Removing live primers??

[cape cove]

Last winter I wanted to deprime some of my 30/378 Weatherby cases to take some shoulder bump measurements. These were fired primers or so I though. I picked up 3 cases that I believed had spent primers and began to manually de-prime them. I have to do it by hand because the 30/378 case does not fit my de-priming die. Placed the de- cap rod in the case while holding the case in my left hand. Gave a small tap and out came the primer. Picked up the second case assuming it had a spent primer but it actullay had a live one. Placed the rod in the case while holding it in my left hand and gave a small tap to remove the primer. It ignited. The primer came out of the pocket went through my 4'th finger and fractured my little finger before hitting the floor. There was blood everywhere and almost gave the wife an heart attack Had to go to the emergency for x-rays and stitches. Reason I post this is to let people know,as others have posted, primers are explosives and should be treated with care .They are dangerous and should be treated as such. It sure opened my eyes to the care I need to take in the future when de-priming live primers. As some have posted eye protection is a must. FYI

 

[Dean2]

Last winter I wanted to deprime some of my 30/378 Weatherby cases to take some shoulder bump measurements. These were fired primers or so I though. I picked up 3 cases that I believed had spent primers and began to manually de-prime them. I have to do it by hand because the 30/378 case does not fit my de-priming die. Placed the de- cap rod in the case while holding the case in my left hand. Gave a small tap and out came the primer. Picked up the second case assuming it had a spent primer but it actullay had a live one. Placed the rod in the case while holding it in my left hand and gave a small tap to remove the primer. It ignited. The primer came out of the pocket went through my 4'th finger and fractured my little finger before hitting the floor. There was blood everywhere and almost gave the wife an heart attack Had to go to the emergency for x-rays and stitches. Reason I post this is to let people know,as others have posted, primers are explosives and should be treated with care .They are dangerous and should be treated as such. It sure opened my eyes to the care I need to take in the future when de-priming live primers. As some have posted eye protection is a must. FYI

My condolences for your injuries but clealy tapping a rod with a hammer by hand and holding the case in the other would be a bad idea with live primers. I am positive that u would have never done that had u realized they were live. Using a press and sizing die is an entirely different proposition or are u saying u have no sizing die for your 30-378.

 

[bigedp51]

To be safer I use a universal decapping die that is wide open around the cases to help vent pressure.

That being said in over 47 years of reloading I have never set a live primer off removing it.

And by going slow you are very safe and can reuse the primers and a universal decapping die will not contain pressure like a standard resizing die will. (subliminal suggestion)

I also use a old fashion Lee depriming tool to test loose primer pockets. If the primer moves with just finger pressure the case goes in the scrap brass bucket.

 

[Sflutes]

Push them out with your decapper moderately slow. Just don't slam it as fast as you can and imitate a firing pin. I've bought a bunch of primed brass and pushed them all out. I'm talking thousands not a few. No problems.

 

[cape cove]

@Dean2
Yes I don't have a decapping die that fits the 30/378 case. In fact nothing standard seems to fit this case. I most certainly would have never decapped a live primer by hand .

 

[Alibiiv]

Ok, now I'm curious.
Ive removed one here and one there.
Why are you guys removing so many live primers?
Dozens,and thousands, ??

For me over the years I have done 100s if not 1000s. I've pulled some because I didn't know how long the loaded round was hanging around and wanted to freshen the brass and load up. Loaded some ammo up, only to find out that I had a bad batch of primers; just recently went through this one over a hundred rounds of loaded ammunition. Once got a lot of loaded ammunition that had been submerged under water for a long period of time. Lots of reasons for knocking out primers.

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

I've done more than a few over the years I always where eye and ear protection when I do it. I've only ever had one go off

 

[Sflutes]

I've done it. The important thing is: GO SLOW. You don't want to ram it in and have the de-priming pin act like the rifle's firing pin and slam into the anvil on the inside of the primer. Once you feel the de-priming pin contact the primer on the inside, slow down a bit more until you feel it push the primer gently out. The primer may then be re-used in a different shell.

This is not advice. Merely how I have, on occasion, removed live primers safely. Proceed at your own risk.

 

[CUTTER1]

morning, could cause messy underwear. justme gbot tum

Eye protection and roll of paper towels in case you need to clean ur self if one goes BANG',,,,,,,,,

 

[Barrelnut]

I have done a lot of them with the decapping die and press. Never had one go off. Like others have said just push slow and safety glasses are a good idea.
if your still a little concerned about pushing them out - I think a better and sometimes easier way is just to load the empt case if the chamber of the rifle and fire the primer that way. I've done that a lot just from the back porch. it's not real loud. Almost as fast as using the press.

 

[lancetkenyon]

@Dean2
Yes I don't have a decapping die that fits the 30/378 case. In fact nothing standard seems to fit this case. I most certainly would have never decapped a live primer by hand .

Just used your FL die. It has a decapping pin.

 

[cape cove]

Just used your FL die. It has a decapping pin.

I didn't want to change any dimensions because I wanted to take some case measurements. Nothing wrong with decapping manually, only I thought I was removing a spent primer. Got my cases mixed up and paid the price.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Don't run it all the way in. Just until the primer pops out

 

[Dean2]

Don't run it all the way in. Just until the primer pops out

Spot on. One can easily run the decapping stem far enough down that the case will just contact the die to stabilize the case, no lube even needed, and won't size the case at all.