Primer disposal

[wpod]

I have some soft-point, steel-case ammo that I am considering disassembling and reloading into brass cases.
Should I toss the primed steel cases in a bucket of water?
How do you address live primed cases?
The adolescent in me says to load 9 of them under 1 live round. At the range claim all 10 (or more) in one hole.

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[Mayor McRifle]

Throw them out.

[JackEllis]

There's at least one other thread that talks about live primer disposal. Best I can tell it is impractical for reloaders to neutralize them. You can set them off (carefully) and that might be best. Maybe on a rainy day so you don't start a fire.

[tonyjr]

If a primer hits the floor , I tape them to card board and
use pellet gun .
Don't just toss them . We have had several fire at scrap
metal yards here and even if they go to land fill , methane gas and a primer --

[Kwikvette]

Hit them with a hammer...

No really, don't do that!

If you want, you can be cheap about it and deprime the cases and reuse those primers in your brass. Otherwise, I'd probably shoot at them like tonyjr said.

I've got some primers soaking in WD40 for the past 2 weeks (forgot them in my shed). I wonder if they'll still go off after I let them dry...

[Baja_Traveler]

Impractical to neutralize them?? Really.... LOL

The long established method to neutralize primers is to just put a drop of vegetable oil in each case, or pop them all out and drop them in a container with a little oil - the vegetable oil soaks into the priming compound and renders them dead for good. Using water is only a temporary solution because when it evaporates and the priming compound completely dries out, it can get active again.

Come hang out on CastBoolits forum for everything you ever want to know about reloading...

[wpod]

Well, I am cheap. I'll be reusing the bullets and powder.
I like the idea of reusing the primers too.
Won't the steel cases (Tula) be bad for my Lee decap/resize die? Though the cases are already sized...
I guess I could use a pin punch and hammer to knock them out (kidding).

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[Kwikvette]

Well, I am cheap. I'll be reusing the bullets and powder.
I like the idea of reusing the primers too.
Won't the steel cases (Tula) be bad for my Lee decap/resize die? Though the cases are already sized...
I guess I could use a pin punch and hammer to knock them out (kidding).

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Lee universal decapping/depriming die is your friend.

You should have one just because; deprime without resizing, and toss your brass into your wet tumbler for clean pockets

[OpenSightsOnly]

Well, I am cheap. I'll be reusing the bullets and powder.
I like the idea of reusing the primers too.
Won't the steel cases (Tula) be bad for my Lee decap/resize die? Though the cases are already sized...
I guess I could use a pin punch and hammer to knock them out (kidding).

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If you do not have a dedicated decapping die, then you have to buy one locally or online. Either way you are going to spend money for a handful of primers.

If you use your sizing die to punch out the primer, then you are going to spend or waste time punching them out.

It's cheaper to spray WD40 into the case or use vegetable or motor oil to neutralize the primers. Let them sit for a few days then toss.

Sometimes being cheap ends up spending money or time, be wise

[AGGRO]

You worried shooting steel case?

[wpod]

You worried shooting steel case?

Nope. Not concerned with shooting steel cased ammo.


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[kteas1]

I have a can of wd40 sitting on the bench. Maybe it's a waste, but if I ever question a round, I use a bullet puller (hammer) to remove bullet. Dump powder, toss bullet, spray wd40 inside case to kill the primer, toss brass with primer with primer down and let it soak a few days. This kills a primer, motor oil, vegetable oil also works. Then toss it in the trash.

I never deprime a live primer. I don't shoot at them or mess with them. Oil soak and toss. Primer will explode and if you ever set one off accidently you will be suprised at its report.

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[nukeandjuke]

I have some soft-point, steel-case ammo that I am considering disassembling and reloading into brass cases.
Should I toss the primed steel cases in a bucket of water?
How do you address live primed cases?
The adolescent in me says to load 9 of them under 1 live round. At the range claim all 10 (or more) in one hole.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Id shoot the steel case. Reload the brass anuder round

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[JackEllis]

Impractical to neutralize them?? Really.... LOL

The long established method to neutralize primers is to just put a drop of vegetable oil in each case, or pop them all out and drop them in a container with a little oil - the vegetable oil soaks into the priming compound and renders them dead for good. Using water is only a temporary solution because when it evaporates and the priming compound completely dries out, it can get active again.

Come hang out on CastBoolits forum for everything you ever want to know about reloading...

This is from a post on the Pennsylvania Firearm Owner's Association web site that I dredged up when I was wondering about how to dispose of live primers that got messed up one way or another while priming brass and cannot be fired:

Neither water nor WD-40 will "deactivate" primers, as you have found out, since neither causes the explosive ingredients in primers (lead styphnate and tetrazene) to decompose. Rather, both water and WD only cause a decrease in the sensitivity of the primer mix. Once they dry back out, the will return to nearly their original sensivity.

The most common way to "deactivate", rather than "desensitize", primer mix used by the manufacturers is exposure to weak nitric acid, which actually breaks down the explosives. Another method is to soak them in a solution of stannous (tin) chloride. I suspect neither of these are things you have lying about under the sink in your kitchen.

Firing is probably the best way, although I strongly agree that doing this indoors is a really bad idea from an exposure standpoint. Also bear in mind to keep the firearm pointed in a safe direction, just as if you have a live round in it. #1, you may mistakenly HAVE a live round. #2, there will be very hot gases and particles of burning aluminum projected out of the barrel.

PS - clean the gun thoroughly when you're done as residue which would normally be swept from the barrel will remain and it will be dirtier than if you had fired live rounds.

I do not recommend ever putting live primers in with "regular trash" - someone down the line may find out the hard way there were explosives mixed in. Plus the fact it is likely to be illegal.

Have you tried vegetable oil or WD-40 and then allowed the primers to dry out for a few weeks before attempting to set them off?

As Tonyjr points out, a primer that gets set off in a landfill could ignite any embedded methane. It doesn't take much energy to do that.

[nedro]

Sometimes you got to step back and actually look at what you are doing.
Are these bullets and powder so intriguing to you, that you are willing to put that much effort and energy into simply switching cases? And for what?
You can't benefit from running a load ladder on consumables that you can't repurchase.

The things that make you go, Hmmmm.

So just to let you know. I once pulled 180 bullets out of factory ammo.
But there was a very good reason to do so.
Your reasoning, without further information, seems flawed.

Anyhow, back to the pulled bullets.
While I was waiting for my barrel, BGC and other upper parts for my build; I bought 200 rounds of Remington Ammo.
After building my rig, I found that the Remington ammo would not cycle my BCG. The web site even specifically stated that. But it was at the bottom of the page.
I called the guy who built the barrel and he suggested to send it back and he will enlarge the gas port on the barrel to accommodate the ammo.
I quickly decided that I was never going to buy this ammo again, And buying rounds instead of reloading was going to break my bank.

So, I simply wasn't going to throw away over $100.00 in ammo.
I pulled the bullets and redistributed the powder into a small batch for a ladder. I settled on 30.5 grains of factory Rem powder behind 115 grain Rem Factory 6.8SPC. For the left over brass, I made a couple of load ladders with different bullets and AA2200.
Man, those Hot Rems were accurate. And now I have 180 fire formed brass from that lot of Factory Ammo.
That made it worth it to do.
I'm just not seeing the benefit in what you are trying to do. Just shoot it and be done with it.