I have decapped several live primers in the past. My mistake in reloading. (Don't ask) AS long as you function the press lever slowly it's no problem. And I also reused the primers with no ill affect.
this makes me feel bad i just threw a good loaded shell in the garbage
not worth the effort to reunite it with its fellow commrads
I would either push out the primer or clamp it in a vice and hit it with a hammer and center punch while wearing eye and ear protection. A primer is no big deal when it goes bang. I was using the punch and pry method of removing some berdan primers last year and found one that had a strike mark on it from the firing pin but was still live, boy did it make me jump, didn't hurt anything just was one heck of a surprise.
At one time I tried to set off primers in salvageable brass by heating them with a propane torch. It takes an incredibly long time to get it that hot, and when it does go off, it has the effect of a projectile in a very short barrel. I did have to replace the glass in the garage window.
Nowadays, I just punch them out with the universal decapper, and put the live ones in a jar of waste oil.
Wayne
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free
Give it a little funeral and bury it. And forget it.
I cant believe there is a thread this long about a live primer! You guys have a lot more time in the reloading room than I do.
My 1050 will occasionally spit out a **** load of rejects.
I had a quantity of 7.5 French with bad Berdan primers. I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder and took all the cases out to the shop. I put a piece of 1/2" water pipe in my vise vertically, put a case in the proper shell holder and placed it mount down in the upended pipe.....instant "gun barrel". Then, one at a time while wearing gloves, I popped all fifty primers with a small punch and hammer. The gloves were important as some of those old military primers had quite a kick. At that point I could use my Berdan decapper safely and reprimed with fresh Berdans.
I've salvaged numerous of those over the years. with needle nose pliers I bend the inner lip back a little so it won't fold back under. Then I put a punch close to caliber diameter securely held by the handle part in a vise. the pinch part is then slipped into the case. With a small ball peen or other small hammer I gently tap on the buckled portion of the neck at the base and work toward the case mouth. The wrinkle will "iron" out.
Trim and chamfer if needed. The case is then used for jacketed loads most often unless the wrinkle irons out smoothly. Annealing may also be necessary but I only ran into that once.
Larry Gibson
“Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
― Nikola Tesla
I too, have removed live primers with a u iversal decapping die or a full length resizing die. I've never had a primer go off. I keep these live primers to make fire forming loads. Never had a problem with this either..
No telling HOW many live primers I've removed with a decapper. Hundreds. Only problem is trying to reuse them, I've found that once they've been seated, they tend to get smaller and next time they fit looser.
I also have no qualms about throwing them in the trash. They're not bombs.....
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |