CCI 500 Primers...How Old?

[Trent]

I shot a case of WWII surplus 45 ACP a few years ago, sealed in a spam can. It was all headstamped 42-43. Ever single round in the case went bang; it was well over 60 years old. Brass reloads real good too!

I have had zero duds on the 1970's era primers; several thousand shot. I shot all of the large rifle and almost all of the small pistol primers now.

I'm down to a couple boxes of the large pistol magnum. My uncle had one of those 357 maximums... hand cannon - I use those primers for shooting rubber bullets in the basement. Also have about 700 of the small pistol primers.

Archangel;

I inherited these from my Uncle, so don't have a date on when he bought the primers. He bought them at some point between the time he got back from Vietnam, and quit loading in 1994 (have his handloads in a crate; last load date was in 1994). He didn't load any ammo the last few years of his life; he passed away in 2000.

Which leaves almost a 25 year window.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Archangel;

I inherited these from my Uncle, so don't have a date on when he bought the primers. He bought them at some point between the time he got back from Vietnam, and quit loading in 1994 (have his handloads in a crate; last load date was in 1994). He didn't load any ammo the last few years of his life; he passed away in 2000.

Which leaves almost a 25 year window.

Your uncle was a great man for serving his country even though he didn't get credit for it until many years later. Thank you for the information...

 

[Trent]

Your uncle was a great man for serving his country even though he didn't get credit for it until many years later. Thank you for the information...

He was an interesting fellow, that's for sure. 5' tall, weighed maybe 110 pounds. Tiny little guy. His stature might have been diminutive, but his demeanor.. he could be meaner than hell. No one messed with him. No one. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam. Never talked about the war, except once, when he told me why he couldn't use his thumb.

He took a 30 cal round through palm and out the back of his hand, it severed the tendon that you use to pull the thumb "out". So he could still grip with it, but couldn't move it back outward - the tendon retracted up his arm and the surgeons couldn't get it reconnected.

My other uncle (his brother), who also served in Vietnam, wouldn't talk much about the war either, but talked a little about his brother after he passed away. I never learned much other than he earned a purple heart and a silver star "for doing something incredibly stupid."

He died of multiple organ failure, attributed by the VA hospital doctors to be effects of chemical exposure while in Vietnam. He spent the last several years of his life on dialysis.

A couple of months after he returned from Vietnam in 1967 (he was in Vietnam from 1965-1967), his wife and infant son were killed in an automobile crash by a drunk driver. My uncle was reported to have gone "off the grid" for several years following that, before returning home and eventually remarrying. His son was born while he was out of country; he only got to spend a short period of time with him.

You certainly didn't want to cross him, but he was the most giving, caring person I knew, growing up. He'd go out of his way to help someone in need. And he'd go out of his way to set you straight if you did something.. dumb.

I remember one conversation we had when I was younger. It went along these lines "If you ever get in a fight, make sure you start behind the other fella, and have a big stick in your hand."

I shoot his 1933 Spanish Mauser every 4th of July.

 

[jwrowland77]

That's awesome Trent. Thank you for sharing.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Your uncle sounds like someone I would have liked. Thank you for sharing him with us...

 

[Trent]

As I've lost family members over the years, I've learned that even though you can't bring them back, you can honor them by trying to uphold yourself to a moral standard that would make them proud.

And pass those values on to the next generation.

My daughter at my Uncle Joe's grave;