Mixed Primers

[jednorris]

I recently bought out the estate of a reloader and he had a large pill bottle full of primers. There must be 3 - 400 and I believe they are a mix of Large Rifle standard and Magnums of different makes. Some have purple priming compound, so I believe they are Fed. Mag. I shoot B.P.C.R. competition and am not real sure what to do with them.
Ballistically, what difference would there be if I shot them mixed? Is there any way of identifying in a way I could separate them?

[Bazoo]

Probably be no issue for plinking ammo. It’s just a variation in ignition. Now if you were shooting smokeless loads, the fear would be getting a pistol primer accidentally, and it not holding the pressure.

[MarkP]

The Federal 215's I have the mixture is light purple. LP primers will be shorter than LR. Plating color, mixture color, radius at bottom of cup, maybe flatness of the base of cup could be used to group them.

Put them in empty primer trays for storage.

I know a guy that had 500 loose primers go off. Lucky he still has eyes, he lost some hearing.

[GregLaROCHE]

They should work fine for plinking, but if I were competitively shooting, I would only use what I was sure were identical.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have come across mixed primers at gunshows and such. I take the time to sort them and put them in salvaged primer containers and properly labeled. If there is enough of one type, for a batch of ammo, I'll investigate a little further...I have a pretty extensive collection to compare to...Google image search can also help in the investigating.
Otherwise, if I only have a few of one type or I can't precisely identify them, they will get used for case forming loads.

One time, I got some vintage gunshow primers that got jostled on the ride to the gunshow. So I had thousands of centerfire primers, mixed with hundreds of percussion caps, mixed with GCs (22 cal, 30 cal, 35 cal, and 41 cal)...and a bunch of empty package/boxes, having the empties was actually a big help in that sorting fun...I spent a couple days sorting that mess, but I got 'em all for $10.

[Geezer in NH]

Not a very good storage method safety wise.

[farmbif]

im pretty sure some Remington lr had purple too

[Scorpion8]

Not a very good storage method safety wise.

Depends, don't apply "today" to what was standard "yesterday". An old timer reloader, back before there were loads books or the internet, when they handloaded what was smart and not what some book said. Our forefathers reloaded shotgun hulls with powder scoops and whatever primers they had, and shoved cotton or fiber wads into them. Now the internet squeals if we deviate by 0.1gr from a loading manual. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the trees to see the forest.

[smkummer]

Large Rifle primers are a tad taller then large pistol primers. Your can probably line them up with the cup flat and sort that way if pistol primers were mixed.

[elmacgyver0]

There are some interesting stories told by Dean Grinnell about primer handling.
For fun you may want to look them up.

[varmintpopper]

Next to life, Give Me sight, Discard Them !

Just My 2

Good Shooting

Lindy

[hawkenhunter50]

The Federal 215's I have the mixture is light purple. LP primers will be shorter than LR. Plating color, mixture color, radius at bottom of cup, maybe flatness of the base of cup could be used to group them.

Put them in empty primer trays for storage.

I know a guy that had 500 loose primers go off. Lucky he still has eyes, he lost some hearing.

Any chance you could share the details of how that happened? Thanks

[ascast]

PLINKING LOAD or BRASS FORMING no problems as long as pistol are not used - even that wont be a big deal, you own safety glasses right ?

[nicholst55]

Not a very good storage method safety wise.

Absolutely! Akin to handling a live hand grenade - with the pin pulled. Loose primers comingled in any quantity are subject to sympathetic detonation. People have been killed handling them improperly. I would fill the pill bottle with either water or light oil, and either bury it or call the bomb squad to come get it.

[ascast]

call the bomb squad ! really ? that's all we need

[Wadsworth]

I use unknown primers for simply fireforming brass, large for large and small for small primer pockets. I usually use a mid grade dose of Trailboss and a heavy bullet to get about 95% fireformed brass. No sense wasting them. JMO, Wad

[HumptyDumpty]

Why on earth would any of you suggest destroying them? Even if component prices weren't through the roof. Gift them to someone else if you are really that afraid of them. Otherwise, load them, and shoot them. I've used every vintage and manufacture of primer that I could obtain these past couple of years, and been thankful for them.

[nicholst55]

call the bomb squad ! really ? that's all we need

Not knowing how many primers we're talking about, what condition they're in, or how they've been stored, yes, that is a viable, safe alternative. People have been killed messing with large quantities of loose primers. Dean Grennell recounted a tale of a CCI employee who was walking down a corridor carrying a metal coffee can with a large quantity of primers in it. He was rattling them as he walked - right up until they all sympathetically detonated and killed him. Look on YouTube for vids on primer manufacturing - they are dangerous as all get out, in quantity. As I stated, handling bulk, loose primers in a pill bottle is akin to playing with a hand grenade, as far as I'm concerned.

Here you go, I found a (not very good quality vid) for you. Note that the primers are actually assembled in a blockhouse, separate from the rest of the facility. That's to minimize casualties if they detonate. They guy making them is wearing PPE, standing in water, and everything is protected from static electricity discharges. Also note that the narrator states that the priming compound is relatively safe while it's wet. IMHO, those remanufacturing primers at home need to think long and hard about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grDqIDXgrH4

[Char-Gar]

Wont win any matches, but a beer can at 50 yards won't know the difference betwixt them.

[MarkP]

Any chance you could share the details of how that happened? Thanks

He was de-priming cases with live primers on a progressive press and letting the live primers drop into a plastic container, all of the primers in the container went off. He had anvils stuck into skin and bloody welts all over his body. Luckily nothing hit an artery or a critical organ. The first people that rushed down to see what happened thought he was going to die, it blew him off of the stool he was sitting on. Shortly before it happened someone warned him not to let that many primers accumulate. There is a reason they come in 100 round sleeves.