- More control
- Consistency
- I’m ugly enough… http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2015/01/chain-fire-what-happens-when-a-primer-column-detonates/
Wow. I can’t imagine what would trigger this. I’ve mashed hundreds of primers in my 550b and never had an ignition. I no longer use that system on the press because it drove me nuts.
i have heard about it in the past, supposedly it has been triggered by many different things, including the plastic follower that activates the audible alarm (if dropped on top of the primers) or sometimes a piece of debris (loose anvile maybe) between two primers when the fill tube is dumped
I always felt odd about dropping that tube full of 100 primers into the feed tube. But it was never an issue.
And here I thought I was weird for wearing ear and eye pro when I was learning to reload. I still use eye pro but have since relaxed the ears.
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While I’m not doubting that this can happen, the link above has the smell of a cheap plug to an eyewear sponsor.
Wonder if Dillon will change their primer setup due to this…
I wouldn’t expect so. The steel tube on the oustide of the aluminum primer tube is a shield against injury, and it’s not a design flaw. Usually some outside factor that triggers this. Some guy in the Blue Press said he had this happen when a small primer 45 case got picked up at the range… although the seating is a few inches from the primer tube so I don’t know the specifics…
I hand prime my rifle cases, load pistol on a RCBS Pro2000 with APS. A fellow on another forum talked about how a primer tube on his progressive detonated in his hand, messing his hand up but not permanently.
Didn’t know that, thanks for the insight. This thread is making me rethink my imminent purchase of a Dillon. Not sure it’s worth the risk.
Not sure why you’d be concerned. There are many many imbeciles out there running Dillons without incident. You’d reduce much more risk by selling your car or truck… i.e. there’s more risk in driving in public than running a Dillon.
The issue I have with the link is there’s no real understanding of why this occurred. Was it a failure of the equipment? Was it a failure of procedure? Was there a contaminant in the tube, or was it a faulty primer? We don’t know the cause of the failure. There is no opportunity to correct this problem other than… buy a different system? Now I’m suspect. It begins to look more like an endorsement for a product.
Would this have been possible if he wasn’t using a tube feeder? Maybe not, but if this were common, if the tube were as dangerous as implied, many of us would be missing fingers and eyes right now. We’re not.
buy the dillon, there is no reason for concern, you cannot control random chance
buy a $50 RCBS Universal hand primer, prime your brass ahead of time, ultimately it will result in LESS time spent loading overall
once you get the feel for using a hand primer you can literally do it blind, I will do it while watching movies with the Mrs. then load on the dillon the following day
I and just about everyone else who owns a dillon have primed on it, I personally went through about only 2500 rounds (9mm) before I said “there has to be a better way” and tried hand priming.
the primer stack chain detonation thing is rare, mostly because primers can only really be detonated one way, by crushing the compound between the cup and anvil
so if you do want to prime with your dillon, just inspect the primers ahead of time, do any of the primers have a mis-alligned or high anvil?
while that would be something that would cause me to pitch that particular primer anyways I think it would be the biggest culprit behind these chain detonations, especially if it is at the bottom of the stack and 99 other primers get dropped on top of it…
TLDR: Dillon progressives are great, buy one
Disclaimer: I’m not associated w/ Dillon in anyway
That’s exactly where I’m coming from. I’m not going to look too deep into this or let it concern me much. I’ve deprimed live primers & crushed many more, yet not one detonation. Yeah, accidents can happen so one should always prepare accordingly.
Primer dets can be caused by accumulation of primer dust ignited by static electricity. Have you noticed that packaging has changed? Years ago 100 primers were placed in a smaller container than is done now. Thus, they are packaged less densely today. I suspect that safety is the reason. Once I observed a guy reloading .44 cases with a Lee Loader sold then for about $10. His priming method was placing a primer on top of the primer pocket and then hitting it with a claw hammer.
I’m not calling BS or anything, but I’ve never seen primer compound accumulate anywhere on any of my tools or presses.
Have you noticed that packaging has changed? Years ago 100 primers were placed in a smaller container than is done now. Thus, they are packaged less densely today. I suspect that safety is the reason.
I had this discussion with the lady at the counter at Dillon Precision. The Remington primers are packaged so small I thought she’d shorted me. She claimed the packaging depended on any prior instances in shipping. Apparently Federal must have had a shipment go boom. :sarcastic:
Like you, I too have never seen primer dust accumulation. I should have given my source, which was George Nonte writing 50 years ago about the subject, and it could be that he never saw any either. About primers,…,I never figured out how a guy who was reloading could set off a batch during the process. Every sensible reloader knows not to store loose primers in a jar or can. I suspect that some of the reported accidents were caused by such careless handling.
No shit! I’ve always thought their packaging was a bit ridiculous.
I hate their card board tabs on the bottom. Worst packaging ever.
**** yes! Between some constant crushing issues I had early on in my reloading “career” and their horrible, oversized, un-user friendly packaging, I no longer purchase Federal primers. There are just too many good, available primers out there to have to deal with their mess.