How to remove unfired primers

[bassboss]

Had a little snafu with some .40 brass and I need to remove the primers that have not been fired. If I use the decapper in the sizing die on my press, will the rod detonate the primer?

[Chief-7700]

Why do you need to remove them?? Another way to reuse the primed brass is to remove the decapping pin assembly from your sizing die. Run the primed brass through the sizing die and load as usual.

[Bill Steele]

Had a little snafu with some .40 brass and I need to remove the primers that have not been fired. If I use the decapper in the sizing die on my press, will the rod detonate the primer?

I agree with Chief on removing the decapper and reusing the primed brass.

If you have to remove them for other reasons, just decap them they won't detonate. Some people don't reuse decapped primers but I always reuse ones I decap, they always work fine.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

Assuming you don't want to use the ideas above, you can fire them then decap normally.
I've decapped a few primed 40 S&W casings before and I've not had one fire yet. As a precaution however, I wear eye protection when I perform that operation.

[meaty-btz]

Slow and Steady, that is all you need to do and it will not detonate. I have ALWAYS reused decapped Primers. Even ones that I decapped years ago all work, not one misfire, ever in thousands of rounds.

Waste not, want not. Care should always be taken, however.

[XDRoX]

De-cap as normal. No way a rod can detonate a primer. I've de-capped hundreds of live primers. Never had one go off.

[joelogic]

No way a rod can detonate a primer...Never had one go off.

Maybe not safe advice. I have not had one go off either but you wont see me making a full speed cycle on a live primer.

[five.five-six]

wear eye protection

[bassboss]

before I figured out the proper way to set the expansion die, I flared the heck out of 100 cases. I tried re-sizing and loading a couple rounds, but the cases basically got really stretched out lengthwise, so the upper 2/3rds of the case was a wider diameter than the lower 1/3. This didn't seem very save to me, and I didn't want to have a bunch of non-uniform cases, so I just threw them all away, but I was wondering if I could at least save the primers.

[stilly]

Maybe not safe advice. I have not had one go off either but you wont see me making a full speed cycle on a live primer.

Well just in case you do,

I DID! I did it on accident though. I was setting it up and testing how things work and accidently knocked out the large rifle primer out of the 44 mag casing.

OOPS. It knocked the primer into TWO pieces though as it tumbled down the tube from the Lee Classic Turret. I put it back together, put it back in the primer thingy and resized/reprimed the case again.

If I was aware of what I was doing I would have not done it but I found out afterwards that it is a bit harder then you think to set them off that way. I still do it slowly though...

I treat primers like guns, I NEVER prime a shell I do not intend to build and shoot...

[stilly]

before I figured out the proper way to set the expansion die, I flared the heck out of 100 cases. I tried re-sizing and loading a couple rounds, but the cases basically got really stretched out lengthwise, so the upper 2/3rds of the case was a wider diameter than the lower 1/3. This didn't seem very save to me, and I didn't want to have a bunch of non-uniform cases, so I just threw them all away, but I was wondering if I could at least save the primers.

Yep. Coulda shoulda. I toss my unusable brass into a seperate container so that I can go back and get it if needed.

[XDRoX]

Maybe not safe advice. I have not had one go off either but you wont see me making a full speed cycle on a live primer.

Primers will not go off by ramming it full speed with a decapping rod. No way in hell. Belief it or not a primer won't even go off if rammed with a rod on the business end unless fully seated into a case. It's part of the design. It's why you get a misfire if a primer is not fully seated. The first strike fully seats the primer engaging it into fire mode. The second strike detonates it.

It's just the way they're designed.

[22popnsplat]

I have removed a pretty good number of live primers , More than i would care to admit to . I have never set one off , I bring the case into contact with decapping pin gently and then use a slow steady increase in pressure to pop out the primer.

[bassboss]

I will give it a try this weekend. I set off two primers loading .223s on my first batch. I had to check my pants after that luckily I followed the manual's advice to wear safety goggles. It'd be a pain to try to reload (or shoot) blind.

[morrow]

De-cap as normal. No way a rod can detonate a primer. I've de-capped hundreds of live primers. Never had one go off.

+1!