Yep,  after 20 years I finally did it....  I had a primer fire while seating.   The primers alone are definitely more loud when you're not expecting them to go off.  

I was assembling some plinker 06 loads for a funshoot today and dove into a newly processed batch of LC67 where I had uniformed and deburred the primer pockets.  My choice was poor on primers, I grabbed the Wolf LR primers that tend to run fat at times.  The freshly uniformed pockets were too tight for them.  I'd attempt the seat and they'd hang up about 2/3 the way into the pocket.  Unsually a little push and they just pop in.  Well this one went off when it popped in.  Quite loud I must say.  I didn't have ear ringing but I could definitely feel it in my right ear.   I did the rest in the garage with earmuffs on.  I had about 5 more out of 50 that hung up a bit.  They went in with more effort no more bangs.

BTW the tool was a RCBS Bench priming tool and no powder was anywhere near it.

It can happen to you, be careful out there!

ETA- definitely operator error compounding bad choice of components.  If I waited until the 4th or 5th loading on the brass the Wolf would work slick.

I have never had that happen and I've been loading as long as you. I don't use Wolff primers though, I stick to Winchester.
 

The wolf primer's definitely have some dimensional issues but this is entirely on me,  I knew I was using a fair amount of force.

I have purchased large quantities of the wolf LR and the Wolf 223 primer and they both have the dimensional issues,  half easy seat and half firm seat in the same box.  Enough that a long time ago I took the starrett micrometer to them and saw the swings.  Accuracy was fine though, and I'm talking benchrest/tactical bolt rifle accuracy applications not just plinking fodder. In fact I've grabbed the wolf primers when some of my otherwise good .260 prepped match cases were loosening in the pocket and got a couple extra loads out of them.  I have like 15k  of each size though.

I'll not likely buy more of them.  CCI, Winchester, Remington, and Federal have always been problem free except for availability at times.

That said,  it's on me.  

CCI always seemed to be a tad over sized and fit real snug. Bottom line is nothing bad happened like touching off a pound of open powder.
 

Glad to hear it was just a scare. I've always been scared of setting one off when "helping" it into the primer pocket more than I probably should. I recently had a tougher time seating CCI into .233's on my LNL - so I switched over to Win WSR and now they seat great with no extra force. I'll stay away from wolf primers I think :) the extra $10 savings per 1000 rnds doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle.

I had that happen to me about 5-6 weeks ago. I was priming with rcbs hand tool the one with universal shell holder and had allot of decrimp and nod decrimped LC mixed together and most times if I forced it a bit they seated fine but then one decided to go off primer and case flew 20 ft with bang scared crap as I had my powder stash few feet away from where it landed. I am much more careful now

Hey Steelon Steel,
Good to here a scare was all you got. Those things are very loud. I scrap my used up brass and had a brass case milsurp 54R that had a split neck. I slipped it into a shell holder and slid it down in my bench vice to "pop" the live primer before putting the case in the scrap bucket. I should have worn my ear protection. And that was with me expecting it. They pack a good bit of force too. I know someone who was doing what i did but with a rifle and blew out a fluorescent bulb.

Thanks for the heads up on the Wolf primers. I'll not get them for GI brass. If they are truly a little on the big side maybe I could use the GI spec large rifle ones in my Privi 7.5x54 MAS cases (49-56 semi auto) . They are starting to get a little on the loose side. What do you think?

i have DESTROYED primers while seating, fortunately havent had this happen yet. ima stop forcing them in like i do when they hang up(usually because i didnt clean the primer pockets). not worth it.

Once tried to deprime a live primer that wouldn't seat properly.



DO NOT DO THIS.



I was just having a total 'brain fart', and it scared the ever lovin' shit out of me when it went off.



Talk about a total dumb shit move on my part. Duh.

I've managed to set off three  in 50 years. All three were out of the same box of 1000 CCI large pistol primers; must have been more sensitive than usual. All happened with an RCBS bench priming tool.
After the first one, I wore my muffs and glasses; those are really loud in a 6'x8' room.

yep, mostly my pride hurt, (and a little bit in my right ear last night)

The brass was pp uniformed with a sinclair trimmer and the corners knocked with a rcbs wilson deburring tool.  (I did the ammo can and set it aside long before I got the dillon super swage.  I'll probably swage the rest.  

Motor1,  should firm up the seating for another load or 2.  If you have a micrometer that goes to the 4th decimal place measure the diamters and grab the fat ones.  Like I said, they're not consistent in width.

ETA-  I've mashed a few primers in the old days, using the old rcbs ram priming unit and loading the primer in the cup down in the o frame and running it up through the die, the cup would drag and release and flip the primers around.  I was a newb then and probably mashed 2 or 3 sideways before I figured out to leave the cup above the die and only lower to insert a shell.  None went off.  I had a similar situation with the new dillon press back in the early 90's and diagnosed that with the previous experience.  I've pushed a couple smushed primers out too.......sloooooooooowly.   No issues there but I wore ear pro just in case.  

You're never completely useless, you can always be an excellent bad example.  

Thankfully I was totally seperate from any powder, in another room, I have my RCBS bench mounted primer unit mounted to a board with a couple brass trays build into it.

ive had a winchester primer go off just as you did with the wolf.

ive never had a cci lr go off in the press

defently loud aint it

What?

Glad you are okay. I can imagine the you didn't need any more excitement after that...

I had a CCI large pistol primer stand up on edge somehow on my 550 loading .45 auto recently.
I felt the resistance but gave it more muscle and then heard it crunch.
Surprisingly it didn't pop. I think maybe because it was a steady pressure and crush and not an abrupt strike.

You've never taken a primer out in the driveway and hit it with a hammer to see what would happen?
That was the first thing I did with my first ever box of primers.

ETA- I think I misread your statement. If I did, sorry about that.

I have had it happen several times when I was seating the primers with the Original Lee Loader set, using the hammer and punch.  

Punch literally launches almost to the ceiling.

Have installed them as many ways as possible wrong. Never had one go bang. Girl friend was over one day and asked why i was wearing a full face shield.

I carried a small rifle primer out back and hit it with a hammer, she jumped about a  foot in the air. They are loud, can not think of a 100 going off

I now only use a RCBS hand primer. And a loadmaster

I have a Lee Loader for .38spl, never set one off with it but the process made me queasy so I got a hand primer.

I had a box of fiochi lead free primers given to me. They ran a little large and while loading them into 9mm with crimped pockets popped several in a afternoon (5-6)

Switched those over to 40 and didnt have any problems

Well, it only took me 3 years to shoot two Wolf LR Mag primers in a row, during insertion in the press.  It took about a year to get over "primerer's flinch".  I bought a hand primer tool from RCBS (the older version that needs shell holders).  I think the hand priming tool allows a little more tactile feedback to the operator.  No more of this stick-slip stuff.

Actually my first primer only rounds I shot in my Fed Ord M14.  I was using LC brass and didn't get enough of the crimp out with my deburring tool and caught a few primer skirts on top.  they seated but no way was I going put powder over them.   They were loud enough to get my parents attention when I fired the 3 off out the back window.

I have dillon swager and probably all I need to do is stop doing things the way I did as a newb and reprocess the brass.

check and make sure your primer shuttle is lined up with the shellplate so the cup is catching and flipping them like pancakes.   BTDT.  

Loosen the two cap head screws on the primer mechanism, lower shellplate over primer cup like you're seating a primer (no brass or primer needed), hold there and retighten.  Back when I bought mine that little tidbit wasn't in the manual but it is now.  

I will state that I'm no big fan of the wolf primers after trying them.  The dimensional issues are one QC problem, the other is loose anvils, missing priming kernal, etc.  I've had more QC issues with the first 1000k of wolf primers than I ever had with all the other primers in the last 20 years.  

The missing primer kernal really irked me.  I can see when the anvil is loose or missing but it's easy to miss a kernal when the anvil is present.  At a glance it looks fine but in reality is nothing but some bits of metal.  

When they do fire they're very accurate; on paper and with good velocity extreme spread and standard deviation numbers off the chronograph.