JayCee49
Active Member
"There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers."
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Dumb reloading question
- Thread starter hammer111
- Start date
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I re-use decapped live primers in my fireform loads. Yes, they are a touch smaller in diameter but still seat tight if the brass is new.
I bought Wilson neck dies for exactly this. If I pull bullets or used the wrong bushing, etc., I'll run those cases through a neck die so as not to touch the shoulder again in the FL die.
FYI, for those who are very OCD about precise charge weights. I have pulled bullets, emptied powder and deprimed live primers to find a kernel of powder crushed into the primer. Even after forcefully tapping the case neck on the wood bench to get all the powder out I still find a kernel in nearly half the deprimed cases. When I'm nearing the end of my load development and need to use one of those cases i always deprime and use a fresh primer to make sure there are no kernels stuck to the primer. Why use an FX scale and weigh to the kernel if one may already be in the case?
I've had to resize some after fouling up a reloading operation/. I didn't completely remove the decapping stem simply backing it out far enough so as to not touch the primer but still allowing the neck to be worked by the expander section of the decapping assembly. I too have decapped live primers but SLOWLY and then I dumped them into a can of used motor oil. to "kill" them.
geocodyrgia
Well-Known Member
only thing I'll add is to agree that the primers can be pushed out, no big deal and add that they can be reused. I've been in the same spot where I primed before neck sizing but then realized that a chunk of the cases were going to get tested with the neck sizing so I pushed out the primers (as said above, don't slam them and you'll be fine, I've yet to have one go off and have removed probably 100 or more) and then reused the same primers back into the cases. They worked just fine and the beat I can tell had absolutely zero impact on precision of the loaded round. At least I'm not good enough to shoot the difference anyways.
As with any time playing with explosives make sure you're wearing at least eye protection in case the worst happens, and the suggestion for sizing without the recapping stem is a solid piece of advice, but just wanted to add the above to add a voice acknowledging that you're not going to blow yourself up by removing and reusing primers and I haven't found them to be any more loose than original seating (surprisingly).
Coming from someone who saw an elk out the passenger side window a couple times, and has never had to worry about "the shot of a lifetime", but has killed a fair number of paper plates at moderate east coast distances.
As with any time playing with explosives make sure you're wearing at least eye protection in case the worst happens, and the suggestion for sizing without the recapping stem is a solid piece of advice, but just wanted to add the above to add a voice acknowledging that you're not going to blow yourself up by removing and reusing primers and I haven't found them to be any more loose than original seating (surprisingly).
Coming from someone who saw an elk out the passenger side window a couple times, and has never had to worry about "the shot of a lifetime", but has killed a fair number of paper plates at moderate east coast distances.
Your good done it before
Last edited:
rewiltshire
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 198
I have always worried about this on my black powder loads. "Would a kernel of powder in the primer cause a non uniform firing"? I know it might sound crazy, but it was a question I had. A couple years ago at Quigley I got into a discussion with a group of old time shooters. One told me that he cut a wad from a newpaper and placed it at the bottom of the case before he loaded the powder. As most of us uses a wad over the powder, between the bullet – powder anyway, I just used my cutting punch on some old newspaper to make my over the flash hole wad. Now these are straight walled cases, not bottle neck, its not the hard to do. We all seem to have our "special ways" and I will admit to being a crazy old coot.
BUT my routine for loading for black powder is a lot different that loading smokeless!
hammer111
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- Dec 14, 2013
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- 489
I have already done that thanks for the help
Just pull the decapping pin from your die and resize withpout decapping
Benman73
Well-Known Member
I've done the same thing on 50 6.5x47 cases that I sized through my 308 die by mistake. I just slowly deprimed them with the correct full length die to pop out the primers without issue. I never noticed any degradation of accuracy on those rounds.
The dumbest thing I've done is (nearly) fully prep 50 308 cases, then meticulously hand weigh each powder charge, which took forever, then when I picked up the first case out of the reloading block to seat the bullet, I saw powder trickle out. Doh!! Forgot to prime them first. Glad I was using ball powder that time so I could see my mistake right then and there. But what a mess I made.
20 years of reloading and you are bound to make a mistake. Just double or triple check the real important stuff like the powder. I always keep the powder and bullets I'm using beside the scale and keep all others under the table.
Did the same thing LOL
