We are having a bit of a discussion about what kills a primer.

We have always heard that one should not handle them.

Use primer flipping trays to load them into tubes.

I have never done that.

I put them in my hands and load them into the primer tubes.

My test is to add different liquids to primers and leave them for periods varying by 24 hours.

Preliminary test, after 24 hours, shows Hoppes #9 is a killer.

I am trying both RWS and Federal primers.

Both are dead after 24 hours.

Will report results on other liquids.

And any suggestions would be much appreciated.

The advice that we have all heard about not handling primers in case they are neutralized and cause misfires has to be based on worst case scenario.
I generally don't handle primers, loading them straight from the primer packet or flipper tray into the priming tube, however at times I do handle primers with clean dry hands when I'm single loading or using Berdan primers which don't fit a priming tube.

There will be dummies out there, given halve a chance, that would handle primers with sweaty hands dripping in Hoppes #9 but then they probably don't read or listen to advice anyway.

Avoiding touching primers with bare hands is really quite easy during the process of reloading and is good advice to give to the masses.

WD-40

I must have loaded hundreds of thousands of primers by hand.

Never had a misfire!

WD40 and others are on my list too.

I have used an RCBS Rockchucker press with its manual primer arm for 5 decades, handling every primer used. Tens of thousands of rounds and only one misfire-- a Ruger Only load of a 315 gr bullet. You can well believe that I held that revolver on target for a full 20 seconds, praying it would go off, but it never did. Why that heavy load seemed so much worse to me than a light target load would have . . . no clue. Even a 200 gr bullet at 700 fps would have been catastrophic if it went off while opening the cylinder, but there it is.

Primers are actually hard to kill and require soaking in solvent to do so, as you found.
Just your relatively clean hands, won't kill them.
Misfires; those were not from your hands.
I don't touch them; I use the flip trays and pick up tubes, but only because it's faster; I still prime individually in my Bonanza Co Ax, sometimes for short runs.

I use the original Lee tool and an old Lachmiller. Both require that I handle every primer. In 60 years I've had no misfires from contaminated primers. I did have one from loading a primer upside down! Don't know how I managed that. Bill

The problem seems to be that liquid "deactivating" agents will eventually evaporate.

Then what? Will the primers "reactivate"?

I think the answer is that in many, if not most, cases, they will.

The only way to know is to burn them after liquid "deactivation". If not truly dead, they should explode.

I have read that soaking primers in diluted concentrations of nitric or sulfuric acid will truly kill them by chemically neutralizing the explosive mixtures used to make them.

I never used to handle primers when I was using the Lee hand priming tool. I just used the flip tray.

Now that I use the priming feature in my Redding press, I pick each primer by hand and place in the priming stem. My fingers have a bit of Imperial lube on them. No misfires in the last 10 years I have been doing this.

It seems to me that one would have to be pretty sloppy to kill a primer by touching it. I reckon there are some who could manage it though. That being said, mine always go right from the package to the flip tray about 20 or 30 at a time.

WD40 killed both after 24 hours.

Light machine oil still fired after 48 hours!

Best way to kill a primer is by beating it on the head with a firing pin. But I understand what your doing and appreciate your time testing.

I played with killing primers decades ago.

I gave up and went on to other things.

I appreciate your efforts.

I found it harder to kill them when they were seated in a case.

Nitrile gloves are a cheap solution for preventing contamination. The only sure method is to snap them.

One week later.

With the oils, I put three drops in each case.

Placed mouth up in a loading tray.

Sprays I sprayed enough to make sure the flash hole is covered.

WD40 is a killer after 24 hours.

Sewing machine oil

All fired after one week!

Various oils, same results.

Birchwood casey Gun Scrubber

Some fired, some were dead.

Breakthrough Military Grade Solvent.

Primers fired, sort of, but not completely dead.

I would be curious to learn what happens with the WD-40 when it evaporates.

It may still work.

WD-40 is a notoriously bad gun lubricant because as it dries it leaves a sticky residue that seems never to go away!

For as long as I have been reloading, I have handled primers while reloading.

Including with hands that had case lube on them.

Never had a single misfire.

So the idea that one should always use primer flippers and load them from their is not true.

Also it seems oils, even fine oils, might kill a primer if poured on.

Thick oils seem to have n o effect at all, at least in a weeks time.

Penetrating oils, like WD40 seem to do the trick though.

Saeed, did you try water?

When I was a kid, somebody gave my dad a whole bunch of .22 Hornet ammo that had been in a shipwreck and under water for an unknown period of time.
Most of it worked pretty well, but some did misfire. Often those that didn't work had bad corrosion on the outside of the case.

Then while studying I worked afternoons and weekends in a gun shop. This particular shop imported large batches of components and stored them in a basement vault. One year over the Christmas break one of the pipes of the fire suppression system developed a leak, and a whole lot of Federal small pistol primers were exposed. Basically the boxes soaked up the water. These primers were sold to the staff very cheaply, and I bought several thousand. Those that had gotten the most water (evidenced by the amount of mildew on the boxes) suffered misfires, some as much as 20 years later (it took me a very long time to use them up).

So I know water works, but it also takes a while.

Water will corrode primers if left on for a period of time.

My test was to see if any of the luibes we usualy have in the loading room would have any effect.

Right. It’s not as if anyone handles primers with hands dripping with oil!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Water will corrode primers if left on for a period of time.

My test was to see if any of the luibes we usualy have in the loading room would have any effect.

Ok. I thought the idea was to find something that reliably de-activates primers for safe removal when de-activating ammunition.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter Connan:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Water will corrode primers if left on for a period of time.

My test was to see if any of the luibes we usualy have in the loading room would have any effect.

Ok. I thought the idea was to find something that reliably de-activates primers for safe removal when de-activating ammunition.

I regularly remove live primers with a sizing die.

Never had any problems and I always use the removed primers if they are usable.

So do I. but never without some concern

Just shoot it behind the shoulder!