Depriming live primers?

[1Mudman]

I think I would just remove the decap pin from the sizing die and resize, recharge and seat the bullet. Use a Lee locking case holder with proper head size in a drill and clean with steel wool. Beautiful finished product in a few seconds. I have body dies with no primer or neck sizing nubs in them that work great also. You could always just use a good neck die after you clean them. Steel wool in a drill is quick and a low percentage of screwing up you primer. I have had to re-do several times over the years and Ya! it kind of sucks but is better than ruining a good chamber from bad brass.

 

[Rez Exelon]

I think I would just remove the decap pin from the sizing die and resize, recharge and seat the bullet. Use a Lee locking case holder with proper head size in a drill and clean with steel wool. Beautiful finished product in a few seconds. I have body dies with no primer or neck sizing nubs in them that work great also. You could always just use a good neck die after you clean them. Steel wool in a drill is quick and a low percentage of screwing up you primer. I have had to re-do several times over the years and Ya! it kind of sucks but is better than ruining a good chamber from bad brass.

This --- For some purposes I'll have two sets of dies so I can keep one with and without the decap pin in it. 2 years ago I picked up something like 5k primed lake city 5.56 cases for 300 bucks, but the catch is that if I was to pull the primer it'll ruin it being that the brass was crimped. So I just take the decap rod out and resize that way and call it good.

Now, I've over the years probably de-primed 1000's of primers in various situations. Never once had an issue. My notes:
1. NO POWDER ON YOUR WORKBENCH!
2. I cannot stress this enough.... NO DANG POWDER ON YOUR WORKBENCH.
3. Check for a crimp on the ammo (see note above). If it's crimped, then the primer is wasted --- it'll never size right after it gets squeezed out of the crimp ring. Maybe it'll seat in some brass, maybe not in others. You'll probably find out when the primer falls out and starts spilling powder everywhere.
4. Get a Lee universal decap die
5. Nice easy motion to decap. You don't have to be on pins and needles, just don't thwack the thing.
6. Reuse if you so desire.

The only time I've had a primer blow on me was using a Lee bench primer thingy jiggy.