D'oh!

[zxcvbob]

I was reloading some .38 Specials, getting ready for the Bullseye league to start up next week. And without thinking I deprimed a case with a live primer. No big deal, except the primer went down plastic tube into the jug where I collect spent primers. It had several pounds of primers in it, and even though the live one was right on top I couldn't get it out without mixing them all up because it was a bottle instead of a wide-mouth jar or a can.

I spent about 20 minutes sorting thru the primers looking for the live one (pulling out any without a firing pin mark) and I gave up for the night.

The primer is worth 2¢ so it's not worth looking for, but I can't leave it in there; it's a safety issue.

I think I'll wait until Saturday and pour them out on a fire brick and try to cook it off with a torch (and ear protection, and eye protection, and...)

[kc-griz]

Just for a little excitement, pour them out on the concrete and randomly smack them with a hammer. "... so you gotta ask yourself, do ya feel lucky?"

[Jim Watson]

A safety issue? Really? ONE primer?
Then I am in horrible danger because my decap catcher is full of unhit primers from wetted ammunition that I have been pulling down to salvage the brass and bullets. Some of it was 20% misfires, some of it was 20% fires, but there are surely a good number of live primers in with the fired ones.

What are we to suppose is going to set that primer off in the trash?

[Starter52]

A non-issue for me also. One live primer mixed in with thousands of dead ones isn't going to cause me any worries.

[zxcvbob]

Maybe I haven't thought this thru. I figured it would be dangerous when someone tries to melt them down.

[Old Grump]

Maybe I haven't thought this thru. I figured it would be dangerous when someone tries to melt them down.

One primer in a few pounds of metal dumped into a hot pot will not be noticed. Now if a few of those primers were filled with water that could be exciting. Quit worrying, its only exciting when its in a loaded case and it ignites the powder charge or in a tube of primers and one goes off setting off a chain reaction. Now that is a mess.

[FieroCDSP]

I can see where it could be dangerous if in a glass jar, but I don't think it's a serious hazard. Primers take quite a hit to set off. Why not just hose the whole can of primers down with WD-40? Sure it's a bit messy, but a penetrating oil should screw up the compound enough to prevent ignition.

[HOWARD J]

I have live ones in my Lee tube on the press--I dump them in the garbage.
The way they burn garbage--you would never hear a primer going off.

[Rollis]

I, think the glass jar is more of a danger then the one primer.

[Smokey Joe]

Guys, guys, we've been all through this before. As to making a primer inert, it CANNOT be done 100% with water, WD-40, vinegar, ketchup, cat urine, or anything else easily available to the home handyman. It's been tested to death, 8 ways of a Sunday, and you just do not get a 100% kill on the primers.

I'm sure that sulfuric acid (or any strong acid) would do the trick, and I'm equally sure that you'd then have an even worse, more toxic mess, to deal with. Don't go there.

So if you think you're making primers "safe" with water, WD-40, or such, please think again. Primers are set off by either percussion or heat. Other than that they're pretty stable.

As to WHY you should be concerned with throwing out live primers, well, if you're certain they will be incinerated it's probably OK. But think--What would happen, worst-case scenario, if kids got hold of them out of the dumpster, and did something like hammering them with a hand-held rock for example. Can you guarantee 100% that it won't happen??? One primer going off probably won't ever kill anybody, but there are bits of brass that fly off hard enough to penetrate skin, please believe me. Or an eyeball. Kids will do the darndest things.

When I have primers I don't want to use for reloading (a rare occurrence, but it has happened) I put each one on a rock or atop my vise, and--wearing eye, ear, and hand protection--hit each one separately with a hammer. Noisy, slow, putzy, but I can guarantee you that no one will EVER find a live primer in my trash.

They could be tossed into a fire, too, I suppose, not that I've tried it, and I cannot recommend anyone else trying it either. Visions of bits of hot primer, plus hot coals, etc, being thrown from the fire. Not good.

If you recycle your spent primers (and why not--pistol & rifle primers are all brass) just put 'em in with your ruined cases and take the whole bunch to a scrapyard, where they'll pay you for 'em. My friend who retired from the scrap business says that his yard expected a live round now & again, and did what he called a "fire and pop" with the shooting brass in a cement mixer, and a propane torch. Usually did get a pop or 2, too, he maintained. So the recyclers will deal safely with the primers if you do that with 'em.

But whatever else, please do not think you've made the primers "safe" by exposing them to water or WD-40. Just ain't so.

ETA--It's part of Murphy's Law: One molecule of oil, in contact with the round in your firearm, will somehow penetrate into and kill the primer and cause a misfire, when you point that firearm at The Jordan Buck. Conversely, a gallon of WD-40 will NOT kill all the primers you WISH to kill.

[Freiheit]

This sounds like a very elaborate excuse to get to hit things with a hammer.

[Smokey Joe]

Freiheit-- (smirk!) I've never needed an excuse to hit things with a hammer!

A separate thought: I once had to remove live, perfectly good, primers from cases (I forget why, but it seemed necessary at the time) and as an experiment, used those same primers to prime a new set of cases. The "redeemed" primers slipped into their second cases a bit easier than usual, and I was a little worried about their backing out on firing, or even in handling before firing.

No such worries necessary! ALL the re-done primers fired correctly, the cases they were in, held them, and there was no discernible difference in performance between brand-new primers and these re-done ones. In other words, the primers all went bang, and the bullets all went where they were supposed to.

Should have taken and saved notes on this, but of course I didn't at the time, and now the details are hazy. But the primers did all work, that was and remains clear.

So if you have to deprime "good" primers for some reason--Not corroded, not Berdan, not corrupted in any way--Consider re-using them. I'd not do it in a critical application, but for practice or for plinking or such, they'll probably be fine.

[bruno2]

One primer going off probably won't ever kill anybody, but there are bits of brass that fly off hard enough to penetrate skin, please believe me. Or an eyeball. Kids will do the darndest things.

I smacked a win 209 primer with an old school Craftsman 1/2" drive rachet that was made in the 60's. It wasnt a new chinese steel Craftsman ratchet, it was one of the good ones. I did this when I was 12 yrs old. Just before I did it I had a change of heart and put a metal trash can between myself and it. That thing was very loud when it went off. To this day that ratchet has the impression of the top of a 209 primer in it. The thought of kids getting live primers and playing with them is scary. However, I dont think 1 is going to be found and misused.