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reusing primers

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benstt

Professional
Founding Member
This might be a silly question. I had to disassemble some freshly made .45 rounds because the cases collapsed during seating/crimping. They have not been fired, obviously. Have any of you ever reused an unfired primer? I would have just thrown them away in years past but things are strange right now.
 
Just how do you plan on extracting that unused primer? In my mind trying to push it out with the pin is more than likely it's going to go boom or be useless once you distort the anvil. So you may now have a NEW round that is dead.
 
Oh, the cases are trashed. I popped the primers out because I melt down bad brass for other projects. Will the decapping pin wreck the primers?
 
benstt said:
They don't ignite. I'm just wondering if they'd be ruined by the decapping.
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Just how many are you looking to do? I fall in the better safe than sorry camp. if you're just trying to save eight or ten primers I don't find that to be enough worthwhile time and hazard duty pay, oil them throw them away.

But if you plan to go down this road I would only just do a few and then fire them and see if they work. Seems to me that anytime you distort the anvil you're going to have possible problems down the road with ignition.
 
I have decapped numerous primers with zero issue. I've done it with sizing die as well as with universal decapping die. Never an issue, and all removed primers fired without exception in other brass. While I don't intentionally ruin a case just to see if I can reuse a primer, I have split case mouths or done other damage when the case didn't enter the die cleanly. Thus, save the primer, toss the brass into the scrap brass bottle.
My experience in other forums indicate this is quite common practice. A timid reloader may choose to put on some ear protection in the rather rare case that the primer lights off.
For those that had not, yet, lit off a primer on the press, it generally happens during seating the primer.
On another forum a gent tried unsuccessfully to light off a primer by whacking the anvil with a hammer and nail. Seems primers like to be hit on the bottom.
Now having said that, I have also removed primers that I inadvertently installed upside down (happens with auto-priming on the bench). In these instances, I've also had 100% success, without even putting a dimple on the primer cup.
Slow and steady is the key.

Lest I be misunderstood, I am not advocating for anyone to play with primers. Proper procedures prevent mishaps whcih would render primer removal unnecessary. Let's be careful out there!
 
This was a good question, I haven’t reloaded in over 20 years, never thought of trying to decap and re-use the primers, in theory it might work, but in the process did it mess up the anvil, and if it didn’t that you know of, will they work as usual when you re-used them in another case. Good post, good replies.
 
Annihilator said:
but in the process did it mess up the anvil, and if it didn’t that you know of, will they work as usual when you re-used them in another case.
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Buried in my prior response... Never an issue, and all removed primers fired without exception in other brass.
No observed impact to the anvil, no dent, no ding, no damage. 100% ignition when re-used.
 
markr6754 said:
Buried in my prior response... Never an issue, and all removed primers fired without exception in other brass.
No observed impact to the anvil, no dent, no ding, no damage. 100% ignition when re-used.
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So, reseating without a primer failure after reloading went well? Primers stayed tight in primer seat?
 
TEXASforLIFE said:
So, reseating without a primer failure after reloading went well? Primers stayed tight in primer seat?
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Yes, and yes. I have removed primers from brass, whatever the reason. I have reinstalled those same primers into other cases...or in the case of an inverted primer back into the same case.
Primers reinstalled with no issue. Tight, stayed tight, no anvils fell out. No change in resistance level detected. Primers were not distorted, in any way.
Reinstalled primers were fired without issue in my pistols. The fired primers had to be pushed out with "normal" pressure during decapping/resizing process.
I am not talking once, but I'm also not talking hundreds of times. Maybe 15-20 times...and some of those were primers installed sideways (turned in primer cup while priming on the press). These primers WERE distorted, as they were flattened on the sides. I have reinserted these with about 70% success. Some just get further mangled...usually small rifle.

Primers are not the absolutely delicate creatures of myth. One just needs to be careful and work slowly with pressure, not force.
 
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