Newbie Question

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Reapergunworks

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I inherited some reloaded rounds from someone that passed away and I'm pulling the bullets and salvaging what I can.

Has anyone ever tried to reuse the primers from pulled bullets?

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Hi. There's absolutely no reason to not reuse the primed cases as is. It's the powder charge that's suspect with other people's reloads. You can simply pull the bullets and re-powder 'em with no fuss.
Take out the decapping pin as they'll need resizing. Neck resizing if they're bottle necked rifle is all that's required. Full length resizing isn't going to hurt anything though.
Handgun cases you can just flare and reload.
 
You can actually buy primed cases from pulled military surplus ammo. Lots of places sell primed brass from pulled bullets.

The only downside is: if you work up a load using the primed brass, and don't know what brand/type the primer is, then you will have to rework the load.
So if you have a bunch of them, then I would work up a load for them. If there are only maybe 50, you could just use them to test bullets or something
 
What if I pull the bullet, toss the powder and something is wrong with the case? Could I carefully pop the primer out with a decapping rod or should I not even risk it?

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reapergunworks wrote:
Has anyone ever tried to reuse the primers from pulled bullets?
Click to expand...

Yes, pulled cases are completely reusable, as is.

There is no need to break them down further by removing the primer.

You should probably resize them again to make sure you get sufficient neck tension. Depending on the caliber you may need to lubricate the cases and for resizing primed cases it would be best to avoid spray lubricants, but other than that, the cases and their primers should not be impacted in any way.
 
Reapergunworks wrote:
What if I pull the bullet, toss the powder and something is wrong with the case?
Click to expand...

If the defect is with the case (i.e. neck split when you seated the bullet, etc.) then, yes, you can recover the primer by simply popping it out with a decapper (either a decapper die or the decapper assembly on your sizer die). Go slowly and gently. Primers go off because of a shock, not as a result of gentle pressure. Work slowly and deliberately and you should have no problems.

Still, remember to wear eye and hearing protection in case something does go wrong.

If the ammunition was good to fire before you decided to disassemble it, then you can simply use the case and primer together; there is no need for further disassembly.
 
Popping out the primers is no big deal and can easily be accomplished. I have done it on pistol, rifle and shotgun ammos.
 
Resize without the de-caper and use them, ok.

But why would you pop them out to use them?

3 cents a primer at most?
 
Is the OP asking if he can pop the primer out then re-use it ??? You can pop a live primer out no problem but I've NEVER considered re-using them . That process is likely going to completely misalign the anvil and other parts of the internals of the primer .

The live primers I've decapped have almost always had at least a small bulge in the primer cup . That has to be messing up the insides of the primer .
 
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