What is the best way to kill primers (without firing them.) I have read WD40 or oil. What is best and how long do I have to soak them. Is there something better? Can I use the chemical in the cases, or do the primers have to be out for it to work effectively.

There was a law enforcement bulletin couple decades back against "hosing down" the handgun with WD 40. Seems officers in prep for inspection would spray the gun with ammo loaded, wipe it down, and holster it before inspection/shift and there was no shortage of "non fires" when that ammo was "fired."

I would guess a squirt of WD 40 would do it. Primers are weird beasts. I used Lock Ease inside the mouth of cases before sizing/expanding, new cases in which I had foolishly seated primers. Lost most of the primers. !!

Oil will do it but more messy.

I have also read that they changed the formula of WD40. Old propellant was propane, now butane but doubt that would make much difference.

My late father used to spray his heel spurs to reduce pain. Seemed to work o.k. Guess it is supposed to have DMSO too. Luck. Happy Memmy Day.

The only way to guarantee a dead primer is to fire it. A while back I soaked primed cases with water, WD40 and motor oil overnite. I drained them, let them sit overnite and then "fired" them. Failure rate was just about 50% regarless of the "killer" used.

+1 on firing as the only way to be sure! You MAY be able to kill them by dropping a bit of vineger onto the primer hole and letting it sit overnight,followed by some oil BUT even that may not work. Modern primers are made with a film of some kind that protects the compound from contaminates and it REALLY WORKS! Better safe than sorry! Have a great day.

With primers at $60-$70 per 1000 why kill them? I`d use them for foulers or plinkers......

Why kill them or is this another one of them i'm afraid to punch them out posts.

Primers were not made to fire from the primer side 2 they need a hard strike on the solid surfice of the cup.

Could the punched out primers be reused, or would they fit too loosely?

quote:

Originally posted by greenjoy:
Could the punched out primers be reused, or would they fit too loosely?

Yes I’ve pushed out (different than “punching” out in my mind) primers before and reused them. I use them in practice rounds.
Although they don’t seat as tight as virgin primers they are tight enough.

When you’re reclaiming primers do it with the respect that explosives deserve. You don’t “punch” them out, you push them out gently. 1) You don’t want to detonate the primer while you’re removing it and 2) you don’t want to damage or loosen the anvil.

As a general thought (not aimed at you greenjoy or anyone in particular), if you need to reclaim primers on a regular basis, I think you need to reevaluate your reloading practices.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
The only way to guarantee a dead primer is to fire it. A while back I soaked primed cases with water, WD40 and motor oil overnite. I drained them, let them sit overnite and then "fired" them. Failure rate was just about 50% regarless of the "killer" used.

I have been reading on the internet for 10 years that oil kills them.
Now I read this post.
The internet need more posts, like this one, based on first hand experience.

I read that in a gun rag and tried it with WD 40. It's true; not only do some resist contamination but the rest came back to life after the WD-40 evaporated out of them. Even motor oil will eventually dry out to the extent that primers will become viable again.

As far as reusing primers, the gas pressure will seal the cup. It only needs to be tight enough to stay in place.

Decontamination of equipment and scrap is essential in order to ensure that explosive residues
no longer remain on the material. Attention to this process can significantly decrease safety hazards
to workers and the public. Several instances of improperly treated range scrap sent to scrap yards for
recycling have resulted in deaths in association with unplanned explosions. Various chemical and
mechanical methods are available for the cleaning and decontamination of equipment and scrap
metal. One such method is hot gas decontamination. Demonstrations have shown that a 99.9999
percent decontamination of structural components is possible using this method. Residue from reactive and/or ignitable compounds is volatilized or decomposed during the process when gas is
heated to 600 F for 1 hour. Any off-gases are destroyed in a thermal oxidizer, and emissions are
monitored to ensure compliance with requirements. Specifications state that the furnace can accept
a maximum of 3,000 pounds of contaminated materials containing less than 1 pound of total
explosives. Up to four batch runs can be processed by a two-person crew every 24 hours



Base hydrolysis is a chemical method of decontaminating material of reactive and/or ignitable
compounds. A tank of heated sodium hydroxide is prepared at a concentration of 3 moles per liter.
The high pH and high temperature have the effect of breaking apart any reactive and/or ignitable
compounds on the scrap metal. Following decontamination, hydrochloric acid is added to lower the
pH to a range of 6 to 9. The cleaned material has no detectable level of reactive and/or ignitable
contaminants following the procedure. This process is scalable to accommodate a variable
throughput. Other decontamination methods include pressure washing, steam cleaning, and incineration .


Incineration
Incineration is primarily used to treat soils containing reactive and/or ignitable compounds.
In addition, small quantities of MEC, bulk explosives, and debris containing reactive and/or ignitable
material may be treated using incineration. Most MEC is not suitable for incineration. This technique
may be used for small-caliber ammunition (less than 0.50 caliber), but even the largest incinerators
with strong reinforcement cannot handle the detonations of very large munitions. Like OB/OD,
incineration is not widely accepted by regulators and the public because of concerns over theenvironmental and health impacts of incinerator emissions and residues.


U.S. Army Environmental Center (USAEC)
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010-5401
Tel: (800) USA-3845
http://aec.army.mil

So in conclusion Caustic soda,Lye IE: Sodium Hydroxide bath !.





I've not tired this yet but it may in fact work just fine ?. Place a cartridge with a live primer

in a plastic pail or plastic bowl which has Baking Soda dissolved in it leave it for 10 minutes .

Now remove it set it up right with about half the solution in the cartridge , pour in a teaspoon Vinegar

watch the volcano erupt . Let set 5 minutes wash it off with fresh water blow it dry .

Then try and fire the primer !. Post your results .

I am 58, but when I was 5, I carried around vials of baking soda and vinegar.

It still works for ultra sound and brass cleaning.

It does not do anything special for Mauser action cleaning.

Do I need male or female moles Doc?

Two Female too one Male mole generally will excite the process sufficiently !.


Hey ; Didn't write the dam DoD manual I just borrowed a little blurp from it !.



Chemical engineers use the concept extensively, but the unit is rather small for industrial use. For convenience in avoiding conversions, American engineers adopted the pound-mole or lb-mol, which is defined is the number of entities in 12 lb of 12-C. One lb-mol is equal to 453.592 37 mol.

In the metric system, chemical engineers used the kilogram-mole or kg-mol, which is defined as the number of entities in 12 kg of 12-C, and often referred to the mole as the gram-mole, written g-mol, when dealing with laboratory data.

However modern chemical engineering practice is to use the kilomole, (kmol) which is identical to the kilogram-mole.

Rather than teach chemistry on line for fun I'll just save all of you the book work !.

Soak the Primer in Kroil . I never asked bbell why he wanted dead primers or how many he was

talking about . I assumed he wanted to save the case in which it was in or was it free ???.

Doc, don't be cruel. Tell the folks the significance of the mol! Gram-molecular mass, number of molecules in a mol, how many moles of oxygen will combine with how many moles of hydrogen to form how many moles of water!!

quote:

Originally posted by bbell:
What is the best way to kill primers (without firing them.) I have read WD40 or oil. What is best and how long do I have to soak them. Is there something better? Can I use the chemical in the cases, or do the primers have to be out for it to work effectively.

Depends on the primer, Federal primers are easily killed, others are not as easily defeated.

http://www.predatormastersforu...om/killprimers.shtml

Killing a bare primer's pretty easy.


Killing a primer in loaded ammunition is something else: Box o' Truth

quote:

303Guy
one of us


Posted 29 May 2009 15:04 Hide Post
Doc, don't be cruel. Tell the folks the significance of the mol! Gram-molecular mass, number of molecules in a mol, how many moles of oxygen will combine with how many moles of hydrogen to form how many moles of water!! Big Grin


Regards
303Guy

303 Guy ; I can't be letting the secrets of the Universe out !. My fellow collages would banish me

from the realm .

Besides I liked the one about how many moles it would take !.

a related note for what it's worth...

I did an experiment with smokeless powder once this year.

Had a small amount (less than 1/4 pound) I wanted to get rid of. It was 4350 if I remember correctly.

Poured it in a neat pile outside in the dirt......let it sit for 10 days (three of which were rain)

It got soaked, dried, soaked and dried at least 3 times.

After that, touched a match to it, and it went up in flame just like it would out of the can.

If you just have to do something besides scatter them in a lake or creek, pull out the old turkey frier and deep fat fry them (outside). Not too much oil and use a tight fitting lid; you want it hot enough to detonate them. Strain and serve over aluminium cans tossed with a bit of pull-tops.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
If you just have to do something besides scatter them in a lake or creek, pull out the old turkey frier and deep fat fry them (outside). Not too much oil and use a tight fitting lid; you want it hot enough to detonate them. Strain and serve over aluminium cans tossed with a bit of pull-tops.

If you want to go fat free, you could do 'em in the microwave.

You know, that would be a hoot! Too bad they cost so much now; I'd like to try that.

quote:

Originally posted by greenjoy:
Could the punched out primers be reused, or would they fit too loosely?

The punched-out primers fit back in perfectly well.......

Soak primers in kerosene overnight or in acetone for an hour. This will cause the explosive to be sufficiently lubricated to desensitise it to heat, shock or friction. You can then safely burn the primers in an open fire immediately after taking them out of the solvent .

This is an old Bomb Squad trick for desensitising and disposing of unstable explosives that have crystalized and have become highly sensitive to heat shock or friction.

Well you know, emron just fed his to his dog! Seemed to work OK.

Brake fluid and prolonged soaking - way longer than overnight , like days .....

FOURTH OF JULY - HELLO?? If you need further help go to utube - red neck 4th of July

With them out of the brass, I've soaked them in WD-40 for overnight, then holding them with a pair of needle nosed pliers cup side facing up on my bench, I've taken a pair of tweezers and gently worked the anvil part out of the cup and discarded the anvil in the trash.

I've only tried it once. It worked fine. I then seated the "empty" cup in a piece of brass and tested it. No "bang".

I used some of these "dummy primers" to make some dummy cartridges for a couple of cartridge boards.

What about digging a hole some two/three feet deep somewhere in the garden and put them in? I think the primers will be harmless after a few months in wetty soil.

Should it be environmental dangerous to throw them in open (salt) seawater?

Jan

i am assuming you have them in cases..

don't put anything in the case that you will have to clean out later

why bother, really, when you now have primed brass for at least practice loads.