Some folks say never to handle a primer with your fingers...while others say that is an old-wives-tale.

Question:
Can primers be harmed by handling them with your fingers?

Choices:
Yes...stuff on your fingers is a big problem.
Yes...for other reason stated below.
No...picking primers up with your fingers and loading them into a priming tool is perfectly acceptable.

 

I have always found it simple to avoid handling primers because the little bastards are too small for my fingers. It really is not necessary to mess with them. I have never had a dead primer so I couldn't lay blame on the finger oils for any duds. I have not handled a lot of them, but I have been doing this for fifty odd years.

Well I voted NO because I have loaded thousands and thousands of rounds that my fingers touched the primers before loading. I will say I keep my hands clean and free of lube while handling them. Sure if your hands have goo all over them then you might mess up a primer. Long team storage would be where I might have a little worry. So far the only duds I've had have been factory ammo.

Seems I have read that primers now have a coating on them that is impervious to hand oils and such.
When I started reloading, it was a major no-no to handle primers with your hands and so I developed techniques that kept the primers away from my hands. I still use those techniques but I understand it's no longer neccessary.

New primers are tough, they’re not as easy to kill as some people might think, even when you’re trying to kill them. Like Wasbeeman, I’m old school and I still make it a habit to not handle them with my fingers.

The possibility exists, therefore I act as if they might get contaminated (but won't hesitate to use clean fingers to flip one or two) and transfer from box to RCBS tool tray without touching them. Another reason is I don't want to get overly exposed in case "60 Minutes" reports a hazard. In the case of loading, being overly cautious is no liability.

Handling primers with my fingers, which may be smeared with case lubricant, is just one more variable I would just as soon avoid. I prime all my cases with an RCBS priming tool, using a tube feed holding 60 primers at a time.

It is a simple matter for me to empty 60 primers into a primer flipper, manipulate them until they are all facing the correct direction, then load the tube, without ever touching a primer.

I have been doing this for years, loading literally thousands of rounds per year for my match rifles. I see no reason not to continue, even though I am no longer a competetive shooter.

What Miles said. Pesky little buggers. I don't typically handle them but if I've had to I have with out problem. Clean hands, everything is in batches so if I'm priming it's pretty much all I'm doing.

Old school New school lack of school ; Unless you're a grease monkey or oil rigger touching any part of the primer isn't going to deter it's ignition quality's . My fingers are large primers are small , I don't because more times than not I drop the dam things !.
I also have no oil or fat left on or in my hands , Occupational hazard !.So box of primers goes into the brass primer tray , then my primer tubes pick em up ,then I drop em into the loader dispenser .Rarely do I need to handle them .

It may surprise some of you just how difficult it is to render a primer inert !!!.

Pick them up they are tough lil-buggers

So...to load my .500 NE...for use to hunt ele...it is perfectly fine for me to prime the cases by picking up the primers with my fingers and placing them in the standard press priming tool's cup???

Yes.


.

Yes but because of my old school habits, I would use a pair of tweezers. For a couple of reasons, one of which is to me, it's easier to manipulate the primers with a pair of fine pointed tweezers than it is to blunder about with my fat fingers.

The only thing you have to worry about is having some kind of penetrant on your fingers like LPS or WD40. If you have clean hands with no oils on them you won't hurt your primers. That being said, the best procedure is to handle them as little as possible but if that includes picking up individual primers and putting them in the priming tool, as long as your hands are clean you are OK.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
So...to load my .500 NE...for use to hunt ele...it is perfectly fine for me to prime the cases by picking up the primers with my fingers and placing them in the standard press priming tool's cup???

If you are a nose picker....wipe off your hands first to keep buggers out of the flash hole.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
So...to load my .500 NE...for use to hunt ele...it is perfectly fine for me to prime the cases by picking up the primers with my fingers and placing them in the standard press priming tool's cup???

If you are a nose picker....wipe off your hands first to keep buggers out of the flash hole.

I would say that's funny but it's snot.

I left about 80 in a garden shed for about 10 years, forgot about them, and they were dead as a as dead can get. Other than that I don't think I have ever had a dead primer, but I don't touch them just because that is the way I learned to reload and i'm to old to change now.

HMMM...the bigger the sample size...the less the landslide...

quote:

Other than that I don't think I have ever had a dead primer,

Failure may be defined in other ways other than failure...such as...reduced velocity!!!

If you're worried enough to ask, and responses vary, just use forceps. That way you don't become toe jam to a nice tusker.
I've always avoided touching them unless I just recently washed my hands, even then only touch the outside/sides, never the anvil. But single-loading them in a press, hard to keep from dragging a finger across the exposed portion.
I don't recall ever having a problem, but I load all my ammo to exacting spec's, especially my DG ammo. Good luck!

1I did a little experiment ,primed case in a baggie of wd40 for over a year. Cleaned it all up,chambered it and BANG. I relaxed about my fingers on primers.

quote:

ledvm

If it bothers you picking them up or in my own case slippery little twits they are wear latex or Nitrle gloves

Something like these . I wear them while cleaning my stuff , because inevitably I slosh something on my hands or remove patches with fingers .

http://www.workgloves.net/nitr...qx_KYCFSJ0gwodNlJ_Fw

quote:

Originally posted by Romey:
1I did a little experiment ,primed case in a baggie of wd40 for over a year. Cleaned it all up,chambered it and BANG. I relaxed about my fingers on primers.

But...did you shoot it through a chrono???

quote:

Originally posted by Doc224/375:

quote:

ledvm

If it bothers you picking them up or in my own case slippery little twits they are wear latex or Nitrle gloves

Something like these . I wear them while cleaning my stuff , because inevitably I slosh something on my hands or remove patches with fingers .

http://www.workgloves.net/nitr...qx_KYCFSJ0gwodNlJ_Fw

Excellent suggestion...especially since I am a surgeon by trade!

I will just wear a latex surgical glove on my primer-picking-up-hand.

It is a pity that manufacturers don't follow Winchesters lead and package their primers as they do. A primer tube picks up Win primers, the right way up, straight from the packet. No touching or flipping of primers required. Of course that only really suits those that use a press for priming as opposed to a dedicated priming tool.