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How to knock the primer and tube out of an American WW2 Casing

J

jeff w

Well-Known Member
Hello,
I have 2 American 3 inch Mk II M2 casings for the M10 tank destroyer. One is dented with complete primer and primer tube, the other is perfect but no primer. I want to transfer the primer from one to the other. I have tried beating on the primer tube with a sledge but cannot get it out (yes I am sure it is empty!). Aren't they just pressed in? Has anybody ever done this? Any suggestions how to get the primer out? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Hi Jeff
I did many years work on American 3 inch 50 cal rounds (Naval ) As far as I can remember the primers are threaded In all UK rounds above 40 mm. Are there any slots on the base of the primer to fit a tool
Hope this info helps

Steve

PS can you post a photo on here
 
Well partial success so far. The body (stem) of the primer was threaded to the primer head. It had a slotted top but that quickly got eaten away by my screwdriver. So I hammered a 9/16 16 point socket onto the top and it unscrewed rather easily. So I tried again to bang on the primer head but it still won't come out. The naval primers do have slots for a tool but the army primers do not.




 

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These primers are press-fit. I have removed them before from cases that have been cut down. I did it by resting the case on something solid (with a hole in the middle) and knocking the primer out from the top.
 
How much force was required? I've been banging with a hammer on a horseshoe stake against the primer (the case is about 2 feet long). Maybe I need a bigger hammer?
 
I used a 3lb hammer and a length of 40mm steel round bar. This was on a shorter case. It did take a surprising number of hits to get it out. They seem to be pressed in with very tightly.
 
Looking in my TM manual ammunition renevation you are right some are press fitted, these are pressed out with a proper flypress tool which exerts much force with little effort.
 
I have seen a US WW2/50's film on in-field ammunition refurbishment for Ammunition units,one of the operations was to remove the primer tube.
First it was put in a breech and fired, then punched out with the same method used here, a hammer and tube. Being just fired they tended to come out with just one hit.
The cases in the film were from memory 105 How.
 
The Beast is Out!!!!!!

I ended up using a sledge hammer onto my sons pee-wee aluminum baseball bat (don't know what you non-baseball playing countries would use)!
It took a LOT of force and several hard strikes to get it loose then out. You have to have something (I used an old portable work bench) to keep the hammer from hitting the casing after the final blow.
Part two will be seating the primer in the new case.... something tells me it won't be as easy as it sounds....




 
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