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O.K. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

I had a couple of duff cartridges, either poor primer which didn't fire or light strikes by the firing pin. Either way, I decided it was time to make them 'safe', so I pulled the bullet and flashed off the powder. However, being left with a primed empty (of powder) cartridge is there a nice simple tool/device to try and set off the primer (in case it was a light strike)?

If you cannot fire it then there is no great risk in careful / gentle use of a decapping die to pop out live primers......just go slow and easy with your back to the press.

Or just place the cartridge mouth down on a bit of wood, put a centre punch on the primer and give it a light tap with a hammer.

I'll keep it old school then ;-)

When decapping live primers safety glasses, earmuffs and bicycle clips are de rigeur.

Yes. Your gun. Pop it in and pull trigger again. Then user your press and who out the primer

The OP indicated that it would not fire in the gun.

Dark Skies wrote:Or just place the cartridge mouth down on a bit of wood, put a centre punch on the primer and give it a light tap with a hammer.

NEVER NEVER try to fire off a primer out of the firearm, they are much more powerful than you think.

A good friend picked up a primed case by mistake and began to anneal it by holding it over a flame with pliers.

The primer ignited, blew out of the case and it entered his index finger at the knuckle and travelled over 1" under his skin along the bone and he had to have it surgically removed.

The primer was a standard CCI 200 LR not magnum.
ukrifleman

ukrifleman wrote:

Dark Skies wrote:Or just place the cartridge mouth down on a bit of wood, put a centre punch on the primer and give it a light tap with a hammer.

NEVER NEVER try to fire off a primer out of the firearm, they are much more powerful than you think.

A good friend picked up a primed case by mistake and began to anneal it by holding it over a flame with pliers.

The primer ignited, blew out of the case and it entered his index finger at the knuckle and travelled over 1" under his skin along the bone and he had to have it surgically removed.

The primer was a standard CCI 200 LR not magnum.
ukrifleman

Yikes!!!!! That wasn't good.

A friend of mine reckoned if you just sprayed a primer with WD40 it was defunct and totally safe.

I have all ways used the Lee universal depriming die with out any issues. Having said that its not some thing I do very often. and of course I all ways wear safety glasses.