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I've been reloading awhile (pistol and rifle). I've got some brass that for one reason or other can't be completely "loaded" but already has the primer in it. Some of it the primer didn't go in straight, some got partially mashed going. I've even got a few that are complete cartridges but aren't safe to shoot... Not alot, but a few...
Was wondering how do I dispose of these?
Doesn't seem safe to me to put them in my press and "de-prime" them.....
TIA!
Just deprime them and start over. Do it slowly with safety glasses. No big deal.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger Time 23
Make sure your work area is completely cleared of flammables, powder, other primers etc in case you do ignite one (unlikely). WHen I have done this in the past, I also wore ear protection. Have only done a few times, but worked very slowly and carefully and never had an issue.
Here's an interesting blog post about it with several responses from various manufacturers on what they recommend:
http://flat5.net/2006/10/deactivating-primers/
I liked the "Soak in water and throw in the trash. They'll stay deactivated until bured at the dump" response.
Get some old oil and soak them in that for a day then drain all the old oil and simply dispose of them
I was always told to soak them in water and lye. The lye will leach into the primers and neutralize the priming compound.
Thanks for the responses! Gives me some options!
Bleach and priming compound dont get along.
Me, I just run them through a regular old decap die and press on.
I can't find the gun forum post I read it on, but years back I read a post by a guy who used to work for one of the major manufacturers of primers. He said they neutralized primers by soaking them in bleach water. He also said oil didn't do squat. From a chemistry point of view, this makes sense. Primers are salts and the most common compound used is lead styphenate from what I can find out. It's hard to narrow down the exact compound as companies don't like to let go of the proprietary info. Regardless, most primer mixtures known are salts of some sort or another. Soaking them in bleach overnight would break down most of the material's ionic bonds with the metals and interfere with it's reformation when drying.
Oils are hydrocarbon chains and won't do squat. I'm fairly sure lye would also neutralize the salts, but the danger of working with sodium hydroxide concentrations is just as dangerous as popping the primers off to neutralize them. So, in cases where I am going to dispose of a live primer, I soak them in 10% chlorinated bleach water over night. I have deprimed hundreds of goofed up cases over the years. I've yet to pop one off. Go slow.