I was priming some 30-06 casings tonight with cci benchrest primers in a rcbs priming tool bench mount and as i was priming one it went off ! 43 years loading never had this happen,the primer still looks new and it wasn't going in hard and all the primer pockets are clean and cut with a uniformer.I don't have a clue why this happened but I'm glad I wasn't hurt.

It happened to me once and only once a long time ago. Primer might have been slightly cocked one way or the other, who knows. Shit happens.

eye protection. never load primers without something to protect your eyes.
rob

Well Fireball, we are also glad you weren't hurt there Buddy...thank God...

yeah, makes you appreciate eye protection doesn't it!

just glad no injuries!

cheers
seafire

Glad to hear you were not hurt. Always good to see a Safety Reminder hit the Board.

When I started reloading I was blowing up primers on occasion with the Classic Loader, still remember the ringing in my ears. It never did feel quite right priming with a hammer.

Since I switched to a press I haven't popped one yet (fingers crossed) but its a good reminder that it can happen.

My dad had one pop while useing a old style Lee hand tool years ago. It rattled him and had him glad the case was pointed away from him, he claimed the flash was worst then the pop. A friend of mine had one go once when priming on his shotgun press. I personally have been lucky and haven`t had it happen yet.

Safety glasses are a must when primeing, you never know when that 1 in a million will happen.

yep i am lucky i must have loaded a million rounds in my life, sure does make you think and i don't have a clue why it happened it was going in nice and smooth and was almost seated when it went I took the primer out of the case and it looks like new.Oh well live and learn.

I started reloading in 1948, at age 14, and have seated a whole lot of primers since then, and have never had one go off during the seating operation.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
I started reloading in 1948, at age 14, and have seated a whole lot of primers since then, and have never had one go off during the seating operation.Don

Same story since "57" roger

you may have had a hard piece of something lodged on the primer punch. saw that happen once when the guy was trying to see how fast he could go.

I almost always have on reading glasses when priming, but if not, I haven't been wearing eye protection. This one makes me think what a dumbass I've been.....I just have been lulled to being calm about priming I guess, as I have loaded 20 or 30 thousand rounds, and never an issue.

Thanks for the share.

I have never had this happen to me.However I had heard that a Lee hand primer loader went off(The kind that takes 100 primers at once)and took a guys hand off.I dont know if this is true or just another Gun Show Story.It did make me by The RCBS model that cuts of the rest of the Primers when you are priming a case.

When I was in the 8th grade a kid named Larry pulled a 22LR bullet with his teeth at school.
He proceeded to scratch around on the inside of the case with the end of a paper clip. It only took a second or two to scratch the right spot and set off the rim fire priming compound. It just makes a little puff. When I got home I had to try it too. It did the same thing for me. Very little friction in the wrong place will set the stuff off. I am couple of years short of 40 years worth of reloading and I have never set one off loading. I intentionally hit a few with a hammer when I was still a newby. The pop will give you a healthy respect for them.

I have been loading for more than 30 years and have primed in just about every conceivabe way. I have never had it happen, but, one thing I have learned be as safety concious as you can because anything can happen. I don't think you done anything wrong, just count your blessings and keep loading safely.

I have never had this happen either. I wear glasses though. Do you guies think this would be enough if one went off? The safety glass cause me problems while wearing my glasses. I guess i could go back to contacts then wear the safety glasses. Any thoughts?

Handloader Magazine once had a photo of an X-ray.
A guy had a primer go off and it shot itself about an inch into his hand near one of his thumb joints. It cost the guy several thousand bucks in doctor bills the early 70s. I have used one of the little Lee primer tools with the screw in shell holders since the early 70s. After I saw that photo I have always tilted it away from my face as I start to apply pressure to a primer.

I called cci and they said to send it to them so they could take a look at it.So I sent it back,it still looks like new no dents and you can still read br plain as day,everything was clean there wasn't anything in the primer arm to set it off and all the primer pockets were just cut with a uniformer so there was nothing on that side either all i can think off was i got an unstable one.

Here's a possibility: Perhaps there was a little sliver of brass still left in the primer pocket that nudged the anvil when you seated the primer. It's no longer there cause it got consumed in the fire.

In 40 plus years of reloading I have had 2 primer detonate while using a RCBS press, on while loading small pistol primers and on while loading large rifle primers.

I have two Dillon 1050s and had several primers let go with them over the years. It gets real exciting when you have an entire tube go off.

Long Shot

Fireball,
Glad you are alright! I have never had a primer accident with metalic cases but I have had a 209 primer set off in a Mec 600 Jr. I was wearing full coverage reading glasses and felt some random grit hit my face. Nothing in my eyes thankfully.

After that I found some safety glasses with reading magnifiers built in just to be on the safe side.

Be well!