Touching primers with fingers?

[Blktail]

Is there a problem with touching primers with your fingers?
Are finger oils a problem, or case lube?

Thanks.

[gd357]

I do my best not to. One of my buddies doesn't worry about it. About 1 out of every hundred rounds he loads doesn't go off. I just wouldn't want that one round to be the one I'm trying to kill a big buck with. I'd suggest a good paif of surgical gloves, or something similar if you're gonna be handling primers

gd

[BILLY D.]

i was taught oil kills primers and not to handle them. it takes a very minimal amount. whenever i have to handle primers i do so with a tweezers cleaned in alcohol just to make sure.

i don't have time or resources to field test this idea, ie: how little or how much more will kill a primer. all i know is what i have told by folks in the know.

[Ol` Joe]

I have in the past pick up primers and never had a misfire. I doubt as long as your hands are clean you`ll have a problem. Why risk it though? I now use a Lee auto prime with the little tray for the primers I just dump out what I need and never handle any of them. Tweezers are cheap if you have to put one or two back in the box.

[reb8600]

I have been reloading for 25 years and have used nothing but my fingers. I just make sure that I dont use the same hand that is handling the brass so I dont have any lube on it. I have never had a shell that failed to fire.

[Rocky Raab]

I think reb nailed it. There's a whale of a difference in oils (pun intended.)

Normal finger oils on CLEAN hands are probably not a problem at all. But fingers with a film of sizing lube...well, I wouldn't want to bet on that primer going off.

Primers are factory sealed, usually with a lacquer-like coating over a paper or foil leyer. Right out of the box, you could probably soak them in penetrating oil and most or all of them would still go off.

BUT...

When you seat a primer, the anvil pushes down on that foil layer, likely breaking the seal as it does. So any dab of oil that may hev been present will very likely migrate into the priming pellet. That's death for that primer.

That's why I quit handling primers with my fingers something like 30 years ago. I've used Lee Auto-Prime units ever since. I have one set up for large primers and another set up for small. Very neat, very easy and I almost never have a failure to bang unless I have a gun problem or have made some other bonehead mistake.

[Dom]

I'll second that Billy D -- we're on the same sheet of music here. I never touch a primer, ever. Why risk it? I use a RCBS hand primer, and have never had the need to touch them. If one falls somewhere, tweesers put him back, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

[Adam Helmer]

Blktail,

I handle every primer I place onto the primer arm of my presses and have since 1967 and never had a failure to fire. I do wash my hands after using case lube and before I handle primers. Clean, dry hands are not a peril for primers. If you feel better using rubber gloves or using tweezers, go for it. I use three or four bricks of primers a year and have yet to have a misfire. Many of my sizer dies are Carbos, so no lube is needed. When I must use case lube, I scrub down before I prime. Comprende?

Adam

[HPBTMTCH]

Blktail, gotta go with Adam on this one, my problem is i have time to load maybe 5 rounds at a time, i wash my hands and grab the primers with my fingers, seat them, drop some powder, put a bullet on top of it and call it good. After thousands of rounds, have never had a misfire.

[Rocky Raab]

There ya go. Like I said above, I don't think clean dry fingers are a problem.

There's almost no part of reloading that can't be done in several different ways - all with varying degrees of success AND what I call "fussy factor."

One of these days, I'm gonna sit down and write "Reloading for Dummies." One of the major things I want to explain is that "fussy factor" and how it applies to reloading. The range of F2 is astounding.

If there were a scale, it'd start at zero. That's the guy making replacement ammo around the campfire with a Lyman Tong tool or Lee kit. Squeeze the case mouth a bit smaller, push in a primer, scoop some powder, seat a bullet. That ammo works fine.

At the other end, there's a target competitor crafting match ammo. He sorts and weighs his cases, his primers, his bullets. He almost re-manufactures each case from mouth to primer pocket, he spins and sorts his bullets, he measures everything that can be measured. He culls more of his components than he uses. And on and on. His ammo works, too.

The difference? F2

[wyt_tail]

I know a guy on another B.B. that actually tested to see how far one could go to ruin a primer (neutralize it). He used water, oil, WD-40, solvent, etc. This was done by soaking for exteneded periods. Most still fired so I wouldn't worry too much about oils from the skin. I always handle primers with my bare hands but do wash them before any priming operations.

[Jack]

I've done some informal experiments also, regarding what will kill a primer, and how long it takes.
For example, I soaked some primers in WD-40. Took about 3 days with them fully inundated to kill the primers. In water, primers fully under water fired after a week.
I believe Rocky's right (no surprise there) about the primers being very contamination resistant until the seal is cracked when they're seated.
Myself, I usually avoid handling them if I can. I dump primers into the tray of a Lee priming tool without touching them, etc.
But I don't make a religion out of not touching them.

[wyt_tail]

The testing that I reported on was done by first soaking the primers before seating in a case for a few days, then seating the primer and also adding the testing material into the case and soaking some for over a week or two. They all fired so I guess he was lucky enough to not break the seal on the primers while seating.

Point being, just handling with clean bare hands is OK.

[Boyd Heaton]

I may be anal about this...But I use gloves and tweezers