Deactivating live primers for removal

[martindl99]

I made up an "inert" 577/450 for a friend of mine. I soaked the primer ( CCI ) in an engine oil bath for several days, fully confident it was dead. My friend popped it into the chamber, squeezed the trigger and BANG, it went off. It certainly taught me a lesson.

[pmercer]

I often need live looking rounds for display purposes so I've done a fair few tests myself on 'killing' live primers using various oils. (Never tried water though.)
I also found that a large percentage of primers stay live after oiling/wd40ing. This shocked a lot of my shooting pals who swear oil works. Incidentally, none of them have tested the rounds they've made inert!

[andrew375]

I just gently push the primer out with the decapping pin. Never had one go yet, but I keep my hands well out of the way as well as wearing safety glasses. Primers are designed to work with a sudden concentrated application of force. If it were otherwise then they would be going off when you tried to seat them.

The idea of making a primer inert with WD40 is just a myth and has been disproved many times. The main thing you have to realize is that primers are sealed with a lacquer during manufacture. So first thing you have to do is break down this lacquer seal with a solvent like acetone or cellulose thinners. Even then WD 40, which is just a light oil with waxes in dissolved in it, failed to destroy the priming compound.

To be absolutely certain a primer is dead the only way is to fire it off. Then clean the gun as it will leave a lot of highly abrasive residue in the barrel.