Who has utilized used primers.

[Lenny Foffa]

I have used primers that I have removed from my own hand loaded cases , when the brass case would not allow my bolt to close, then after additional FL sizing , I reseated those same primers back in to their cases. No issues . Now when I buy a batch of used Brass, ( 300 Wby. Mag Cases) after my normal FL sizing, and S/S Steel pin washing, I try each one on my rifle , and also use the Hornady Shoulder Bump Gauge. If the bolt will not close, which seems to happen a lot, I have to bump the shoulders back, until the bolt will closes . THEN I clean those cases and then Prime them. Id Like to completely stop punching out good primers and then reseating them , as much as [possible. Waisted Time.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Years ago I purchased 5000 de-milled Federal cases, all were primed. I full-length sized each case depriming in the process. I saved all the primers in a jar that came with my vacuum sealer. When the jar was nearly full I sealed it up using the vacuum sealer. When I could not and still can not find CCI200 primers I decided to give those saved primers a try. I took 100 primers out of the jar and inspected them. Only one looked hokie so I discarded it. All of these primers seated normally. I put a few in the rifle and snapped off the primers and they fired just fine and upon inspection showed nothing abnormal, I loaded the remaining cases with my proven hand load and all 90+ fired perfectly and produced the same consistently tiny groups that I am used to. Has anyone ever tried this? I had my doubts, but as they say, necessity is the father of invention. They seem to work just fine. And I have around 4800 primers that appear to be okay to use.

I must say, IMHO, your lucky you haven't had those primers hurt or kill you. It is extremely unsafe to put those in any container without separating them. Much less re-installing them. The primer compound is actually easy to fracture. Thers no way to ensure their integrity. One thing is for sure, I would not ever trust them to use when protecting me or mine. Re-using them is something I will not ever do regardless of my circumstances. (Unless I'm starving). It's just to dangerous to me. As I said, this is my opinion. I pray you don't get hurt or killed. Please take care.

 

[coyote wacker]

I have used 1000's of primers second hand never in a load for hunting or defense....have several 1000's to use up....they seam to work OK....

 

[highfinblue]

I brought reclaimed primers from a ammo manufacturer and had no trouble at all when can buy fed 210 match for 40.00 a thousand you can't turn them down

I used to buy them for less than that lol; days gone by

 

[highfinblue]

Heck, I've had new large magnum CCI primers misfire. I have always been leery of something like that and this is the first time I've seen any one experiment with it.
Great info for this forum and a good topic with the primer issues.

I had some Lake City 223 ammo misfire recently, two of them on the same day matter of fact. They have been stored in the sealed ammo can I bought them in, kept in climate-controlled environment, but I'm pretty leery of them now. I recently bought a left-hand CZ in .223 and grabbed them to get it sighted in before I hand loaded anything. I ran them both through the rifle a few times trying to get them to go off, but they would not. They're a little old, but they're not that old. I still have primers from the box of stuff a friend and I bought off an older fellow getting out of reloading almost forty years ago, and those primers still work fine, and they were old when we bought them.

 

[akdad]

I have to admit I had never even thought of reusing primers after depriming. If I couldn't make it work without removing them I just pitched em I guess I assumed they would be bad in the grand scheme of things that's probably not my biggest mistakes

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

Hmmm, interesting thread. It would have never occurred to me to attempt to reuse a recycled primer, especially one I punched out with the de-capping pin in the resizing die. I just assumed they'd be damaged or destroyed. I think I'll stick with new ones but it's good to know all the possibilities.

 

[crystalgayleguy]

I used to buy them for less than that lol; days gone by

So did I but this was six months ago

 

[Hugnot]

My last adventure with de-capping live primers involved de-capping over 250 primed .45 Auto brass that were loaded with CCI 300 (large pistol) primers, 3-4 years ago.

I used a Lee de-cap die. After pushing out 100 pr so I noticed an accumulation of yellow crystalline powder on my RCBS Rock Chucker press & a smaller amount of the yellow powder mixed with live primers in the primer catch tray attached to the press. I stopped. I put a tiny amount of the yellow powder in a sink & exposed it to a lit match & watched it flare up. I then put a tiny amount of yellow powder on a smooth hammer head face & then wacked it with another hammer & watched it flare up.

I then discarded the primers but won't say how I did it because my disposal method might not be approved.

The commercial fix for neutralizing lead styphnate is stuff called Munirem. Those pockets in primer trays are intended to prevent chain reaction explosions. Federal trays might be the safest.

 

[emp1953]

Hmmm, interesting thread. It would have never occurred to me to attempt to reuse a recycled primer, especially one I punched out with the de-capping pin in the resizing die. I just assumed they'd be damaged or destroyed. I think I'll stick with new ones but it's good to know all the possibilities.

I would stick with new ones if they weren't more scarce than unicorn poop.

 

[Dean2]

I would stick with new ones if they weren't more scarce than unicorn poop.

I grew up in the 60s. We didn't have enough money in those days to waste anything. You figured out how to do everything at the lowest cost possible. Factory ammo was relatively expensive and if you could get it to shoot 2-3" it was considered great ammo.

My dad was in the Air Force. They were issued 12 gauge target ammo, we used that for bird hunting as well as shooting skeet, 22 RF and 308 Ball ammo to practice with. We repurposed a lot of that 308. A lot we pulled the FMJ bullets, weighted the powder and replace the bullet with 150 grain Hornady spire points. Some of the other ammo we pulled the bullet s and used the powder and primers to load other cartridges. We used the FMJs in 300 Win Mags to shoot coyotes at long distance without damaging the fur. We used to get surplus BLC2 and 4831 for 50 cents a pound, in 20 pound kegs. Some of that had been in storage from before WW2 started.

Very little in the way of components cannot be re-used and made to work very well.

 

[asd9055]

I so happy to see all of you safely reusing those primers. Almost 40 years ago, the man that was mentoring me in Reloading Was so safety oriented, he swill drop some oil in before popping them off the neutralize them. We always discarded them if we had to take them off. Happy to see they can be used

 

[Dean2]

I so happy to see all of you safely reusing those primers. Almost 40 years ago, the man that was mentoring me in Reloading Was so safety oriented, he swill drop some oil in before popping them off the neutralize them. We always discarded them if we had to take them off. Happy to see they can be used

Your mentor had a false sense of security. Put a drop of oil in, let it sit 24 hours. 9 out of 10 still go bang, often 10 out of 10. Tried it with many different fluids, water, alcohol, hoppes 9, wd 40. Pretty much the same result.

 

[asd9055]

Your mentor had a false sense of security. Put a drop of oil in, let it sit 24 hours. 9 out of 10 still go bang, often 10 out of 10. Tried it with many different fluids, water, alcohol, hoppes 9, wd 40. Pretty much the same result.

We never had one pop off with Hoppes 9. But I never tested firing them after