LNL AP Explosion/Fire

[ColtShooter]

Yeah, I never really liked anyone's priming system, so I sit and watch TV with a maxwell coffee plastic container and hand prime.

I bet I've primed 50K rounds by hand and never any mishaps of this degree.

The re-sized and primed cases are ready when I am and the containers stack nicely.

I simply don't trust any other way, with good reason.

+1...hand priming for me too. I have caught all kinds of little things over the years.

[Yoder]

Looking at the press and thinking about it I'm betting a half crushed primer slid back under the primer tube, hit something and went off creating the chain reaction. The top of the safety tube is literally touching the side of the powder hopper just below the plastic. It happened on the down stroke so it would have been right up against the plastic hopper. Add a flaming blown apart primer tube shooting out it's no wonder it pierced the plastic hopper and lit the powder on fire.

I sent Hornady an email about what happened yesterday. They just responded today and said they would replace all the parts I listed as damaged and said they would include some extra parts that might also be needed. I thanked them for the parts, but told them a metal shield would be a good idea to protect the powder hopper. Before I use this again I'm going to fit up some sheet metal in a C shape to help protect the side of the hopper close to the primer tube. I think I'm going to call someone in Tech support tomorrow and tell them what happened and see what they say. I'm more worried about this happening to someone else. I have a black ceiling that I was going to tear out anyway and some melted and blown up free parts, no big deal. Next person could loose their house.

I will have a fire extinguisher ready, but I wouldn't spray it on the powder fire. Blowing flaming gun powder around the room would be a bad idea. It would serve better to put out whats burning after the powder burns out.

I'm also going to check all my brass and clean the primer pockets. This will be a good way to eliminate all small primer brass and make uniform primer pockets. I've loaded thousands of rounds and this was never really an issue. With this system or any similiar I would be extremely careful. The worst I've had in the past is a crushed primer.

If any of you have one of these presses I would absolutely put some sheet metal between the primer tube and the hopper.

[tripleS]

Yoder, first let me say I'm glad everything turned out ok in the end. Being very familiar with the press and setup as you described. Was your powder measure by chance rubbing the primer shield? I know when I run my powder measure in station 2 it has a tendency to back out a little and I'm wondering if the vibration on the tube may have caused the chain reaction. Have you found any primers that would have been crushed or or damaged other than detonating. You seem to have been using the setup for long enough that you would know when you hit a small primer 45 it definitely has a distinct feeling.

If I read your post correct, you said the primer shield was laying next to the press when it was all said and done. Did the threads pull out of the shield or the base break off? I wonder if the base was slightly loose and left a second primer partly on the shuttle and it crushed it between the base and shuttle.

I'm definitely interested in hearing what Hornady tells you.

[riley]

Yoder I also run an LNL AP and usually what I find causes primer problems is the inevitable grain or two of powder that ends up on the press.
that powder ends up being swept around to the primer slider and keeps it from retuning all the way home. So when the next case comes around everything is not lined up perfectly and you start mashing or crushing primers.

That why the old saying canned air is an LNL APs best friend.

What do you to ground the press? Wire and your house plumbing, at least that's what I did.

Why? Static electricity . My last post he wasn't sure why it happened , just offering a suggestion. Now it sounds like he is on the way to figuring out what happened.

Also I run a case mouth expander so my powder measure is another station away from the primer seating .

[FO 1/501]

Glad U are ok, & the house has minor damage.
Please, If U do decide to mount a extinguisher, per code, they are to mounted near a exit door. A fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. To fight or flight, such the exit door.
5/8 sheet rock 2 hour fire rating. Called fire stop, so listed on rip sheets on end of panels.
I have a dillon press. For some what safety I load only thirty primers in the tube at a X. X is on my side, no need to spit hundreds of rounds out in a hour.
SORT your brass, There was a couple post/answer with darn good advice.
There is some brass I just throw away. They name the same brass I sort out.
I will have to check with Hodgons MSDA sheets to see/read the fire fighting methods use? They list small fire/large fire per volume.
Again, glad U are all right.

[Farbmeister]

A fire extinguisher for burning powder is not a good idea... .all it will do is shoot the flaming grains all over. Best could be a water mister type setup.. something that would not scatter the fuel source.

I would think a large coffee (#10 can) would be best to simply put over the powder hopper. Since the powder is not under pressure it will not explode, just slowly burn.... plus all the smoke would use up all the O2 and you could simply leave it on for 20 minutes while it cooled.

As for primer explosions a deflector is all you can hope for.

[Yoder]

Yoder, first let me say I'm glad everything turned out ok in the end. Being very familiar with the press and setup as you described. Was your powder measure by chance rubbing the primer shield? I know when I run my powder measure in station 2 it has a tendency to back out a little and I'm wondering if the vibration on the tube may have caused the chain reaction. Have you found any primers that would have been crushed or or damaged other than detonating. You seem to have been using the setup for long enough that you would know when you hit a small primer 45 it definitely has a distinct feeling.

If I read your post correct, you said the primer shield was laying next to the press when it was all said and done. Did the threads pull out of the shield or the base break off? I wonder if the base was slightly loose and left a second primer partly on the shuttle and it crushed it between the base and shuttle.

I'm definitely interested in hearing what Hornady tells you.

The primer shield stayed in. The tube inside you fill with primers blew out. The shield was close, but not rubbing. The whole design is pretty scary when you think about it. The shield is designed so all the primers blow out the top keeping you from eating a face full of them, which is good. Unfortunately the top of the tube is right up against the plastic hopper when the press is on the down stroke. So picture 100 primers blowing up shooting out of the top of the shield pointed directly at the plastic hopper. I'm guessing I crushed a primer but I really don't remember. It go a little exciting.

[Yoder]

A fire extinguisher for burning powder is not a good idea... .all it will do is shoot the flaming grains all over. Best could be a water mister type setup.. something that would not scatter the fuel source.

I would think a large coffee (#10 can) would be best to simply put over the powder hopper. Since the powder is not under pressure it will not explode, just slowly burn.... plus all the smoke would use up all the O2 and you could simply leave it on for 20 minutes while it cooled.

As for primer explosions a deflector is all you can hope for.

I agree about using the extinguisher on the powder. I was going to use it to put out my ceiling. I think I'm going to wrap aluminum coil stock half way around the hopper to shield it from a primer explosion. The primer shield did it's job, but it directed the blast at the plastic powder hopper which is a pretty awesome idea.

As for the powder, it doesn't burn slowly. It looked like a 2 in diameter rocket engine with at least 2 ft of flames. It sounded like a blow torch. If it was outside and on purpose I would have admired how cool it was. It also melted the plastic hopper and it caught on fire.

[Maryland_Shooter]

I've heard of too many of those primer tubes on the LNL presses and some others that end up with a chain reaction boom going off, but this is the first I recall where the powder got lit as well. So far I have decided to prime cases with a hand tool instead.

It's a good idea too on the fire extinguisher and keeping one handy.

Happens all the time and all presses, not specific to LNL. I saw pics of a Dillon, same thing.

I heard fed primers are much more prone to ingnite and when I was forced to use a few boxes, I was ultra careful; however, I've mashed my share of primers with a hand primer, never had any go off.

Again, I'm no fan of anyone's press driven priming system. Too much of a pain.

[IntenseImage]

When its all back together, rotate the measure so the throw arm isnt facing you. As the tube is offset in the thrower, you can rotate the bushing a slot or 2 so that you can space the tube away from the primers more too. It wont be much, but every little bit is added security