS Sidewinder. I was cleaning with water, citric acid, soap and stainless steel pins. When the timer ran down and the Sidewinder stopped turning I emptied it into my colander, rinsed with fresh water and was about to put them in the oven to dry. That is when I noticed some brass with primers in it. All in all there were 25 pieces with WW primers in them. They had gone through about 2 hours in the Sidewinder with the solution and pins. Outwardly they look fine
Has anyone ever tried drying them and did they still work? I thought perhaps a few hours at 100° in the wife's convection would dry them out. (too hot or not hot enough?) I have read about primers that got wet and were left to dry and they still fired.
Not that I am so frugal a few primers couldn't be tossed out but I'm inclined to try it just to see what happens. Any comments or suggestions? G

[Digital Dan]

If I had a time machine I'd not take them to Tchepone.

Decap and scrap. Acid/soap aren't your best buddy.

[mdi]

I believe the priming compound is water soluble plus the agitation could wash some of the compound from the cups. Jes fer grins I'd dry one and try to pop it in my gun...

[fryboy]

they're made wet then dried so ..... you do the math

[oneokie]

Safe way to do it would be to put them in a hermetically sealed container with some dessicant paks for a period of time.

[Markbo]

How much are 25 primers worth? How much is your time worth getting a stuck bullet out of your rifle?

[runfiverun]

if you put them in the oven the cases will tarnish.
just dry them in front of a fan.
I put mine in the tumbler with some nu-finish for about 1.5hrs [to dry and get a coating of polymer to preserve the shine]

[WHITETAIL]

I would scrap them.
Markbo is right.
toss and move on.

[Dan Cash]

Bake them and let us know what hapens. If you are not adventureous, just decap them and reload. The brass is not hurt.

[tchepone]

Bake them and let us know what happens. If you are not adventureus, just decap them and reload. The brass is not hurt.

Dan Cash: That is my intent. Nothing ventured, nothing learned. But it goes without saying they will not be tested with any sort of powder or bullet in the cartridge.

runfiverun: Not sure what you mean about cases tarnishing, I have dried thousands in an oven at 200° and never had any tarnish.

[leadman]

The citric acid bath changes the surface of the brass so it does not tarnish readily. Can't remember the process name but I asume the factories do something similar since new factory brass takes a long time to tarnish.
I like a higher polish on my brass so tumble it in corn cob and Meguar's car polish. These will tarnish eventually.

There was a question in a gun magazine about using oil and water to "kill" primers. The response was it is almost impossible to do this with modern primers. I have soaked them in oil and they still went bang.

[mdi]

Poke one out and see if the compound is still there...

[rsrocket1]

For 75 cents worth of primers???

[starmac]

Primers in an oven?

[tchepone]

I dried the primers as above. I popped a couple new ones, then three of those I dried. My ears are not able to detect any difference in sound level. Will load a few cast bullets with Unique and see what the target results are. I don't think I'd try them with any full power or jacketed loads.

Dan Cash: So I believe they could work in a pinch, if they are all one has. But reliable, IDK.
rsrocket1 & Markbo: The whole idea was never the cost.
leadman: I think I read the same. To me at least this proves the article may be correct.

[Markbo]

I have never seen one person ever be able to prove that shiney brass shoots better than slightly discolored brass. I just dont sweat getting super shiney brass because ... why?

[mongoose33]

Bake them and let us know what hapens. If you are not adventureous, just decap them and reload. The brass is not hurt.

The problem with this approach is that if we never hear back, we won't really know why....

[RED333]

Darwin is watching this one close.
Bike builder I know wanted a few 44 mag cases with unfired primers.
So he got a box of primed brass, cooked them off in his wife's oven.
Busted the glass out of the door and bowed the door as well.
Now he did cook of 100 at a time.

[yovinny]

I always tell new hand loaders to make this test themselves, just like I did 30+ years ago.

Drop a primer in a glass of water and let it set a week or however long you'd like.
Take it out, blow it dry, load it up and fire it.....I've yet to hear of one not working.

[williamwaco]

There is no way I could resist the temptation. I would load one and if it worked OK, I would load the rest and check for accuracy.