Primer POP

[truck driver]

I was reloading some 45acp this afternoon and had a Fiocchi pistol primer go bang while seating it in a casing on my Dillon 550B.
This the first time in 62 years of reloading that I had this happen.
I received minor powder burns on my right forearm and my right ear is still ringing an hour later.
I guess I can consider myself lucky since it could have been worse with powder in a casing right next to it. The Winchester shell case diverted the explosion up into the decaping die.
Got a phone call off to Fiocchi right after it happened and waiting to get a response back from them.
You can see from the pictures of what's left that it had started into the primer pocket before it went off. I had the handle all the way up in the seated position and that's when it went off.
Glad I wasn't using a hand primer seater at the time or there could have been a more serious reaction and possible a higher chance of more injury.
I had loaded 700 of this lot of primers and they all fit snug in the primer pockets so I was taking my time seating them.

 

[JD338]

First off, glad you are OK. I never heard of that happening but you just never know.

JD338

 

[truck driver]

First off, glad you are OK. I never heard of that happening but you just never know.

JD338

Thanks JD, in 62 years of reloading this was a first for me and hope it is the last. I still have 900 of these primers left and will be wearing hearing protection when I use them to reload.
I have crushed a few that have turned sideways in the Dillon primer feeder cup and not have them detonate so I'm careful to watch the primer coming out of the feeder tube. I have adjusted the shell plate, so it doesn't drag on the primers and flip them which was a learning experience with the 550B since it's not noted in the manual. This primer didn't flip but was being seated straight into the primer pocket and the seating stem was clean as can be seen from the flat face of the detonated primer.

While I was writing this Fiocchi CS called me and as expected they took no responsibility for what happened saying it was maybe operator error. But was sorry I had a mishap.
Might be a good excuse not to buy any more of any of their products.

 

[bkordon]

Glad you're okay. May want to add safety glasses to the hearing protection. How does the primer pocket look? Curious if the primer got snagged. I use a Dillon reloading setup as well and am always interested in other people's experiences with their machines. I use the Square B for pistol calibers, and with that machine, powder is fairly close to the priming station.

 

[Joec7651]

As stated, glad you’re ok first off. I’ve heard people say it’s happened to them but never experienced it personally. I’d say carry on as you are, and contact the manufacturer. Use a different lot of primes until you get direction from the manufacturer. I’ve had some turn sideways in the primer pocket but they didn’t ignite.

 

[RL338]

Glad you’re ok. Never had it happen to me , though I’ve read about happening to others.

 

[DrMike]

I've never experienced this. I do require that everyone enrolled in a course I am teaching must have eye protection. Just in case.

 

[hunter24605]

Yikes! That could have been much worse. Glad you’re ok. That’s a sphincter tightener!

 

[truck driver]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I do were a magnifying visor over my glasses which acts like safety glasses because it is wider then my glasses and gives me almost full coverage.
I measured the primer cup thickness and the Fiocchi's is .016" and Federal metal thickness is .013". I didn't measure WW or CCI but .003" seems to be significant to me since it makes the Fiocchi harder to seat.

 

[sako2]

Glad your okay.

 

[300WSM]

Glad you are ok... 10001 percent glad for that.

I am sure your reloading prowess is just fine. Fiocchi would never admit to such a thing as being a one off...

that said if this happens a few more times and word gets out they will address it and this is the kind of thing that can't literally kill their very juvenile, as in new, primer production.

I would like to add something and you might think about this..

I do disagree with your statement about using a hand primer or it could have been worse.

This is one of the exact reasons I USE A HAND PRIMER because every case I prime is tilted away from my face. and upper torso. That way if ignition happens it is directed in a safe location. I have no worries of the unit I use holding together and keeping the case right in place.
Some new brass has some pretty stiff...or perhaps TIGHT is a better description...and requires some extra force to get that seated.

90 percent of my loads are fed gm215m primers which are by far the hottest primer produced. The other 10 percent is large pistol mag and CCI#41 and #34

Again I am glad you are ok but maybe look into a good strong hand priming unit and tilt those cases away from you.
I assume you are loading in a progressive fashion thus hand priming would slow that operation down....

Saying again glad you're ok

 

[NYDAN]

Rodger, I am glad that you weren't injured. Boy, that must have been a huge surprise.

 

[truck driver]

Glad you are ok... 10001 percent glad for that.

I am sure your reloading prowess is just fine. Fiocchi would never admit to such a thing as being a one off...

that said if this happens a few more times and word gets out they will address it and this is the kind of thing that can't literally kill their very juvenile, as in new, primer production.

I would like to add something and you might think about this..

I do disagree with your statement about using a hand primer or it could have been worse.

This is one of the exact reasons I USE A HAND PRIMER because every case I prime is tilted away from my face. and upper torso. That way if ignition happens it is directed in a safe location. I have no worries of the unit I use holding together and keeping the case right in place.
Some new brass has some pretty stiff...or perhaps TIGHT is a better description...and requires some extra force to get that seated.

90 percent of my loads are fed gm215m primers which are by far the hottest primer produced. The other 10 percent is large pistol mag and CCI#41 and #34

Again I am glad you are ok but maybe look into a good strong hand priming unit and tilt those cases away from you.
I assume you are loading in a progressive fashion thus hand priming would slow that operation down....

Saying again glad you're ok

Thanks for your response.
I do have a gifted RCBS hand primer that the good DrMike gave me that I use for rifle reloading.
Maybe I need to give Dillon a call and see what they say about using Fiocchi primers in their presses.
I know they use to not recommend CCI primers due to the thicker primer cups causing them to be harder to seat and had some pop when being seated on one of their presses.
I use Dillon presses not for speed but for the ease of loading large amounts of ammo for competition.
CCI are the only primers I have had problems with, in Dillon presses an only use them for rifle on a single stage press or in the hand primer.

 

[truck driver]

Rodger, I am glad that you weren't injured. Boy, that must have been a huge surprise.

Yeah it was Dan, I never expected it and was taking it ease with them since they were tight going in.

 

[300WSM]

Thanks for your response.
I do have a gifted RCBS hand primer that the good DrMike gave me that I use for rifle reloading.
Maybe I need to give Dillon a call and see what they say about using Fiocchi primers in their presses.
I know they use to not recommend CCI primers due to the thicker primer cups causing them to be harder to seat and had some pop when being seated on one of their presses.
I use Dillon presses not for speed but for the ease of loading large amounts of ammo for competition.
CCI are the only primers I have had problems with, in Dillon presses an only use them for rifle on a single stage press or in the hand primer.

I'd definitely let them aware.

Getting information like this out to good mfg's, like Dillon, makes it possible to help a potential "next guy" in the same boat....to perhaps be warned and avoid that boat.

At the very least Dillon will make note of it and that's a good thing.

Good day and stay safe brotha!!

 

[Blkram]

When I was first learning to handload, my friend that was teaching me the ins and outs, also taught me about tilting the hand primer away from me and turning my head away, when seating primers, and to wear eye protection.

I recall discussing the potential harm that a primer igniting while seating...and he actually performed a little test to demonstrate just how loud a pop there would be if a primer detonated when seating, in a mock scenario as close to having it detonate in a hand primer although in a safer fashion, by priming an empty case and firing it in a revolver, out an open window of his reloading room (he lives on a farm out in the country with the closest neighbour's house a few hundred yards away). It was a surprisingly loud "pop"! Glad the window was open and barrel fired out that window, and not just within the room, as the ears would have been ringing! It was a good demonstration that is still remembered when priming.
He then said, imagine what that would have been like not fired in a revolver, but going off in a hand primer, in an enclosed room/space!
Thinking back on it now, it never occurred to us to add hearing protection to the process.

When asked about potential injury to hands, he only stated that it was known to happen, although rare if you practiced safe techniques, and that he wasn't willing to try to detonate a primer in the hand seater to find out; but was willing to watch me try, should I be interested enough to do so!
Needless to say, I declined!

 

[truck driver]

When I was first learning to handload, my friend that was teaching me the ins and outs, also taught me about tilting the hand primer away from me and turning my head away, when seating primers, and to wear eye protection.

I recall discussing the potential harm that a primer igniting while seating...and he actually performed a little test to demonstrate just how loud a pop there would be if a primer detonated when seating, in a mock scenario as close to having it detonate in a hand primer although in a safer fashion, by priming an empty case and firing it in a revolver, out an open window of his reloading room (he lives on a farm out in the country with the closest neighbour's house a few hundred yards away). It was a surprisingly loud "pop"! Glad the window was open and barrel fired out that window, and not just within the room, as the ears would have been ringing! It was a good demonstration that is still remembered when priming.
He then said, imagine what that would have been like not fired in a revolver, but going off in a hand primer, in an enclosed room/space!
Thinking back on it now, it never occurred to us to add hearing protection to the process.

When asked about potential injury to hands, he only stated that it was known to happen, although rare if you practiced safe techniques, and that he wasn't willing to try to detonate a primer in the hand seater to find out; but was willing to watch me try, should I be interested enough to do so!
Needless to say, I declined!

Thanks for the reply and info.
Back in the day when I use to shoot PPC whit revolvers I would test primers in empty cases to find which ones had the softest cups and ignited ease with the lighter hammer springs used in my guns. Yes, I fired this outside with hearing protection and found out why WW primers along with Federal were popular to use for reloading for light loads for PPC revolvers. A primer set off this way is very load and will get your attention.
Dillon CS will get a call from me today to let them know of the incident.
Fiocchi has had their chance and I will buy no more from them.

 

[diverdown]

I was reloading some 45acp this afternoon and had a Fiocchi pistol primer go bang while seating it in a casing on my Dillon 550B.
This the first time in 62 years of reloading that I had this happen.
I received minor powder burns on my right forearm and my right ear is still ringing an hour later.
I guess I can consider myself lucky since it could have been worse with powder in a casing right next to it. The Winchester shell case diverted the explosion up into the decaping die.
Got a phone call off to Fiocchi right after it happened and waiting to get a response back from them.
You can see from the pictures of what's left that it had started into the primer pocket before it went off. I had the handle all the way up in the seated position and that's when it went off.
Glad I wasn't using a hand primer seater at the time or there could have been a more serious reaction and possible a higher chance of more injury.
I had loaded 700 of this lot of primers and they all fit snug in the primer pockets so I was taking my time seating them.

I had a batch of Military cases for my AR that I had just run through a swaging die to get rid of the primer crimp that so many cases have. I then started to seat primers and as usual some primer pockets were tighter than others. I was moving along and ran into a particularly tight primer pocket which I subsequently forced a primer into. Well I got a big bang and was thankful for my safety glasses. I was lucky and didn't get burnt and moved along a bit slower so as to avoid another problem before it started.

 

[DrMike]

When I was first learning to handload, my friend that was teaching me the ins and outs, also taught me about tilting the hand primer away from me and turning my head away, when seating primers, and to wear eye protection.

I recall discussing the potential harm that a primer igniting while seating...and he actually performed a little test to demonstrate just how loud a pop there would be if a primer detonated when seating, in a mock scenario as close to having it detonate in a hand primer although in a safer fashion, by priming an empty case and firing it in a revolver, out an open window of his reloading room (he lives on a farm out in the country with the closest neighbour's house a few hundred yards away). It was a surprisingly loud "pop"! Glad the window was open and barrel fired out that window, and not just within the room, as the ears would have been ringing! It was a good demonstration that is still remembered when priming.
He then said, imagine what that would have been like not fired in a revolver, but going off in a hand primer, in an enclosed room/space!
Thinking back on it now, it never occurred to us to add hearing protection to the process.

When asked about potential injury to hands, he only stated that it was known to happen, although rare if you practiced safe techniques, and that he wasn't willing to try to detonate a primer in the hand seater to find out; but was willing to watch me try, should I be interested enough to do so!
Needless to say, I declined!

Yeah, but you didn't tell about Pete coming into the reloading room with welding hood and asbestos gloves implying that this was a real challenge!

 

[Blkram]

Yeah, but you didn't tell about Pete coming into the reloading room with welding hood and asbestos gloves implying that this was a real challenge!

While that is something that Pete would do, he didn't take the opportunity on that day to do so!
He is rather fond of asking if someone else wants to try something dangerous that he isn't willing to do himself! Thankfully, I am quick enough to decline these offers!