[RussB]

As the title indicates, I did something stupid that I've never done before, and nothing happened, like I thought it might, so all is good on my end.
However, I NEVER make a habit of priming brass before I put it in the Polisher/Case Cleaner, but somehow that happened a day or so ago, and was not realized until I was taking the cases out this morning and found 20 pieces of 7x57 brass with new primers!
My question is this, since the disaster I would have expected didn't happen; Should I de-prime these cases, and replace with new primers? Should I just toss these cases, although they look great? Or, can I just load these cases and fire them off?
In the back of my mind, I have always imagined that if a PRIMED CASE got in that Media, and from all that shaking and vibrating, those primers would "Pop".....but surprisingly they didn't.

Thanks for any replies!
Respectfully, Russ...

 

[JWSmith1959]

Having "poked" out enough media from flash holes I think that you would be best off depriming them and going from there.

Good luck and all the best.

Joel

 

[jimp]

Could try using a flashlight to look at the flash hole and see if there is any media stuck in the flash hole. The color of media/brass/primer may blend together or contrast depending on the combo. A tap or three on a hard surface might dislodge some media, but then again, it may not. With the cost/availability of primers, I would inspect 'em in some fashion to see what I would do next. JMO

 

[leverite]

Have done this myself a time or two.
If hunting loads or self-defense, I would deprime/reprime.
If load development or target loads, I would go with a flashlight inspection and shoot them.

 

[jimboro]

I've done the same and after trying to remove them and bending two push pins I loaded them light and every one fired of like new

 

[TMan]

You are not the first! (If that makes you feel any better )

If you tumble some brass in corn cob, you have cob in some of the the flash holes, sure as the sun will rise. And it doesn't just fall out that I've ever experienced.

Take a few rounds, load 'em up with a set of clear flash holes as controls, and take them to the range. They will pretty much work just fine, or at least they will with an un-compressed load when I tried it.

It's non-ideal, but not a disaster, or worth dumping precious primers for these days, if you're just making practice loads.

Chalk it up to "Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want". It's not like accidently leaving Bullseye in the measure while whipping up a supply of 2400 loads.

 

[RussB]

You are not the first! (If that makes you feel any better )

If you tumble some brass in corn cob, you have cob in some of the the flash holes, sure as the sun will rise. And it doesn't just fall out that I've ever experienced.

Take a few rounds, load 'em up with a set of clear flash holes as controls, and take them to the range. They will pretty much work just fine, or at least they will with an un-compressed load when I tried it.

It's non-ideal, but not a disaster, or worth dumping precious primers for these days, if you're just making practice loads.

Chalk it up to "Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want". It's not like accidently leaving Bullseye in the measure while whipping up a supply of 2400 loads.

TMan, not being the first to have done this is indeed promising!
I did as suggested and inspected the Primers with a "white" light, and only found one with a little something covering the flash hole, I lost it before I could determine what that "little something" was, but I have to assume it was cleaning media as it fell out when taping the case on the bench.

As a side note: Am I the only one that has heard the horror stories about what might happen when you do something silly like this?

Anyway, Thanks to everyone, problem solved!
Respectfully, Russ...

 

[fxdwgpig]

TMan, not being the first to have done this is indeed promising!
I did as suggested and inspected the Primers with a "white" light, and only found one with a little something covering the flash hole, I lost it before I could determine what that "little something" was, but I have to assume it was cleaning media as it fell out when taping the case on the bench.

As a side note: Am I the only one that has heard the horror stories about what might happen when you do something silly like this?

Anyway, Thanks to everyone, problem solved!
Respectfully, Russ...

Never did that, but have done a couple of boneheaded things that we won't discuss! lol

 

[shooter444]

TMan, not being the first to have done this is indeed promising!
I did as suggested and inspected the Primers with a "white" light, and only found one with a little something covering the flash hole, I lost it before I could determine what that "little something" was, but I have to assume it was cleaning media as it fell out when taping the case on the bench.

As a side note: Am I the only one that has heard the horror stories about what might happen when you do something silly like this?

Anyway, Thanks to everyone, problem solved!
Respectfully, Russ...

Don't know who you have been talking with, but, I learned many years ago to vibrate/polish old mildly corrosion covered LIVE AMMO, from a dealer, who would have a bunch being cleaned just about every time I went there!

Primers "POPPING" in a vibrator sounds more like an internet rumor, than anything else, to me.

Do, as you did,... use a light, if no media present, use them. If media present, long needle nose tweezers is what I have used, before switching over to wet/SS/tumble cleaning. I found trying to blow media out with compressed air, a fools folly!

 

[JWSmith1959]

I've "poked" out a lot of "very" stuck media from flash holes. 20 primers is not a huge loss. Better safe than sorry. De-prime them and start from scratch. JMHO.

Good luck and all the best.

Joel

 

[Darkker]

If someone is worried about a live primer going off during de-priming, simply soak them in mildly soapy water for a bit; or kill them with a light oil first. I do it infrequently, but the oil trick has been my method; right/wrong/indifferent.


Cheers

 

[MisterEd]

Why not just cycle them through your rifle and pop them? No suds, no oil, cases clean and dry.

 

[RussB]

Why not just cycle them through your rifle and pop them? No suds, no oil, cases clean and dry.

Mister Ed, that was my first thought!
However, after the comments here, I just loaded them up without further ado.
I did mark the primer and case head with a Magic Marker...so we'll see what happens when I get to the Range.

As a side note:
The question was asked, "why was I even concerned?"...and, "Is this a internet rumor"....the answer is, it's not a rumor, but a real life experience that caused my concern.
I had a long-time friend, going back to Viet Nam days, that did have a incident while tumbling brass in Walnut Media back in the early 1980's. He was loading .45 Colt and, as best as "we" could tell at the time, the thinking was that he had put two cases with primed brass, perhaps even with some powder in them, in the Tumbler.
I was with him in his garage when it happened, there was two distinctively "loud Pops" very shortly after turning the tumbler on, (which also cracked the side of his Midway Tumbler). He immediately pulled the cord from the wall plug and we started looking for the cause.....what we found was two cases with primers, still intact, fired, but with no surface strike marks.
He always left the fired primers in the cases when tumbling his brass, much as I do, so we didn't have to dig "stuff" out of the flash hole.
We both have speculated, that maybe, just maybe, both of those cases also had a little powder in them, (at the time he used Lee Dippers to load his Ruger in .45 Colt, and that powder was out on the loading bench when it happened.)....is it possible those two primed cases had "some" powder in them, and somehow, got moved to the Cleaning Tray and then dumped into the Tumbler? I have no clue! I had no clue then, and I have no clue now!
There's simply too many variables to even start trying to figure it out, but it did happen!
Albeit the incident has been close to 40 years ago, I still remember what happened. And because of that incident, I'm very conscious of running primed cases in the Tumbler!
Respectfully, Russ...

 

[jimboro]

☺

 

[fxdwgpig]

Still, as much as people say they've done it and no big deal. I too use walnut media and would never consciously tumble live primered brass! Maybe I'm too cautious.

 

[shooterPaul]

Like the OP stated it was a mistake, one that turned out OK this time. I don't think anyone in their right mind would run primed brass in a tumbler. It serves no good purpose and could cause problems.

 

[shooter444]

I believe there have been two types commented on in this thread,... tumblers and vibrators.

As posted above, I personally know of a dealer that had a vibrator outside his front door, at his home based retail gun shop, running constantly for years. I have done it myself, not as continuous, but without a single incident.

 

[bavaria55n]

A primer with NO powder will push a cast bullet a couple inches down a barrel. A little bit (or lot) of tumbling media will not even be noticed when it fires.
Gary

 

[JJE2MT]

Let us know how they turn out when you get the range. I suspect you'll have no issues and they will all fire normally.