It makes me a little more nervous now when priming after I hear about a tray of these little pills all going off together! I use the Lee hand primer with tray. I like to believe that it gives me a good enough feel that I wouldn't set one off, but who knows? Anyone actually have this happen?

[ 12-28-2002, 20:32: Message edited by: savageshooter ]

In over 40 years of reloading I have never had an accidental primer discharge.

I have not had one go off by accident either in 50 years of handloading but it can happen. I have crushed at least one by not puting them in the holder flat but on it's side. It did not go off!

If there were many primers together it might make a big explosion. I think these problems happen most from primer dust in a loading tray or primer magazine. So if it were kept clean that would help. Wear glasses also.

I had one go off when I was a kid. I was using a Lee Loader, probably had the primer in upside down.

A friend of mine (Doc) was reloading his primer tube for an old shotgun loader when he dropped the aluminum tube and it his the concrete floor. He was using 209 primers. The tube landed about a food from his right leg. The primers in the tube went off and blew the tube apart. Doc said that it shredded his pants and he was picking bits of aluminum tube and primer out of his skin for a couple of days. There was no lasting damage to his leg but he was walking a little tenderly a couple of days later at the range. He said that it was a very high pitched bang like his 22-250 but not as loud.

Chuck Graber

I've been loading since 87' and haven't had a mishap yet. Knock on wood.

I witnessed a freak accident. My pardner Tom
just gotta Midway portable reload bench & was
delighted to be indoors working. He was filling
a primer tray ,and dropped one on the floor.
Bending to retrieve it , he slid his shoe on the carpet. As John Madden would say BAM .
Didn't bleed much , being cauterized and all.
Carpet in a reloading room ,NO THANKS>
I hate sore thumbs.

My father had one go off in a old Lee hand prime tool (single primer, small tool about 3" long)when I was a young boy. There was no damage done, but my dads out look on haveing a 12/13 yr old that thought a 4 foot flame was cool, prime his cases for him changed for a while.
Personally I haven`t had a primer go in 35+ yrs of loading.

I have not had a primer accident however I thought I would share a bit with you... When I was a boy I worked at Dillon Precision. They would load bullets on cases with inert primers... well they would soak a live primer in oil for a week or so and use them, however one guy that worked across my bench showed me that you could still set a few of them off... even after they had been soaked for a week. Though they were more of a pffft rather then a bang. I imagine the oil did a number on most and only a few were like that.

I had about 60 large pistol caps chain-detonate in a Dillon 1050. Was loading "Just one more box" before breaking it down to clean and switch to a different caliber, even though it was getting "draggy" through the handle stroke. It stumbled through a stroke, pinched a cap and off it went. Blew the fluorescent light fixture above it to ruination, wrecked some upper-column parts and bent the plastic rod follower into a pretzel. Dillon's "armored" column shroud worked as designed, so I didn't get worse than ringing ears, twitchy nerves and a fervent respect for better diligence in tool care.
When I called Dillon to get replacement parts, I tried to "play it down" by just ordering the parts without explanation or comment, but they caught on at the second part number; "Oho! Capped it off, did we? In that case you should get part #--- and #---." No flies on those guys.

I had a shotshell primer go off when I was kid, about 40 years ago, I was trying to put a Win. primer into a Rem. shell! I still have a tiny scar on my hand from a piece of primer. An early lesson. I did lots of dumb shit when I was young! As a matter of fact, I still do on occasion!BA

Had a nearly full column of large pistol primers go in a C-H progressive some years ago ... very exciting.

Got pretty unhappy with that press when a second event occured even though I was being EVER so careful.

Have taken the press out of service/

Been loading since '76 with no primer accidents. In my first year I did leave one out and had a hunting jacket pocket with loose Imr4350 as a result.

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's looking like primer accidents aren't too common after all. It's very encouraging to here about someone reloading for 15-30 years with no accidents!

You'll note here that in EVERY INSTANCE of accidental discharge of the primer it's a result of some sort of break down in procedure.

I load on a single stage press. Just not worried about speed and looking for some precision accuracy. Call me a grouch, but I think the multi-stage presses are an accident waiting to happen. Too many operations going on at the same time.

Loading primers into a tube seems dangerous. You're stacking them without any sort of intervening space, and then the tube provides enough weight to detonate the stack if it's dropped.

I'm pretty careful about dropping stuff when reloading. Don't like bouncing dies off the concrete floor . . . but primers and that small stuff get eway from me all the time.

[ 12-30-2002, 03:02: Message edited by: Genghis ]

Been loading pistol,shotgun and rifle for 35 yrs. without exploding a primer. Doesn't mean it can't happen someday in the future. Just be careful is the word.

Only once, with an old Lee Loader. Hammering primers in is not a good way to seat them.

Ditto to Dennis F's mishap. I was WAY impressed with the force the primer rod got from the small rifle primer when it went off.

Within a week, I bought the RCBS Rockchucker and tooling for the calibers I was loading at the time (38 Special, 45 ACP, 223, 30-06) and haven't looked back. That was in 1978, and NO PRIMING ACCIDENTS since then. In addition to the single stage press, I also have a Ponsness-Warren semi-progressive system for the handgun and small rifle rounds.

Deputy Al

Deputy Al, your experience sounds exactly like mine using the same tools. Mine was WLR back in 1973. It bounced the rod off the ceiling in dads basement. He told me to get that damn stuff out of the house before I blew it up. I had a Rockchucker the next week and moved out as well. Still have it matter of fact. It is just retired. Bought a new one 5 years ago. I would hate guess how many rounds have been loaded on that old Rockchucker. I know i wore out two 308 barrels and enough of 222 Remington barrel that it wouldn't shoot .5 MOA anymore. Not counting the other assorted cartrigdges I have loaded for through the years.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight......RiverRat

Deputy Al and RiverRat

My mishap was with a large pistol magnum in a .41 mag. case, those things put out a good flame. I retired Ole Finger Scorcher for a Pacific MultiPower C press.

Dennis

I've loaded a bunch of cases without primers, I've loaded primers upside down, scrunched them in side ways, and I've never had one go off outside of the firearm's chamber.
I've emptied full priming tubes on the bench and floor, sort of brings the reloading to a halt 'til they get picked up.
Had a shooting buddy who had a primer tube on a Dillon 450 go off, he got a bit too enthusiastic pushing the primer transfer. Put the brass primer follower rod thru the ceiling.
Jim

I've never had one go off. I have been using a Hornady hand primer for years now.

I have no idea how many rounds the Rockchucker has loaded......in the zillions, at least.

That little faux pas with the Lee priming system left an impression with me about Lee tools that persists to this day. I do use some of their bullet molds, but their principal attraction is price.

Deputy Al

Reloading for over thirty years and never an accident. I did witness a guy using the old Lyman hand tool touch one off -- the first tap of the hammer set the primer half way in and then, without insuring the primer was aligned with its pocket on the priming gizzie, he whacked it again and the end of the primer was fired by the sharp edge of the priming tool. I also used to do full length sectioning of cartridges using a jewler's saw. I always gave the primer a shot of WD-40, let it sit for awhile, and then saw away. I always wear safety glasses.

I'm in the "over 30 years reloading with no incidents" category too, brought about mainly by witnessing firsthand the damage those little buggers can do in a situation that involved me as a 10 year old, a primer I'd filched from my uncle's stash, a hammer, and a flat rock. Sat the primer on the rock, hit it with the hammer, then tried to remove the claws of said hammer from my forehead But, technically, in Clinton-speak, that was not "Reloading Related"

I always wear safety glasses, and, have always loaded them singly, using a handheld primer seater, which reduces the chances of having a bunch of them go off at once.

Did put a few in backwards over the years, though

R-WEST

Sometimes when I just need to load a few round for testing I use the priming system that comes with the RCBS Rockchucker. I always go ahead and screw on the seating die in the press. That way If a accident happens everything is contained.

Well I guess I'm a junior loader-about 20yrs- I have never had a primer go off either RCBS Rockchucker-Humm could it be the type of equipment used? Seems to be common with certain type of Equipment? Then again it could be the type of primer? What type were you folks using when this happened? I've only used CCI's for 90% of the loads- Federal when I can't get CCI's.

I use a Lee Loader sometimes. My mallet with rubber and soft plastic heads will set off primers reliably when using the rubber head, but I have to try to do it wrong to make them go off using the hard plastic mallet head.

I did it on purpose with earmuffs the first few times. I wanted to know what it took to set primers off so I'd know how not to do it.

H. C.

I started with a RCBS junior about 30+ years ago, tried several different setups. I now use the Dillon 550B. Loaded 13,000 rounds in one season. To date I have never had a primer go off accidentaly, thank God. I too have had the occasional primer not feed into the primer pocket and crushed some. But I had the sense to quit pushing and stop before it got out of hand.
What GENGHIS said about concrete floors is just why I have a carpet on my floor. I guess I can get rid of the carpet and get it replaced after it gets too dirty. Better that than to have a bunch go off because I got a case of the dropsies one day. If you aren't getting into large volumes of needed ammo stay away from progressive presses. Also, if you are just getting into it start with a single stage press first. Then after learning the process and gaining confidence, you can go to a progressive if you feel the need to have more ammo. As far as dies go, go for the carbide resizing die it will pay for itself. Buy the best you can afford that you won't have to buy all of them on the market to get a good one. If you have reloading friends go and look at their setups and then decide. Look first then buy.

When I was 14 and reloading with my dad using a C&H MK V progressive press, we had a nearly full tube of CCI primers go off. It blew the primer rod through a florecent light reflector about 8" before coming to a rest. My dad was in front of the press doing the reloading and I was about 6 feet away. The brass end of the tube that releases the primer into the seating arm, fragmented into several peices. I had one peice end up about 1/2" deep into my wrist and another went into my left chest about 1 1/2" deep, my father just got a glass tube shower. After several hours in the ER the peices were recovered and all I have left are the scars. After C&H got the press back they found out that the CCI primers were not perfectly round and one got stuck between the two parts and when the seating arm started to retract, it went off. C&H made some major mod's and set it back with the recommendation that we only use Winchester primers. I used that press for many years, without any other problems ever. I also use a Dillon RL550 and never had problem it. I do hand seat all primers for anything that I don't run through a progessive press using a Lee Auto Prime and never had a problem with that either. So since the first primer problem I have never had any other problems and that has been many of 10'000's rounds over the last 22 years or so. I still do use CCI primers but not in the C&H, however I mainly use Winchesters.