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Primer removal part 2

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  entropy 
#1 ·
In the post about removing the primer with the depriming punch got me to thinking.
If there was a chance that a shot got in the priming station underneath the primer, would the lead shot be hard enough to set the primer off. To me this doesn't seem likely as the shot is soft or much much softer than a firing pin in the gun.

Replies anyone, with a lot more experience than me.
 
#2 ·
I've never done it but I'm quite certain it's possible to set off a primer on the priming anvil if a stray pellet -- especially a magnum shot pellet -- gets in there.

But it's virtually impossible to set off a primer with the deprime punch. The primer's anvil is pointed in the opposite direction. It just can't be done.

And here's something I had to do recently for the first time in more than 30 years of reloading that illustrates how hard it really is to set off a primer short of slamming it with a hammer:

My standard routine with a single-stage loader is to put a shell on the deprime punch with my right hand as I'm putting a primer into the primer cup with my left hand. Then as I pull the handle to deprime the shell I'm reaching with my left hand for a wad.

This time I didn't notice the primer was upside down in the cup and when I deprimed the shell the reprime punch jammed the fresh primer up into its end.

It took me a few moments before I realized what I'd done.

So... Picture this: The primer is stuck solid in the bottom of the rod, its bottom facing out.

That rod is solid metal except at the top, where it's tapped for the mounting bolt, and the bottom, where it's bored out so the primer can move up into it as you're depriming a hull with a primer ready in the cup for the next step.

I removed the punch from the press and gingerly poked around on the thing with an icepick to no avail. It was jammed in there solidly.

I called MEC and asked a service guy what he thought might happen if I used a drill kind of like an easy-out to remove the thing.

Would it blow up?

Probably not, he said.

So I chucked a small-size bit into a cordless drill, put on some heavy gloves and safety glasses, put a piece of leather around the punch to keep from scarring it and clamped it into a pair of Vice-Grips.

And started drilling into that live primer.

Got a small hole going and changed to a larger bit.

Ground up one side of the primer and flicked the rest of it out with the icepick.

Piece of cake -- problem solved.

Think about that little saga the next time you worry about depriming a live primer.
 
#3 ·
No, it won't (shouldn't) set it off.

I just had this occur last week.

A rogue shot got in the primimg hole, and I didn't know it.

When I broke down the primer assembly, I noticed the shot had deformed onto the top of the anvil, into kind of a "teet".

I don't know how many shells went over it. I had to scrap it off the anvil.
 
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