SmallCaliberCentral

I use the Lee Auto-Prime and made sure all the primers were sitting right before I put the lid on, but one managed to do this.

Anyone else wanna own up to doing this before? And how to get the little bugger out - safely.

Never set off a primer alone, so don't know how much power they have. Could I get away with holding the shell in a pair of pliers, and push it out with a small drill bit? (glasses and earmuffs on of course)

I'll confess. I've done it with my RCBS hand primer. Spray a little WD40, penetrating oil, etc, in it and wait a while then decap it normally WITH GLASSES ON.

I have done it 3-4 times..... I just run it back through my RCBS full length die to press it out. You won't set the primer off, it has to be done with an impact. If anything it will just push the anvil out of the primer itself.

Usually it will only put a small dent in the primer. You will still be able to salvage it and flip it over and re-install.

LOL, I've done that! I should start a pictoral of all my boo boos, but the list includes:

1) primer upside down
2) complete cartrige... except for the powder (or "ANOTHER bad primer??? that makes 3 in a row !!! oh yeah... its me again
3) charging 50 rounds for a range test... and discovering I forgot the primers
4) Dropping .17's into my 204 cases after powder charge (or "what the heck is wrong with these stinkin' bullets ???!!! oh yeah.. its me again ...)

'Notice I said, "includes"... yikes.

...and I see you have Federal brass. I acquired some from factory ammo, only about 30 cases... but I was impressed with the consistency. I actually have it segregated now and save it (and my Nosler stuff) for gnat smakin' (note the 200y group below the splat!:

Bow shot - I don't go so far as checking case wall thickness or neck concentricity but have started uniforming primer pockets and flash holes. All primer pockets were pretty much exactly SAMMI specs. The tool only removed carbon, and gave a little shine. Consistency of groups has been great with these factory rounds.
Check my other post though "grooved brass" - had a little trouble with one batch - groups twice as big, shallow primer pockets.
I'll stick with them though.

Like your honesty -re boo boos
The more boo boos people throw up here, the more we can learn and prevent our own mistakes.

Haven't gotten around to knocking that primer out yet. About to head off on a holiday - mostly non shooting
My girlfriend's been hard at work without more than a week off for nearly three years so she's getting a well deserved break.
I'll let ya know how the shooting part of it goes later - couple of days on goats and pigs hopefully

Dan, I'm not sure I would try knocking that primer out.

Bow Shot, where do you purchase your dragon fly targets? Or have you found a good way to get the wild ones to stay put?

Sounds good 'Dan, enjoy yer break, sounds like you and your girl have gone way past earning it! Someday before I die I need to see Australia and NZ. All I need is lots of time and dough, LOL!

Ramos, I was shooting near a pond and the 'flys kept landing on the target. I was doing a 50, 100, 200, 300y trajectory test and when I was at 50 that one guy wouldn't buzz off. I helped him become one with the Earth, which made me feel all happy inside.

Central NY is pretty much crop and dairy, with the usual mix of urban spots. Unlike the west, the varmint density is pretty thin, so we have to take what comes to hand, LOL! Woodchucks, coyotes, crows are the main targets,

That pond is loaded with bullfrogs though (well, it WAS loaded...), so I think I've found my low-budget version of prarie dogs. My son and I burned 50 40gn bergers there in no time. , that was about the best shooting I've ever enjoyed. We just staked 100 - 200 yards out and took turns spotting/shooting.

'Farmer down the road has a starling problem, so I'm working on a strategy to "help".

...gotta find a way to get pics of the frogs blowing up . Just something beautiful about seeing one flying 5' in the air in the middle of an orb of expolding water, LOL!!

RAMOS wrote:Dan, I'm not sure I would try knocking that primer out.

I'm a little wary of what may happen if I set it off. Have you had an incident through trying?

Oz Dan - if you set it off it's going to be loud, may cause small bits of flying debris and it's fire in your reloading area. Better to be safe than having someone else telling us a story about you. Soak it, remove it, it's only one primer.

Bow Shot - little dabs of grape jelly on a target during the summer months attracts a fair amount of targets of opportunity. Be sure to check your state baiting laws. Definitely need video of the starling depopulation!

inKYfromSD wrote:Oz Dan - if you set it off it's going to be loud, may cause small bits of flying debris and it's fire in your reloading area. Better to be safe than having someone else telling us a story about you. Soak it, remove it, it's only one primer.

Sorry, that's what I meant by knocking it out - taking advice from first few replies to remove it.
I'm not concerned about saving and reusing it, just the brass, and my fingers

I use a Lee universal decapping die and follow the spray, let soak, then decap tomorrow steps for backwards primers. I'm starting to error on the side of caution. I never even used to wear safety glasses while reloading. It took a sliver of brass in the eye from a Wilson trimmer to convince me of the need for them.

When we were kids, one of my brothers took a hammer into our dad's reloading area and began smashing spent primers that had spilled on the concrete floor. Imagine our surprise when he found a live one. We weren't allowed to do that any more.

Drape a towel over your press, wear safety glasses, and decap as you normally would. I`ve done more then a few "mistakes" over the last 40yrs and never had one go off yet, athough my dad set one off using a old Lee thumb priming tool to seat them once..
Take it slow and I doubt you will have any problems. Even if it does blow you will be ok with a heavy terry towel between you and the primer. The blast will be directed down, not out, and vent down through the ram primer arm or drop hole toward your feet.

Oil`s and water won`t kill todays primers for long, if at all. You can wet them and still have one go off, let them dry a while and almost every one will fire.

inKYfromSD wrote:When we were kids, one of my brothers took a hammer into our dad's reloading area and began smashing spent primers that had spilled on the concrete floor. Imagine our surprise when he found a live one. We weren't allowed to do that any more.

Did something like that when I was about 8.
Dad used to shoot roos for a living. Must've dropped some primed, but uncharged, cases outside for some reason. I thought it'd be a good idea to throw them in the fire. Lucky that was outside too. Gave me a little scare, and a little reprimand