Although we constantly emphasize the need to wear shooting glasses while shooting, there seem to be fewer reminders to wear protective glasses while reloading.

This week a Winchester 209 primer exploded in the primer tray of my MEC650 shotshell reloader while I was reloading shells. Fortunately I was wearing glasses and although I felt the blast in my face, I was not injured. I've been using that reloader for about 34 years (its been refurbished several times) and have reloaded well over 100,000 shells with it with no previous incidents. The other primers in the primer tray were not ignited although there was a ball of fire about the size of a softball and the cover was pushed open and some primers scattered. I have no idea what may have caused the primer ignition and have discussed the incident with several experienced reloaders at 2 trap/skeet clubs to which I belong. Although 2 others mentioned primers firing while they were being seated, none had experienced ignition of a primer in the tray. There does not seem to be any damage to the reloader, although the arm which moves the primers from the tray to the drop tub is slightly bent upward. No fragments could be found and I don't know what may have caused the ignition, although the slight bend in the feed arm may indicate the primer may have ignited under the arm. Has anyone here had a similar incident or have an idea as to what may have caused the primer ignition in the tray? :confused:

Never had any mishap like you described but I ALWAYS wear glasses. Glad you were'nt injured and thanks for sharing the information.

Thanks for sharing this information. I'll admit, I'm one of those people who doesn't always wear safety glasses while reloading. Perhaps this will serve as a wake-up call.

A good reminder for all of us. Can't be too careful when reloading and shooting.

Accidents do happen.

I have a 650 too, the only thing I could think would be if the primer was laying over at the second or third in line to drop position and the feed arm tried to carry a primer to the drop tube the feed arm may have acted like a firing pin, but there is a spring on my feed chain that would stretch if the feed arm were jammed downstroke, or on the upstroke the return spring would have to be strong enough to snap the primer

I always wear safety glasses when handling primers. Lead styphnate is a sensitive HE. And the anvils contained within those metal cups do become dangerous projectiles when primers detonate when they shouldn't.

My regular glasses have large plastic lenses that provide adequate protection when shooting. I only wear safety glasses at the range when testing new loads.

I always wear saftey glasses while shooting and reloading. I've had a primer rupture while shooting and was glad I had on saftey glasses. On the package for my Lee auto prime it says 'Always wear saftey glasses". I figure they might have a point. :D

I ALWAYS add safety glases to their list,and even ear plugs.
there is always a chance of something strange happening with the items we handle,especially primers.
I"ve not had one or a dozen go off yet,but I sure know that they can and do.!

I try to keep a couple of sets of safety glasses around the shop...not just for reloading (at least when dealing with primer seating), but for most other power tool use as well.

About 30years agao, was driving down a busy two lane highway with windows down (belive it was a 1966 VW). Truck passing on the other side kicks up a cloud of debris and i feel a sharp pain in my left eye...freaked out as I was blind. Managed to get the VW to the side of the road without killing myself or anyone else.

Turned out the truck kicked up a 1 1/4" long ragged thin steel splinter...evidently I blinked at the right time, and that steel splinter nailed my left eyelid closed. Right though the lid and into the eye's lens, point curling a bit so the embedded end was fish-hook-ish.

Drove the 50miles into town and right to the ER with one eye working (wasn't going to rip it out and have occular fluid dribbling down my chin as my eyeball drained out).

For many years after that had a little rust spot in that eye..got to where I didn't notice the spot unless i thought about it...evidently the couple of hours it was in there was enough for the steel to rust a bit,and of course theere must have been a scare from the puncture...took years for that to go away (or have i finally just learned to ignore it all the time?).

Drove the 50miles into town and right to the ER with one eye working (wasn't going to rip it out and have occular fluid dribbling down my chin as my eyeball drained out).


Thanks for that Ribbonstone, I just ate lunch!

Side note, I have had an occular floater in my right eye for almost as long as i can remember, it is translucent, sometimes it doesn't bother me some times I can hardly focus on anything else. the eye doc says it should go away, hasn't yet, beginning to doubt it ever will

I learned my lesson about safety glasses many years ago when I got a peice of welding slag in one eye, now all my glasses have safety frames. Even with that I still wear complete coverage goggles over them when working with power tools or reloading. Never had a primer detonate, but that doesn"t mean one won"t one day. Reloading room is also located at a distance from anything that could cause a distraction, such as a TV or telephone.

Lee L.