High Primers

[Haole]

I load most of my ammo on a Dillon 650. When I get the occasional high primer, I put on a heavy shirt, heavy gloves, and a face plate and seat those primers (in the loaded round) using an RCBS single stage press. Im not willing to stick a loaded round back in my Dillon 650 because that loaded round would be next to the primer tube and below the powder measure.

 

Ive been reloading for 40 years and have never had a primer go off while ramming it into the primer pocket. So, Im wondering if Im being overly cautious with all this.

 

Recently I came into several hundred 45 ACP cases with the S&B head stamp (Sellier & Bellot, Czech Republic). When I asked another reloader why the primers require a little more pressure to seat, I was told its because S&B primer pockets were cut to a metric equivalent; when fractions of inches (British Imperial system) are converted to millimeters (Metric System) there is often a slight difference. In this case, the S&B primer pockets are slightly smaller than our US equivalent.

 

When I loaded a couple hundred 45 ACP rounds in S&B cases, I came up with 17 high primers.

 

Should I seat those primers using my single stage press, or pull the heads and dump the powder before seating those primers?

[Doc Fill 'Em 67797]

I would seat on your press as you normally would.

[Hurricane Deck 100366]

I can tell you I've had a high primer go off on my Lee 4-hole turret press. it was a .223 round.

[Butch McGie, SASS#71758]

It only takes about 10 seconds to drop the bullet and powder out in an impact style bullet puller. I actually had a Russian primer go off when I was reseating it - I can't think how much fun it would have been with powder and bullet in place. Sort of like making a pipe bomb and then trying to set it off.

[Jack N. Water]

I usually use a RCBS hand held prime tool and point it at the ground, or the cat.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

A 650 has a priming system that makes it very possible for the primer, if it detonates at the priming station, to propagate around the primer feed wheel and up into the primer filler tube. No way do I trust a Dillon 650 with reseating a primer.

 

I do trust a 550 to do the reseating (because the primer tube does not have a line of primers leading to it), or a turret press, or a single stage press.

 

It will take more than normal pressure to seat primers in .45 auto S&B brass because those primer pockets are indeed slightly smaller DIAMETER than US large pistol primers. When I find that I have several S&B cases in range recovered brass, I run them through a Dillon primer pocket swage and permanently eliminate the small pocket size DIAMETER problem. If I just have one that doesn't seat, and I don't catch it as a "hard seat" when at the primer station, I have been known to reseat the loaded round, after all other rounds are cleared from the 550.

 

The brass case is the main danger when reseating a primer in a loaded round (although clearing any flammables from the area would be a real good idea, too). If the primer fires, the bullet will not be given enough velocity to hurt anyone, but the case (as HD's picture shows) can splinter into lots of low-energy shrapnel that can break skin or seriously injure eyes. Using a face shield is a very good precaution. If I was very worried, I would pull the bullet and dump the powder, deprime, swage or ream the primer pocket to standard diameter, and reload from scratch.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

 

Edit: Added extra explanatory words because of later confusion about exactly what dimension causes S&B brass to resist American primers.

[Roger Rapid]

I've re-seated high primers on loaded cartridges in my RCBS but with the seating die in place and not screwed all the way down. Very slow continuous pressure should not cause a primer to ignite. When I was a youngster I remember squeezing a primer in a vise until it was mush and nothing happened. Not sure if that was just luck or not, but I think the primer's wafer needs to be impacted not just deformed to ignite. (Anyone else tried this or know more about kind of impact needed to ignite a primer?) …R

[Sparky Nelson]

When I was a youngster I remember squeezing a primer in a vise until it was mush and nothing happened.

 

I wonder if it might have detonated if you'd whacked one jaw of the vise with a hammer while it was compressed. (Don't try this at home, kids!)

 

I think I'll stick with hand priming for a while longer. It's slow, but I can catch high primers before the case gets loaded.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Primers are made to go off with some-what of a 'smack'.

Gentle/FIRM push'n has never set one off in my 45+ yrs of reload'n.

LG

[Yusta B.]

 

 

 

I think I'll stick with hand priming for a while longer. It's slow, but I can catch high primers before the case gets loaded.

This ^^^^ - been hand priming for 10 years & I'm a firm believer in priming this way.

[Hurricane Deck 100366]

What ended up setting mine off was a sudden 'give' in the lever while pushing. It was like the rim 'dislodged' and the primer suddenly seated.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

I think each person develops his own style on this

 

Sure, get input from others but in the end it's up to the reloader to make the decision.

 

Having said that, I do gently finish seating high primers (had a SDB handle crack and rather than seating the primer it would flex)

 

If I was in a situation mentioned in the OP I would come up with another way--here there is a definite problem with depth of the primer pockets--probably tear them down and start from scratch

 

cr

[John Boy]

Primers are made to go off with some-what of a 'smack'.

Gentle/FIRM push'n has never set one off in my 45+ yrs of reload'n.

LG

Let me expand on Grits 'smack'. In order to crush the anvil on any primer to ignite it, the cup has to be HARD and FAST

So just take a hold of the handle and slam it down fast to "smack" the anvil and that primer will go Boom