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Posted: 7/16/2015 3:43:04 AM EDT
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What is the safest way to deactivate a primer.
I need a primer cup that has not had a firing pin strike for a project. WD-40, water, then torch/flame? From a distance? I was going to drill a hole in a piec of wood, and seat the primer compound out to work on it, not grab it with a pair of Vise Grips. |
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I deactivated a few for a project by seating them in a case, setting the case on my vice, put a Lee escaping rod through the firing pin hole, wrap the whole shooting match in moist rags, and gave the decapping rod a tap with a hammer. Wear ear and eye pro. Whether you consider this safe is entirely up to you. It worked well for me.
The WD-40, oil, etc may work, but are generally considered unreliable. As always, YMMV. |
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Quoted:
Pull bullet Dump powder Put case in chamber and pull trigger Deprime case remove primer anvil Tap firing pin dimple with appropriate size punch and hammer Do it right. The only way to safely kill a primer is to fire it. This is the only way to make sure it is dead and tge safest way. Becareful what you do with your project, even though it is nothing in it that goes boom it could still be considered live ammo and cause trouble |
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May try soaking in water for a week. Then drill a small hole through a 2x6, with a larger hole to fit the primer fairly tight. Soak the primer, put it cup first into the board. Mount a small propane torch head on a long pipe from the nozzle on another board. Use a long rope to pull the torch until it has a flame on the open side of the primer. Burn out the compound from a distance. Push the cup out with a drill bit through the small hole.
I wasn't planing on leaving the compound in the cup. Also may try putting the smooth end of a drill bit into the primer pocket, then grinding it flush. Deprime the stubb, turn it around and seat it in the cartridge I'm going to use. Just need it to plug the case and look at least half assed correct. |
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Water will do nothing, oil and solvents rarely work.
Your best bet is to take a fired case and use a punch to try and bump the firing pin protrusion back out through the flash hole so it looks unfired. I've soaked primers in WD-40 for a month and they still were live. |
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Quoted:
A soak in acetone should do it. Vince Nope. I've tried acetone, alcohol, WD-40, paint thinner... None of them are guaranteed to do anything but make a mess. OP, to have a primer cup for whatever (I sealed a few cases with upside down cups to use for measuring, etc.), I take fired primers I've deprimed, pull the anvil (it often just falls out) then use a punch to flatten the cup. This is ALWAYS safe compared to trying to kill a primer. |
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If you want the cup undamaged you could put the primer in a containment device like a vegetable can or some kind of cook pan or pot. Cover the device and set it on a out door cook stove or similar and heat it until it cooks off.
All the usual cautious apply of course. The primer itself could become a projectile so you'll want to be aware of that. Motor |
| You can just run it through a sizing die or decapping die, IF (I mean IF) you run it through very slowly. The anvil in a boxer primer has a support that allows you to decap the live primer if you do it carefully, I've done it a few times and was even able to reuse that primer. I have not had it go off yet but I was afraid it would. Assume that it will. |
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Quoted:
Pull bullet Dump powder Put case in chamber and pull trigger Deprime case remove primer anvil Tap firing pin dimple with appropriate size punch and hammer Do it right. The only way to safely kill a primer is to fire it. This. If i may pry op, what is your project? |
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