de priming

dzmstng1

I have a question.  I am de priming my shell casings and have some primers that will not come out.  Is there a trick to getting these out or should I just toss it.  Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Linefinder

I've never had a problem depriming, but I've always taken a a couple precautions when doing so.

1) WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. NOT OPTIONAL!  If you don't have 'em, don't do it.

2) Wear a heavy jacket.....A Carhartt canvas will serve nicely.

I've never had one go off during the process, but better safe than sorry.

After depriming. clean/resize the pockets. Afterall, something made them unusually sticky.

That's all I've got. I've done it many times without mishap.

Oh......don't attempt to reuse the primers. Soak them in oil for a couple days then dispose of properly.

Mike

Jayhawker

What, exactly, are you depriming? The answer might lie there...Some military ammo is still Berdan primed...

Big Al1

Look inside the case and if you see two flash holes it's Berdan primed, not reloadable!

Some_Mook

Linefinder said:

I've never had a problem depriming, but I've always taken a a couple precautions when doing so.

1) WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. NOT OPTIONAL!  If you don't have 'em, don't do it.

2) Wear a heavy jacket.....A Carhartt canvas will serve nicely.

I've never had one go off during the process, but better safe than sorry.

After depriming. clean/resize the pockets. Afterall, something made them unusually sticky.

That's all I've got. I've done it many times without mishap.

Oh......don't attempt to reuse the primers. Soak them in oil for a couple days then dispose of properly.

Mike

You are removing live primers from cases?  

Linefinder

Some_Mook said:

Linefinder said:

I've never had a problem depriming, but I've always taken a a couple precautions when doing so.

1) WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. NOT OPTIONAL!  If you don't have 'em, don't do it.

2) Wear a heavy jacket.....A Carhartt canvas will serve nicely.

I've never had one go off during the process, but better safe than sorry.

After depriming. clean/resize the pockets. Afterall, something made them unusually sticky.

That's all I've got. I've done it many times without mishap.

Oh......don't attempt to reuse the primers. Soak them in oil for a couple days then dispose of properly.

Mike

You are removing live primers from cases?  

Yes. I've done it many times. although as a caviet, I've never even seen a Berdan primer, much less deprimed one.

I guess if it has 2 flash holes, I'd chunk it.

If 1...I'd follow my advise above and give it a try.

Mike






i

GunNut

dzmstng1 said:

I have a question.  I am de priming my shell casings and have some primers that will not come out.  Is there a trick to getting these out or should I just toss it.  Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Some military brass has the primers crimped in so they require extra “energy”.  After you deprime you need to swage the primer pocket to make it easier to reload in the future.

DrawbarFlats

Were you shooting them out of a 'polished' Colt? 

Some_Mook

Linefinder said:

Some_Mook said:

Linefinder said:

I've never had a problem depriming, but I've always taken a a couple precautions when doing so.

1) WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. NOT OPTIONAL!  If you don't have 'em, don't do it.

2) Wear a heavy jacket.....A Carhartt canvas will serve nicely.

I've never had one go off during the process, but better safe than sorry.

After depriming. clean/resize the pockets. Afterall, something made them unusually sticky.

That's all I've got. I've done it many times without mishap.

Oh......don't attempt to reuse the primers. Soak them in oil for a couple days then dispose of properly.

Mike

You are removing live primers from cases?  

Yes. I've done it many times. although as a caviet, I've never even seen a Berdan primer, much less deprimed one.

I guess if it has 2 flash holes, I'd chunk it.

If 1...I'd follow my advise above and give it a try.

Mike






i

If I was salvaging brass from loaded rounds, I'd chamber the case after dumping the powder and then pop the primer.  No risk of exploding a live primer with your decapper, and no need to soak the old primer in oil afterwards to make it inert.  But that's just me.  Much of the steelcased Russian ammo is Berdan primed.  Decapping them would be done with hydraulic pressure as opposed to using a decapping pin.  I am always amused by the trivia that Berdan was an American, yet the British adopted his design, and Boxer was a Brit, and we Americans chose his design.

Spk

What they said. ^^

Jayhawker

GunNut said:

dzmstng1 said:

I have a question.  I am de priming my shell casings and have some primers that will not come out.  Is there a trick to getting these out or should I just toss it.  Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Some military brass has the primers crimped in so they require extra “energy”.  After you deprime you need to swage the primer pocket to make it easier to reload in the future.

Truth...I deprimed 1K rounds of Lake City 7.62 brass...went through 3 decappers in the process...

bullsi1911

GunNut said:

dzmstng1 said:

I have a question.  I am de priming my shell casings and have some primers that will not come out.  Is there a trick to getting these out or should I just toss it.  Any help would be greatly appreciated 

Some military brass has the primers crimped in so they require extra “energy”.  After you deprime you need to swage the primer pocket to make it easier to reload in the future.

That’s my guess. Is this 5.56 brass?

JKP

Talking about fired brass or live primers?

JerryBobCo

Some_Mook said:

Linefinder said:

Some_Mook said:

Linefinder said:

I've never had a problem depriming, but I've always taken a a couple precautions when doing so.

1) WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. NOT OPTIONAL!  If you don't have 'em, don't do it.

2) Wear a heavy jacket.....A Carhartt canvas will serve nicely.

I've never had one go off during the process, but better safe than sorry.

After depriming. clean/resize the pockets. Afterall, something made them unusually sticky.

That's all I've got. I've done it many times without mishap.

Oh......don't attempt to reuse the primers. Soak them in oil for a couple days then dispose of properly.

Mike

You are removing live primers from cases?  

Yes. I've done it many times. although as a caviet, I've never even seen a Berdan primer, much less deprimed one.

I guess if it has 2 flash holes, I'd chunk it.

If 1...I'd follow my advise above and give it a try.

Mike






i

If I was salvaging brass from loaded rounds, I'd chamber the case after dumping the powder and then pop the primer.  No risk of exploding a live primer with your decapper, and no need to soak the old primer in oil afterwards to make it inert.  But that's just me.  Much of the steelcased Russian ammo is Berdan primed.  Decapping them would be done with hydraulic pressure as opposed to using a decapping pin.  I am always amused by the trivia that Berdan was an American, yet the British adopted his design, and Boxer was a Brit, and we Americans chose his design.

It's not just you, Mook.  I do the same.  Have you ever fired off a round that has only a primer in it while it was dark.  I was amazed at the fire column that came out of the barrel.

I don't recall ever trying to deprime a live primer.

dzmstng1 (or is it you, bobbert), exactly what are you trying to deprime?

Varmintmist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qH8pBybcTg&feature=emb_logo

I have popped thousands of crimped military primers and never lost a pin or had a problem. I have popped many live primers out without a problem.

If you are having a problem and have to add a lot of force to the press, it is berdan primed or your decapping pin is bent and/or off center.

In the OP's case, your sizing/decapping die may not be set up correctly, or there is a lack of lube inside of the neck, and you are having a problem with sizing, not de priming.

Diver43

May sound like a dumb question, but why would you want to remove out a good primer?

Varmintmist

Diver43 said:

May sound like a dumb question, but why would you want to remove out a good primer?

Because you caught a split neck, or got a Winchester mixed in with your match brass, or you crushed the neck when seating  bullet...

Diver43

Varmintmist said:

Diver43 said:

May sound like a dumb question, but why would you want to remove out a good primer?

Because you caught a split neck, or got a Winchester mixed in with your match brass, or you crushed the neck when seating  bullet...

Thanks.  I wasn't thinking of damage beyond that reloading stage

JerryBobCo

As I recall, the single time I removed an unfired primer was when I loaded up a .243 load with the wrong dose of the wrong powder,  After firing one shot, it became apparent what I had done.  I even wrote down the load and could see the mistake I had made.

I pulled the bullet using a collett bullet puller, dumped the powder, but didn't trust that the primers were ok.  Over caution on my part, but primers just weren't that expensive, so I fired all of the ones I had loaded.

Less learned.

tennmike

I've got about a half dozen Berdan primer depriming rods stashed around here somewhere from back in the mists of time when Berdan primers could be bought as easily as the Boxer variety. They are for hand depriming only, not for use on a  press as you have to align the two pins on the end with the holes in the case head, and knock the primer out with a hammer. I know for sure that I have 7x57, 7..92x57, and .303 Brit. Berdan deprimer rods. Milsurp rifles and ammo were cheap in the '60s, and reloading them was just a natural extension of that. Got the primer pocket swages, too, for use on a press.
Funny thing was, if you left the swaged pocket unchanged (unswaged), a large rifle Boxer primer fit tight in the hole, so that was an option with cast lead bullet loads, and wheel weight lead was free for hauling off to melt and pour your own bullets. I shot a ton of lead bullets that way.
You had to watch your fired cases closely as the Berdan primers from old milsurp ammo was corrosive and required some serious case cleaning, as did the rifles after shooting. Hot soapy water for both jobs.