Do you touch your primers?

earthquake

Area Man
Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Jul 30, 2009
    3,031
    2,545
    USA
    Broke my bench mount Lee, hate my Lee hand primer (arthritis) but I have a co-ax and finished my last session using it to prime, and actually kind of liked it.


    However, I thought you were never supposed to touch primers with bare hands! Having to single load them into the little cup thing one at a time, aside from being slow, requires a lot of fondling. Is this ok?
     
    For shits and grins I soaked some old primers that I didn't want anymore in a jar of oil for a few days and then loaded them in a blank piece of brass just to see. Guess what, still went boom. Well actually more of a "pop"
     
    Why are we not supposed to touch primers?
    Screenshot_20181001-152505~2.png
     
    The idea is oil on your hands will affect the primer compound. I’ve never seen this happen. I don’t touch them as a rule but have at times.

    I touch every primer.

    A long time ago I tried to deactivate primer cases with wd40. I then loaded the deactivated cases into my revolver and pulled the trigger... I still remember the noise and the ringing in my ears.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: LooseGoose
    I prime with a hand priming tool without a primer feeder and I touch every primer that I use. I try to make sure that my fingers are dry. But I have never seen any sign that my touching a primer has hurt anything. As far as brass goes, I wet tumble using a wash and wax that leaves a protective coating on the case. Finger prints won't tarnish the coating. I have not had the need (yet) to worry about finger prints left on the wax coating. If I do ....................
     
    • Like
    Reactions: earthquake