Thread: Decapping live primers

Originally Posted by Mauser308

I never bothered trying to kill them. They are coated in a layer of sealant to protect the priming compound from oxidation and contamination, and it usually does it's job really well. It's actually quite an effort to reliably kill off a bunch of primers.

My advice is pull projectile and remove powder charge, and either decap live and treat with appropriate respect - or inert them by chambering the empty primed case, pointing in a safe direction and discharging into some old towels or similar. Note with the second method you are still going to get a bang and high speed projected gasses and debris from the priming compound, so hearing protection, eye protection, and neighbour protection (so you don't end up with a visit).

be carefull firing into towels etc walk away and think nothing of it you could well end up with a fire its happend to me before luck i was there at the time

mmm moist.

Occasionally I've have had to decap a live primer.

Gentle steady pressure to push out the live primer has always worked for me.

If the reason was because the primer was in backwards I have been know to reload the primer the correct way round and carry on.

Best thing I found is use the primed cases for dry fire practice at the range.

I used to just decap them and never had any issues but ive decided not to risk it anymore. Its nothing to just go pop them off at a farm, but you gotta ask yourself what your priming gear is worth. Its possible to damage it so for me its trying to save say $10 worth of primers and end up needing to replace a $250 autoprimer. Maybe a priceless eyeball perhaps.

Forty odd years ago I was curious as to how much power a LR primer has. After FL resizing and priming a
22-250 case I seated a 55 grain jacketed projectile with no powder at all. Aiming at the ground out in the paddock I fired the round and was amazed that the projectile lodged about 18" up the 24" barrel. Having a suitable brass rod I tapped the projectile out the muzzle of the rifle. Anyone that has slugged a barrel even with a cast lead projectile knows it takes a lot of energy to start the projectile into the lands.

The above info has been enough for me to decide never to try and decap live primers. If it goes wrong all that energy has to go somewhere and it will either send the primer out of the primer pocket at great speed or send the decapping rod out the top of what ever is holding it. IMO chambering the primed cases and firing them seems like a much safer option.

And just for those that aren't careful enough and put a primer in upside down, and even worse take it to the range and attempt to fire it, I was present when this happened.
The round didn't go off but there was a muted pop. Bolt could not be opened. Trip to gunsmith who removed barrel as part of the repair. Primer had blow the extractor claw out of its position which was the cause of the bolt being unable to be opened. Extractor muted.

Another one many years ago, same muffled bang and trouble opening bolt although barrel didn't need removing. Extractor blown off. Cause - no flash hole in the catridge case. IIRC the case was very hard to remove from the chamber.

Also aware of many occurrences of "dry balling" ie no powder. Muted pop, projectile driven fwd. Sometimes easy to tap out other times further up the barrel as in the case of @Tech