Removing unspent primers from tarnished brass?

[ssteve]

I loaded up two trays of primed brass for my 6.5cm over a year ago and set them behind some stuff in my garage. They sat there all winter until recently I went looking for them to load for this deer season. Due to the moisture the brass looks horrible and I don’t really trust that the primers are any good anymore. I’ve never decamped live brass before so I’m not sure what risks there are and what I should do in order to ruble the brass and reprime them.

I was considering throwing them in the wet tumbler with primers in and then decapping afterwords since I’m sure the wet tumbler would kill the charge in the primer..... Maybe?

 

[JMGlasgow]

You can pop them in your rifle. If you have a suppressor they're virtually silent when popped. If not they aren't too loud. About as loud as a snap firework.

 

[Supersubes]

Just deprime as normal.

 

[JMGlasgow]

I've deprimed as normal as well. Just go slow.

 

[m1match]

Same here, have deprimed hundreds of cases with no issues, just go slow and be sure to wear safety glasses just in case

 

[918v]

Deprime slowly and you’ll be fine.

 

[Anthonyc]

I’ve read somewhere that water will “deprime” the primer. But as mention above I’d just deprime on the press slowly...

 

[308pirate]

Deprime with the press, slowly. Primers will still work and can be reused.

 

[918v]

I’ve read somewhere that water will “deprime” the primer. But as mention above I’d just deprime on the press slowly...

You heard wrong.

 

[MtnCreek]

I've never had a primer pop depriming live. I have had one pop when seating primers. I don't always do it, but eye pro should be worn when dealing with primers.

 

[b6graham]

You heard wrong.

he means water will kill the primer and make it non explosive

 

[clcustom1911]

Deprime with the press, slowly. Primers will still work and can be reused.

I experimented with this exact thing on 10 rounds just to see if it worked. Sure did! And accuracy didn't seem to be any different than 10 regularly loaded rounds.

 

[supercorndogs]

he means water will kill the primer and make it non explosive

It is likely that water will not kill the primers, I think is what he means.

 

[supercorndogs]

Why not just tumble the brass with the primers in?

 

[spife7980]

Why not just shoot it? Polish it off when you tumble before sizing. Your primers are fine. They sit there for years in a cardboard box, they’ll be fine in a brass pocket.

 

[918v]

he means water will kill the primer and make it non explosive

Water will not kill the primer.

 

[308pirate]

How bad is this brass? Got a picture?

It might just be as simple as loading it if the tarnish hasn't made the outside of the cases rough. Otherwise, dump the lot in a walnut media tumbler for an hour, strain the media out, and load it up.