RCBS hand priming tool exploded

Oswaldo87 · Jan 22, 2021

Many years ago my father’s godfather had a primer chain reaction from the tube system. He was an experienced gunsmith, reloaded, everything you could imagine from an old school gun shop owner. Well he was lucky to not have serious damage except for a shard that went through his pants and embedded into his manhood. Deep enough that he wasn’t comfortable to dig it out himself. So he went to the hospital and when asked the cause the nurse heard “bullet” and immediately called the police as was protocol. Well in the small town all the police knew gunsmith Jerry. One by one they arrived to have a laugh about “Jerry shooting himself in the penis”.
Be careful and go slow.

Pinecone · Jan 22, 2021

Didn't Lee change from the original round tray AutoPrime to the square tray model to deal with this issue.

IIRC, it was due to double feeding primers, and the Federal being soft and sensitive enough to crash and fire.

Doobie · Jan 22, 2021

What bench priming tool is recommended? That is, if any can be found.

erwos · Jan 22, 2021

Doobie said:
What bench priming tool is recommended? That is, if any can be found.

You have a few options.

I use the RCBS bench primer. It gives you excellent leverage and control, but it's not fast. Lee makes one that's similar.

The new and sexy option is the Lee Auto Case Primer (ACP). It can take a case feeder, you pull the handle and a case gets primed, and you can get the primers reloaded fast due to the trays it uses. It's not going to be as fast as just loading on a progressive, but it's probably the fastest thing short of that. Also has an explosion shield so Federal primers aren't an issue for ruining your pretty face.

Doobie · Jan 22, 2021

erwos said:
You have a few options.

I use the RCBS bench primer. It gives you excellent leverage and control, but it's not fast. Lee makes one that's similar.

The new and sexy option is the Lee Auto Case Primer (ACP). It can take a case feeder, you pull the handle and a case gets primed, and you can get the primers reloaded fast due to the trays it uses. It's not going to be as fast as just loading on a progressive, but it's probably the fastest thing short of that. Also has an explosion shield so Federal primers aren't an issue for ruining your pretty face.

Thanks for the reply. What’s the consensus on priming on the press like a RCBS Rock Chucker?

erwos · Jan 22, 2021

Doobie said:
Thanks for the reply. What’s the consensus on priming on the press like a RCBS Rock Chucker?

Some presses are better than others. I've never had a ton of success with the Lee priming system, and I've never used the RCBS RC system. Dillon's is rock solid in my use, of course.

linkstate · Jan 22, 2021

Doobie said:
Thanks for the reply. What’s the consensus on priming on the press like a RCBS Rock Chucker?

I batch reload and prime using a Rock Chucker press using what comes with it. It works fine but it’s slow. I’m ok with slow cause I just prime until I’m done or get tired.

I think you get a good feel when things are lined up. You prime by pushing so less leverage than pulling I think. Seems pretty safe as even if one we’re to go off, it’s only one primer and basically sealed between the shell holder and the case.

Worst part is dropping primers getting them lined up in the little cup.

John from MD · Jan 22, 2021

Op, are you using the RCBS that has the steel shield that blocks off the tray as you ram a primer into the shell holder?

Darkemp · Jan 22, 2021

erwos said:
Reloading isn't hard, but it's damned serious business. Even when you do things right, you're going to experience mechanical failures, once-fired case issues, etc. Gotta keep an eye on all of it at all times.

I was shooting off a batch of 9mm reloads from about 10yrs ago today carefully- I had one round in that batch around the time I loaded them that had some undetermined issue where the round lodged about an inch down in the barrel of a USP 9. I weighed and remeasured this group for consistency, they worked fine. Thinking back on it i bet I missed the powder step on that one, not many reasons I can think of why a round would only go such a short distance.

BuildnBurn · Jan 22, 2021

I'm glad you weren't severely injured. I have been using a RCBS hand priming tool for the last 15 years and never had a problem. I just started using Federal primers a few years ago and will have to reevaluate continuing to use them in the RCBS tool. I thought the steel strip that separates seating from primer magazine would prevent a chain detonation, I guess not.

lazarus · Jan 22, 2021

erwos said:
You have a few options.

I use the RCBS bench primer. It gives you excellent leverage and control, but it's not fast. Lee makes one that's similar.

The new and sexy option is the Lee Auto Case Primer (ACP). It can take a case feeder, you pull the handle and a case gets primed, and you can get the primers reloaded fast due to the trays it uses. It's not going to be as fast as just loading on a progressive, but it's probably the fastest thing short of that. Also has an explosion shield so Federal primers aren't an issue for ruining your pretty face.

Yeah I am eying it up. Just got a Lee App and really like it. Cant find the Acp though. Too new I guess.

I use a Frankfort Arsenal hand primer. Every once in awhile I’ll get a LPP that gets very slightly deformed inserting into to a case. Worries me a bit. But not remotely near crushed.

I usually only load about 20 primers in the tray at a time. Never had a double feed from it.

U.S.SFC_RET · Jan 22, 2021

Never good to have a primer explosion. Thank you for sharing and glad that you are OK. We need a reminder like that once in a while.

lazarus · Jan 22, 2021

I guess I’ll start wearing safety glasses while priming like I am supposed to.

What’s next, I should be wearing a climbing harness?!?

Art3 · Jan 22, 2021

U.S.SFC_RET said:
Never good to have a primer explosion. Thank you for sharing and glad that you are OK. We need a reminder like that once in a while.

No! Some of us need reassurance that it's going to be OK and that the odds of a detonation are astronomically minuscule if we're careful...only half joking about that.

Priming has always been my least favorite step. Over the years of not having a detonation and hearing logic like, "the tool is pressing on the sides of the cup, not where the anvil is," has helped...but it still gives me a little bit of the heebie-jeebies. :innocent0

I had what I guess could have been a close call a few years ago when I forgot to change the rod (that actually pushes the primer into the pocket) when I switched my RCBS hand primer from small to large. It was after I primed about a dozen or so .45Colt's when I realized why they had this little crescent shaped dent on the primers. My first reaction was "Ho-Re-Chit!" :eek:

As I got to thinking about it, though, I took comfort in the idea that if that mistake didn't set any of them off, no way should it happen if I did it the right way. :shrug:

(And I redoubled my attention to doing it the right way

)

I wonder if there is any chance the OP made this mistake and wasn't lucky like I was?

I guess it is always good to remember that powder is flammable, but primers are explosive.

RuralRifleGuy · Jan 22, 2021

lazarus said:
Yeah I am eying it up. Just got a Lee App and really like it. Cant find the Acp though. Too new I guess.

It had a release date of Mid-December 2020 on the Lee website, I'm not sure it's actually been released yet though.

https://leeprecision.com/automatic-case-primer-press.html

Seabee · Jan 23, 2021

Fed primers have had a reputation for decades as being softer than others. Used many thousands of them back in the 70’s & 80’s and tend to agree with this. I changed to CCI and never looked back. I also used an rcbs bench priming tool back then which would hold 75 or so primers in an aluminum tube. After hearing about one of the tubes exploding, I got rid of it. I’ve since used an rcbs universal prime tool and have never had a double feed issue and can’t see how it could happen except if the user seated a primer, left off and a second one dropped in and user tried to seat the first primer deeper. Glad you weren’t seriously hurt. Safety glasses are a must for sure.

bratgirllcp · Jan 23, 2021

Bikebreath said:
I'm grateful you posted this for everyone's safety. And thank goodness you are ok...I agree you were lucky.

Yes I agree Glad you were not hurt more seriously thankyou for posting!

outrider58 · Jan 23, 2021

lazarus said:
I guess I’ll start wearing safety glasses while priming like I am supposed to.

What’s next, I should be wearing a climbing harness?!?

I tell ya, I know you're using a different system these days but, if one is new to the RCBS hand primer, it is very easy to end up trying to insert two primers at the same time.
I might recommend anyone new to that hand primer would be wise to not only wear eye pro, but ear pro as well as safety gloves. My accident was a double ignition which also blew the plastic feed tray to smithereens(shrapnel). My ears rang for a week and the flash burn to the back of my hand was not pleasant.

Rockn93yj · Jan 23, 2021

I definitely had the proper parts installed for the large primers.

lazarus · Jan 23, 2021

RuralRifleGuy said:
It had a release date of Mid-December 2020 on the Lee website, I'm not sure it's actually been released yet though.

https://leeprecision.com/automatic-case-primer-press.html

Been wondering the same thing, but there are a couple of review/unboxing videos of it out there.

But I do suspect it hasn't shipped yet. I guess I could ask Lee directly. It looks really interesting. Not turned off by lack of a case feeder. I ordered the collator and tubes for my App, I can just use the feeder from the App.

I don't, nor plan to ever, sit down and pre-prime hundreds and hundreds of cases. So maximizing speed isn't a priority. I'd like to speed it up and I don't mind a bit more safety here...

I haven't gotten in to large scale reloading yet. Mostly just loading 50 rounds at a time (or less). Trying out loads. I've probably loaded 600-800 rounds so far in the last 9 months of real reloading.

App was/is nice. I sure as heck don't mind pre-priming a ton of cases. Maybe if or when some day primers aren't as scarce. But I don't really want to prime a few thousand cases and then find out "oh, I wanted to prime this stuff over there instead".

But anyway, if I was going to run up 100, 200 rounds, the Acp sounds nice.

RCBS hand priming tool exploded

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