One of the cartridges I load for is 10mm Auto. I've got many different bullets to use, some I have to test powder charges for since no data exists. I wanted to load up a set of test cartridges for 10mm, got out some brass and got to work. The cases were clean, needed flaring. Next, to priming. The count was unknown, brass stored in cottage cheese container. If I had to guess, maybe 125 to 150. I keep some primers in my work area, but not all that many, most are stored in another room. I looked in my primer box, found a tray of WW large pistol primers, opened it up and it wasn't full. Not enough. I went in the next room, got another tray of 100, and went to work. Went through fifty of the new tray, then started to load in the last fifty. As I was tipping them into the holder of the priming tool, I dropped one primer on the floor. Now the plot thickens.
I'm older, and realize that bending over for one primer may not be worth the effort. I'll probably find it later when I'm down there for something else. I'm a firm believer that when we are born, our life comes with only so many bend overs; once those are used up, we're on borrowed time. I will bend over for a dime coin, maybe even for a nickel. But I will no longer waste a precious bend over on a penny.
So I let the lost primer go, went on working using the other forty-nine. Would you believe, I got through priming all of the remaining 10mm cases, used up all the primers, and was one case over. I really needed that lost, last primer. To keep me from going into the next room again and busting into a flat of primers only to take out and use a single one. So I did the bend over after all and found it.
it gets better. That once-lost but retrieved primer -- somehow, between the time I dropped it into the priming tool and trying to seat it, it got turned sideways. I can tell immediately when a primer has gone sideways, the feel is different but by then it's too late. That last primer got ruined and I still had to go in and get another flat of primers to take out only one and leave ninety-nine in the tray.
Here's a little tip, not necessarily related to the primer because originally I didn't see what happened to it. So when you are working with small objects and you drop something, don't rush down to the floor to pick it up. Stand there and watch to see where it lands if you can, then picking it up will be much easier than searching.
Another tip. When you are taking anything apart that contains springs, do it inside a closet or shower stall (with the drain covered). That way if a spring goes flying away, it can't escape. You'll look pretty funny there in the shower with a disassembled gun in your lap. But the basic idea is sound.
I'm older, and realize that bending over for one primer may not be worth the effort. I'll probably find it later when I'm down there for something else. I'm a firm believer that when we are born, our life comes with only so many bend overs; once those are used up, we're on borrowed time. I will bend over for a dime coin, maybe even for a nickel. But I will no longer waste a precious bend over on a penny.
So I let the lost primer go, went on working using the other forty-nine. Would you believe, I got through priming all of the remaining 10mm cases, used up all the primers, and was one case over. I really needed that lost, last primer. To keep me from going into the next room again and busting into a flat of primers only to take out and use a single one. So I did the bend over after all and found it.
it gets better. That once-lost but retrieved primer -- somehow, between the time I dropped it into the priming tool and trying to seat it, it got turned sideways. I can tell immediately when a primer has gone sideways, the feel is different but by then it's too late. That last primer got ruined and I still had to go in and get another flat of primers to take out only one and leave ninety-nine in the tray.
Here's a little tip, not necessarily related to the primer because originally I didn't see what happened to it. So when you are working with small objects and you drop something, don't rush down to the floor to pick it up. Stand there and watch to see where it lands if you can, then picking it up will be much easier than searching.
Another tip. When you are taking anything apart that contains springs, do it inside a closet or shower stall (with the drain covered). That way if a spring goes flying away, it can't escape. You'll look pretty funny there in the shower with a disassembled gun in your lap. But the basic idea is sound.
