I have not been reloading very long and I don't know how to fix this mistake - I loaded up a box of ammo for my 9.3x62 and forgot to trim the brass.

I had reloaded these brass two other times and they were fine, this time they wouldn't load in the rifle. The brass had stretched.

I used a bullet puller but now the problem...how do I safely get the live primers out of the brass to start again? Like I said, the brass is too long to close the bolt on it so I can't just shoot the primers in the barrel.

Can I pop the out with the sizing die safely?? are these brass unuseable now??

Thanks in advance for the feedback to a reloading "Rookie".

No big deal, really. You can safely decap live primers...or at least I have dozens if not hundreds of times. But if it were me, and depending on the type neck trimmer you have, I'd just leave them in and trim away!
Regards,
35W

Take this for what it's worth. You can't "Safely" deprime live primers in the sizing die, but I've done it a number of times wearing good safety glasses and going slowly......................DJ

35Whelen: i use the lee sizing dies and they have a pin that goes through the flash hole to set the overall length. So the primer has to be out.

You can also use a universal decapping die. Not saying it's "safe", but in forty years, I've never had a live primer detonate when depriming. That said, there's a first time for everything. Follow DJ's advise and I'd say you'll be OK.

Try this. Remove the decaper from the sizing die. Lube the brass and resize it.
Trim it. Then screw the decaper/neck expander back into the sizing die, insert the brass just far enough to allow the neck expander to enter the case and expand the neck, but not touch the primer.
Put powder in the case and seat the bullet.

Presto... Lodaded ammo.

Without removing the primer.

Back up to 35Whelen's comment again. He said you could trim them with live primers and you said your sizing die has a decapping pin. Did you mean the Lee case trimmer that uses a piloted cutter?

You don't need to size them again, just pull the bullets, save the powder and trim them. Then load them up. The stretch is making the case mouth jam at the end of the chamber, not at the shoulder. Even if you short-stroked the cases while resizing, if they were fired in this chamber they should otherwise work.

quote:

Originally posted by Riodot:
35Whelen: i use the lee sizing dies and they have a pin that goes through the flash hole to set the overall length. So the primer has to be out.

It seems some of the responses have missed the fact that your Lee Trimmer extends through the Flash Hole, so the Primer must be removed.

You can Pull the Bullet and dump the Powder. Now put on some SAFETY Glasses.

Put the "Lubed" Primed case in the Press Shell Holder and start it into your Sizing Die and STOP before you make contact with the Primer.

Wrap everything with an old Towel and e-a-s-e the Case into the Sizer until it pushes the Primer out. Go real slow.

You have to be concerned about two things " if " the Primer does ignite:
1. The Casemouth which will be inside the Sizing Die.
2. The Primer itself has the potential to become a Projectile, go through the Shell Holder and follow the path a normal Spent Primer would travel. So, do not have a "Primer Catcher" attached to the Press, but hold the folded Towel so it would catch the Primer if it does happen to ignite.
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Do not try to reuse those Primers. They will not be good and tight in the Primer Pockets. Put them in a jar, pour in some light Penetrating Oil and let them set for a couple of weeks. Then toss the whole jar and primers in the trash, because they will be deactivated by then.
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If this is the worst Reloading mistake you ever make, you will do fine. Don't be too hard on yourself, because minor things like this happen all the time.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks to all for the feedback and instruction.

I think I can handle this now.

If it wasn't so damn tough to get 9.3x62 brass I would have just junked this brass

Rio,

Good advice for you here and sorry about your case stretching dilema.

I use both a Forester Case Trimmer and the Lee Trimmers. Over the years I now just tend to buy the Lee Trimmers - they work just fine and are simple (important for me) to use.

The 9.3x62 isn't (wasn't) a standard Lee Case Trimmer item but I ordered one from Lee. On their Website there's an order form you can use to order non-standard Trimmers, the glitch is that it has to fit on one of their standard trimmer shell holders. I use the .30/06 size and it works like the rest of Lee's products - just Great!

quote:

Originally posted by Riodot:
I have not been reloading very long and I don't know how to fix this mistake - I loaded up a box of ammo for my 9.3x62 and forgot to trim the brass.

I had reloaded these brass two other times and they were fine, this time they wouldn't load in the rifle. The brass had stretched.

I used a bullet puller but now the problem...how do I safely get the live primers out of the brass to start again? Like I said, the brass is too long to close the bolt on it so I can't just shoot the primers in the barrel.

Can I pop the out with the sizing die safely?? are these brass unuseable now??

Thanks in advance for the feedback to a reloading "Rookie".

It shouldn't be too much of a problem removing those live primers. I once decapped 800 rounds of WW-2 issue 30-06 with crimped in corrosive primers which would require a lot more force to get them out and never had one go off. Whem you run the brass through the die to get the primers out, do it very gently and you shouldn't have any problem. Still, it would be wise to wear eye protection just in case.
The removed primer can either be disposed of, or, you can use them for some light plinker loads where if a primer is messed up, it won't affect serious accuracy.
Just a thought here, but after you've decapped one round, try and chamber the the cartrduge case and check for fit. If it is still too tight, you might have to readjust your sizing die slightly, maybe just about one-eight to one-quarter turn.
Paul B.

One thing I would be very careful about. If you are removing live primers, I would make sure you don't let a lot of the removed primers pile up in one place like in the catch tray. If one goes off it wouldn't be too bad. If 50 primers go off at once we'll be hearing about you in the news.

Just take your chamfer tool and grind away until they are short enough. After that it will be easier to remember next time.

I have done the very thing as you did. Rather than deprime, I went out and purchased a Redding trim die. Pulled the bullets with one of the inertia bullet pullers, dumped the powder and left the primers in, ran them up into the trim die and used a file to file them to the correct length. A tip I learned from one of the geniouses who post on this forum, use your shellholder to hold the case in the inertia bullet puller rather than that poorly designed spring retainer collet that comes with it. Just seat the cartridge in the shellholder, insert it into the puller and screw the cap on. I don't remember who posted that advice but I quietly thank them everytime I have a need to use my puller.

Another alternative would be to insert the cases in your rifle and fire the primers (normal safety procedures apply). They might back out of the case a bit, and you will have to clean your bore, but no chance of detonation and no disposal problems.

Regards,
hm

Once you pull the bullets, the empty cases will chamber without much resistance. If you're uncomfortable decapping live primers (as you should be), just fire them in your gun.

DID EITHER OF YOU READ HIS POST they won't CHAMBER.

Deprime the things and quit making a big deal out of it you need something like 25 pounds of pressure to set off a primer in the normal way.

I have been loading for 51 years and have removed thousands of live primers and seated millions and have never, ever, had a primer go off. Some of you are getting anal over it!

quote:

Originally posted by Hunt-ducks:
DID EITHER OF YOU READ HIS POST they won't CHAMBER.

Deprime the things and quit making a big deal out of it you need something like 25 pounds of pressure to set off a primer in the normal way.

I read his post; if, as he suspects, the reason they will not chamber is indeed the cases are too long, once the bullet is pulled, the case will chamber, as alluded to by Stonecreek (no bullet to support the case neck, chamber will size the case to allow chambering).

If the cases did chamber and he wanted to remove the primers, I would not have suggested firing the primers as this would drive the case forward in the chamber and set the shoulder back, causing an excessive headspace problem on these cases. Since the neck of the case would hold the case to the rear, firing the primers will not set shoulder back.

I do agree with your last paragraph, however.

Regards,
hm

I got it done!!

There is always a wealth of knowledge on this forum and I appreciate and thank all who replied.

It was definitly an Idiot move on my part.

You could feed the brass through the gun and fire the primer. I know it is a waste, but it would be the safest way to do it. I did a bunch of 30-06 brass that someone gave me that they had started to load. I didn't trust what that person had done so I put it in my bolt action and fired the primer.

I'm with WVHunter on this. I've deprimed a lot of live primers. Then had one go off. Primers don't cost that much, fire them off without the powder and bullets. Been doing that quite a while now with military cases. Every primer ends up safely removed from the case!