Flash-Over Incident Using Hornady Hand Primer

S

Scrumbag

New member
Hi folks,

Had a small scare the other day whilst reloading that might be a helpful reminder to people to keep safe and follow your procedures not being sloppy. Primer popped when being seated and flashed over into try causing other primers to detonate.

This happened using a Hornady Hand Primer

My set-up post incident

hmaMYMWl.jpg


Close-up of hand primer – not sure where rest of pieces are.


zLfRUjvl.jpg


Close-up of “flashed” primers (Note empty but dented cups)


Mu5NzK3l.jpg


And this is the resulting cuts to hand – fortunately they seem superficial. Blast also blew my glasses off my face and they landed ~6 feet away.


NAa0kSel.jpg


Fortunately I was wearing latex gloves so some protection.

Be careful folks and wear your eye protection.

(Just in case people are interested, didn’t notice anything different from usual. Cases were PPU factory on ~4th firing. Primers were Federal Large Pistol. Cases had been sonic cleaned and primer pockets checked prior to priming and I’d primed ~50 that session. This process has served me fine for ~3 years of loading)

Best wishes,

Scrummy
 
Wow! Glad that you were not seriously injured! Do you recall how many primers were in the tray when this happened? I usually put a limited number of primers in the tray, even though the newer Lee priming tools are supposed to be safer than the older models. Does the Hornady priming tool have a method to block off the primer tray from the primer being installed, like the newer Lee versions?
 
I suspect this is why a lot of people either prime on the press or have some fancy gadget on the bench. At the very least, their hand is clear of the actuator and the primer tray.
 
Glad you were not seriously injured.

When you replace you may want to consider one of the RCBS tools. The hand unit has a gate that separates the tray when seating the primer. The bench unit uses a pick up tube that is separated by a large air gap. Since I developed arthritis in my thumb I use the bench unit, it's a lot easier on the hands
 
Yikes.

And that is exactly why I NEVER put more than 20 primers in the tray at any one time and why I also wash the tray and rest of the primer assembly in warm, soapy water after a loading session.

Washing removes any accumulation of primer dust that could contribute to an event.

Loading 20 primers max reduces the impact of an event if it does happen.
 
I do not like Federal primers. They seem too soft and slightly over sized as compared to my "go to" primers which are Winchester. The only reason I bought Federal was because it was all that was available at the time. Could be me, could be my primer unit, but I am not happy with Federal primers.
 
Primers are more energetic than people give them credit for. I was a dingus and set an open primer flipping tray on the ground, so I could clear off a spot, and do a little bench cleaning. A socket ended up rolling and falling off the bench. Guess what it happened to land on. I had similar marks on my forearm as you do on your hand. That incident followed by getting a piece of grinding dust literally stuck in my eye under a grinding shield changed my perspective on safety glasses and safety in general. Thank you for the reminder, as I started to get complacent again

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
 
Good advice from Mike. I mostly use hand priming tools that have to be loaded one-at-a-time, but concur for the tray-fed types.

Any chance your primer flipped over on the way in?

Hornady will be interested to hear about this. Lee has long had warnings to avoid Federal Large-anything primers in their tray-fed primer tools, so Hornady will probably want to know those were Federal LP primers, too.

Here's Lee's warning for the New Autoprime from the first paragraph of the instruction sheet. The bold italics are mine:

Lee New Autoprime instructions said:
"We have tested the tool by intentionally setting off a variety of brands and types of primers. Our testing has demonstrated that wearing safety glasses and hearing protection will prevent serious injury. However, all types of FEDERAL BRAND LARGE PRIMERS frequently caused the entire tray to explode with sufficient force to cause serious and painful injuries. These primers must be fed individually, see step 7, single priming option"
Click to expand...
 
Unclenick said:
Here's Lee's warning for the New Autoprime from the first paragraph of the instruction sheet. The bold italics are mine:

Lee New Autoprime instructions said:
"We have tested the tool by intentionally setting off a variety of brands and types of primers. Our testing has demonstrated that wearing safety glasses and hearing protection will prevent serious injury. However, all types of FEDERAL BRAND LARGE PRIMERS frequently caused the entire tray to explode with sufficient force to cause serious and painful injuries. These primers must be fed individually, see step 7, single priming option"
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
And that's from the instructions with the NEW Autoprime, the one with the separator dingus that's supposed to prevent such incidents.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
And that's from the instructions with the NEW Autoprime, the one with the separator dingus that's supposed to prevent such incidents.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. I guess i probably should have read the box/documentation on mine. I use it almost exclusively with large primers, and almost exclusively federal. Haven't had a pant changing incident with it, but I really don't want to

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
 
Federal primers are known to be softer than those from the other major manufacturers.

I used to use all Federal primers, but over the years and multiple shortages, panics, droughts, etc., I've gone to using whatever I can get. I managed to build up a pretty good stock of small and large pistol primers, and virtually all of them are either Remington or Winchester.
 
Hello folks,

20-30 primers I think that went off.

Yesterday I received a RCBS with the cut off gate in the mail.

I have a feeling I may go over to another brand of large pistol primers.

Scrummy
 
Glad you're ok .

I HATED my Hornady hand primer , well actually I didn't until I got the RCBS universal hand primer and then I knew what crap the Hornady tool was . Primers always hanging up or flipping over . I'd always seat several primers sideways per 100 primed :mad: I feel lucky I never had one go off .


LGZW77.jpg


The up side is you never have to use that tool again , don't by another ! As the pics show I had many issues with the Hornady tool . I'd show you all the pics of the problems I've had with the RCBS universal hand primer but there have been zero problems with it . In fact I liked it so much I bought a second one so I can have dedicated primers for both small and large primers .

I've heard and or seen enough of these stories that I always use a leather glove on my priming hand when priming .

aVrpcI.jpg
 
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I use a Lee hand priming tool and never use the tray.

Like working with any explosives, smallest amount on the work surface possible and pay attention to exactly what you are doing.
 
Scrumbag said:
Hi folks,

Had a small scare the other day whilst reloading that might be a helpful reminder to people to keep safe and follow your procedures not being sloppy. Primer popped when being seated and flashed over into try causing other primers to detonate.

This happened using a Hornady Hand Primer

My set-up post incident

hmaMYMWl.jpg


Close-up of hand primer – not sure where rest of pieces are.


zLfRUjvl.jpg


Close-up of “flashed” primers (Note empty but dented cups)


Mu5NzK3l.jpg


And this is the resulting cuts to hand – fortunately they seem superficial. Blast also blew my glasses off my face and they landed ~6 feet away.


NAa0kSel.jpg


Fortunately I was wearing latex gloves so some protection.

Be careful folks and wear your eye protection.

(Just in case people are interested, didn’t notice anything different from usual. Cases were PPU factory on ~4th firing. Primers were Federal Large Pistol. Cases had been sonic cleaned and primer pockets checked prior to priming and I’d primed ~50 that session. This process has served me fine for ~3 years of loading)

Best wishes,

Scrummy
Click to expand...
Good reminder to all. Glad you are OK. I have never been a fan of any manufacturers hand primer for that very reason. The designs seem to me like an accident waiting to happen. I am sure others disagree.
Again, glad you are OK other than minor injuries.
 
I live dangerously using nothing but federal primers for my revolver ammo. All have trigger work and will not light anything off other than federal primers.
 
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