Setting off a primer

[CSACANNONEER]

Crushed a few primers and slammed on a few when the press handle slipped out of my hand but never set 1 off. Don't let mis-information & imagination stop you from hand loading. Always wear safety glass and you should be fine.

I set a couple off by hammer to show my son how it works. Used primed-only cases to shoot .22 pellets out of 223Rem rifle at home. Sounded loud using hammer but primed cases pushing the .22 pellet sounded like air gun pop out of the rifle barrel. I also used modified primed cases to check trigger jobs. The flash holes have to be enlarged so the primer blast doesn't blow back primer cup and lock the revolver cylinder.

What kind of velocities were you getting?

[gottarollwithit]

I think a lot of primer detonations while loading have a lot to do with your brass, the equipment you use, and how careful you are.

Hand primering tools feel pretty darn safe and you have a lot of control/feel over primer depth.
On a single stage press, you're gonna size, bell, seat, prime, etc all in individual processes. This allows you to check your brass, primer pockets, etc
On turret or progressives, all of this is done without removing the brass from the machine, so you don't inspect the brass as much

I was rushing while using a Lee turret press loading up for .45 and popped a primer. Twas loud! It really breaks the peaceful silence of reloading and shocks the heck outta ya. I no longer rush and respect the apparatus more.

But this brings us back to the quality of equipment that you use. The press i was using didn't have a lotta feel for primer seating and i was using mixed brass that had pretty inconsistent primer pockets. After examining the spent primed brass, either i smooshed the primer up into the primer pocket waaay too far and too hard, or after depriming there was something left in the primer pocket which ignited the live primer upon seating.

All in all, i wouldn't stress about this if i were you. Be careful and you'll be just fine. The chance of popping a primer is pretty low and even if you do, it usually doesn't result in injury. Your ears will be ringing though...

[krzgoat]

I've only had one go off in the press and that was when a piece of 45 NT brass got mixed in. Popped the large primer trying to seat it into the 45 NT brass. Was loud and startled me but nothing else.

I always wear eye protection and since then I wear ear protection and make sure I am extra careful sorting out the brass. Rechecked all my brass after this happened and this was the only one that slipped through.

[TMC]

I've set of a few on my dillow press. I was loading 223 and a couple of crimped pockets caught me out. The primer was tight going in, I leaned a little to hard, the primer went in sideway really quick and BANG. Its no big deal, its really loud and gets your attention but no damage or injury. The press is set up so a detonation will not ignite other primers or powder.

In 50,000+ rounds of loading 2 seems pretty good odds

[Bug Splat]

Never had one go off on accident before and I've crushed a few primers. I have shot a couple primed brass case (no powder, no bullets) in my guns before just to see what it sounded like and yeah they are loud. If you were not expecting it I could see a clean pair of pants in your future.

[bubbapug1]

Its rare, but Lee in his book, which should be titled "I'm a spreader of more crap than a manure truck" tries to scare you into thinking only his primer feeders are safe and that ALL tube primer feeders aren't.

I crushed, dropped, stepped on, hit with a hammer and took a torch to a lot of primers...they are tough to set off except in a gun. When I crush one in a side feed or in a bad case or when one goes in backward I try to destroy them...its not that easy...the firing pins must hit them very hard to set them off from what I can see.

Don't worry, but wear safety glasses as soon as the primer locker is opened and keep them on until the last shell is put in its case.

[pdq_wizzard]

I have used a vice to see if I could get a primer to go BANG! guess what it?won't happen (unless you are prone to getting struck by lighting / having a very bad day)

you have to hit the primer to get it to go off, I have had mil brass that I have not reamed the primer pockets and smashed the hell of out of the primer and never had one blow.

with all that I sill have at lest sun glasses on when I seat primers.

[joefreas]

I have been reloading for 23 years and have yet to have had one go off unintentionally. I reload pistol, shotgun, and .50DTC/BMG ammo and have smashed all types of primers and havent had one go off unexpectedly yet. Although I had some BMG brass with very tight primer pockets that while priming I wore eye AND EAR protection. I guess I thought there was a pretty good chance of one going off but still didn't happen.

[Acorn556]

Well it seems kind of rare but I'm wondering how much pressure you'd need to set one off. If you cant get one to go in the vice but you can get one on the press what kind of pressures are we talking about? I can imagine hitting a primer with a hammer will set it off and probably make a lot of noise.

[gottarollwithit]

There's no definitive answer to that one. Every situation is gonna vary. Smooshing one from the side, bottom, or half in the primer pocket/half out is gonna require different force/velocity to set it off. I wouldn't sweat it. If you're respectful of what you're doing and what harm that it can result in, you're likely going to be fine.

[M47_Dragon]

I've crushed a few, but never popped one off.

I reload using a Dillon SDB. The end of the prime stroke has a very distinct feel to it when the primer is seated correctly. If anything other than that "feeling" happens, I know to immediately cease and desist.

[mrkubota]

I thought about reloading and had a friend say this happens. I'm wondering how often this happens, how it happens, how loud it is, and if it's ever happpened to anyone here. I couldn't find out too much addressing these few questions through searches.

I've been reloading for 31yrs and it's only happened once for me... unfortunately, it was a big .50BMG primer. VERY loud and a nice flame out of the case mouth!

Don't really know what set it off... no difficulty noted during the seating process, it just went off just before seating fully. No unusual marks/dents noted after removing it either.

It was one of the Russian no-lead 'green' primers that PMC used to sell.

[huckberry668]

What kind of velocities were you getting?

No idea... can't be more than 1000fps.

[Voo]

ive crushed so many due to military crimped nato primer pockets.. in all this time, i've only ever had 1 go off.. that was a federal primer and it was because I was deliberately trying to go fast..

just remember it's not necessarily how "hard' you crush a primer (ive crushed many without any 'POP'"..its how fast they're struck.. you need the material to spark..like a match.

its going to be loud, mostly due to being confined to an indoor space.. i was using my dillon 650 so for my particular scenario, there wasn't much danger of getting anything else to ignite..

[AEC1]

Hmm everyone who had one go off on accident, was drinking the blue cool aid... I am just saying...