A Primer Blowout

August 3, 1999

By a Sniper Country visitor


Just a quick note about primers.  I have a couple of progressive presses.  When I got the first one, a primer got stuck in the feed tube.  Thinking I could dislodge it, I tapped the side of the metal feed tube with a metal "wrench"... just a light tap.  The resulting tap set off a spark which apparently set the contents of the tube off.  There were about 30 primers in the tube.  The explosion ripped out a corner of my press... (it was a Dillon and they supplied all the parts to fix it -- free) and set my ears to ringing for three days.  The only good news is, now I can't hear my wife when she has honey-do's for me.

At any rate, be real careful with primers... they are easily the most dangerous single component of reloading.


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