Flash-Over incident using Hornady Hand Primer

[norfolk shooter]

@Scrumbag Glad your ok mate and still have your eyes and fingers. Dont let it scare you shit like this can happen. As @Bob Nelson 35Whelen has sad there is something somewhere about not loading more than 10 primers of a make in the hand press I just can remember where I saw it.

Anyway Im just glad your ok pal

 

[Scrumbag]

@Scrumbag Glad your ok mate and still have your eyes and fingers. Dont let it scare you shit like this can happen. As @Bob Nelson 35Whelen has sad there is something somewhere about not loading more than 10 primers of a make in the hand press I just can remember where I saw it.

Anyway Im just glad your ok pal

Heeling up fine matey!

 

[machinistbutler]

Glad it wasn't more serious. I have always worried a bit about that with my lee hand primer. I have seated a couple primers sideways somehow,even one upside down , but luckily nothing detonated.

With the 416 Rigby and 470 Nitro I have to use the press,. Too big for the little hand prime.

Thanks for posting as it will be on people's minds next time they load, and hopefully encourage safety glasses.

 

[CJW]

@CJW
Lee actually advise not loading more than 10 primers of one brand could be federal, its written in the instructions as they can cause explosion. Other brands are OK.
Bob.

I just still never liked the idea. I've set a few off with my lee loaders and can't imagine setting off even a partial tray. I don't want even 10 going off in my hand as I just don't trust those things. Loading singly is a touch slower but after getting used to it you don't give up much.

And anyway, I find enough ridiculous ways to damage myself.

 

[Grouser]

I have been using the same case primer as you since that is the one that came in the kit. Twice I have found a primer has flipped on the way to being seated. Scary. The thought of that coming back in my face and nothing going out the other end.
I’m on the way to a better system. Thank you.

 

[sestoppelman]

I prime on the press as others do. Never got used to the hand prime method.
I think the OP's experience has got to be a first, never heard of anyone having that happen before.

 

[fourfive8]

Glad no punctured eyeballs!! Good safety reminder, Thanks for posting.

Never have needed to load any great volume of ammo in a hurry so only hand prime one at a time in either a hand primer or press mounted. I cut the tray off the one hand primer that had a tray. Greatly prefer the hand primer designed for one at a time anyway. Had one primer detonate in a Lee whackomatic some 50+ years ago. Potent little suckers, primers are. Glasses always a good idea when reloading.

 

[Scrumbag]

I prime on the press as others do. Never got used to the hand prime method.
I think the OP's experience has got to be a first, never heard of anyone having that happen before.

Actually a few have come forward saying it has happened.

 

[sestoppelman]

Actually a few have come forward saying it has happened.

All the more reason to stop doing that.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Is there consensus that the primer was upside down when being seated? It makes sense to me that this would cause the result. There'd be no direction for the pressure but to slam the seater rod down and also into the tray.

If the primer was right side up and detonated, there'd at least be a path thru the flash hole and out of the empty cartridge for the pressure to relieve.

 

[Sabattiboy]

Thanks for posting your experience.
It is probably safe to say we all allow some level of safety to lapse from time to time and fortunately is uneventful.
It was written in the Dillon Blue Press that someone set off a primer when seating not realizing some mfg put small pistol primers in their 45 ACP cases when they have been large pistol from day one. This caused me to check my cases from range pickup plus my own fired factory and actually found some I had not tried to process yet. Now, I use a Dillon 550 and when I seat primers I feel them in so can not imagine slam banging a progressive loader so as to not feel that much resistance.
I pickup much brass at the range and find quite a few anomalies. Some 300 Win Mag fired in a Weatherby chamber so there was a nub of neck left on the case. A 223 rem with no neck. I took it home to investigate and when I ran it in the sizing die so I could see if the neck was pulled or cut off it came back out with a neck and about 0.010 short of normal length. This made me wonder if it was fired in a 222 rem mag chamber but that would require something to hold the case back against the bolt face during the firing pin strike. This one made me wonder a lot. The 300 Win Mag has a belt to hold it in place.
One 223 unfired round I picked up had a primer seated sideways. When they pulled the trigger on it the primer ignited but being sideways blocked the flash hole so failed to get to the powder. It clearly had a firing pin dent in the side of the primer. It never ignited from being seated that way nor was discovered at the reloading or at the range when put in a mag or chamber.
One club member handed me 5) of his reloaded 223 rounds to try and one primer fell out in my hand. I showed it to him so he exchanged it for an other round. I never thought about whether it was worn out primer pockets or he blew some primers from hot loads and was still using the cases.
Be blessed and safe.

 

[shootist~]

Is there consensus that the primer was upside down when being seated? It makes sense to me that this would cause the result. There'd be no direction for the pressure but to slam the seater rod down and also into the tray.

If the primer was right side up and detonated, there'd at least be a path thru the flash hole and out of the empty cartridge for the pressure to relieve.

Back in my high volume pistol competition days I loaded a number of Large Pistol (45 ACP) primers upside down. Easy to do on a progressive press. Caught most, but not all before dumping into my range bag for practice.

Shot one or two that way and saw several from others. They all just fizzled and put out some smoke when the wrong side of the primer was hit by the firing pin. (No bang.)
Clear pistol, verify no barrel obstruction and move on.

 

[Scrumbag]

Is there consensus that the primer was upside down when being seated? It makes sense to me that this would cause the result. There'd be no direction for the pressure but to slam the seater rod down and also into the tray.

If the primer was right side up and detonated, there'd at least be a path thru the flash hole and out of the empty cartridge for the pressure to relieve.

Upside down or sideways would be my guess

 

[krish]

Glad you are ok with minor injuries.
Krish

 

[Ravensview]

Glad to hear you made it out relatively unscathed, safety glasses are a must

 

[John the Electrician]

You can probably tell from my username that I am in the construction trades. I happen to also be the owner of the company and the residual effect of that is the responsibility for everyone’s safety.

I am really a hard ass about safety glasses.

Until you wear safety glasses all the time, you just don’t realize how much stuff hits your eyes and around your eyes. There is no rewind button for an eye injury or a hearing loss event for that matter.

I run a very safe and low injury company. With out a doubt, the worst thing in the world is to call someone’s wife and tell her that her husband is in the hospital. I’ve done that and it’s awful.

We all need to wear our personal protective equipment all the time. This isn’t any type of comment on what happened when the OP was reloading, I’m just stating the fact that the right safety equipment is so important.

 

[Nevada Mike]

Glad you're OK, Mike.

I have tried several hand priming tools and fin the trays an aggravation and potential hazard, as you found out. I load primers into the tool one at a time. I do not load in any volume so speed is not a big issue.

 

[ZG47]

You can probably tell from my username that I am in the construction trades. I happen to also be the owner of the company and the residual effect of that is the responsibility for everyone’s safety.

I am really a hard ass about safety glasses.

Until you wear safety glasses all the time, you just don’t realize how much stuff hits your eyes and around your eyes. There is no rewind button for an eye injury or a hearing loss event for that matter.

I run a very safe and low injury company. With out a doubt, the worst thing in the world is to call someone’s wife and tell her that her husband is in the hospital. I’ve done that and it’s awful.

We all need to wear our personal protective equipment all the time. This isn’t any type of comment on what happened when the OP was reloading, I’m just stating the fact that the right safety equipment is so important.

Too true. I keep clear safety glasses in the top tray of the toolbox holding my Hornady priming tool and primers (as per my previous post to this thread on 8 August 2021. They always go on my face before I handle either the priming tool or other contents of the toolbox. The primer packets are always at the bottom of the toolbox. The two covered Hornady plastic trays for large and small primers are always on top of the primer packets.
I was a TF Royal New Zealand Engineer for 12 years. We still had sets of WWII mine goggles in our Q Store, in the 1980s, as did every other RNZE squadron. It did not make sense to us, as we had not been issued with goggles during our mine clearance training, although we did get to wear the nice heavy British bomb-disposal Kevlar vests. It seems that goggle issue had been discontinued as SME adjusted to shortened Corps Training periods. The RF personnel who went to Cambodia as part of the UN demining effort, made it clear to us that: safety glasses were the most important piece of safety wear for mine and boobytrap clearance.

 

[Scrumbag]

Glad you're OK, Mike.

I have tried several hand priming tools and fin the trays an aggravation and potential hazard, as you found out. I load primers into the tool one at a time. I do not load in any volume so speed is not a big issue.

All good buddy!

 

[rdog]

A very miniscule amount.

Too bad they do not blow their balls off so the can not breed,. but most of them do not have any balls.