how long are primers good for?
- Thread starter Nickotym
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ultralightbackpacker
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- Sep 14, 2007
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If they were stored properly hahaha, (loaded word right?), they will out live you easily and then some.
I keep my primers at 30 to 90 degrees on a good day, but I don't give it much thought. I literally have some rounds that are older than myself, and they shoot well. The only thing that has changed is the COAL from poor handling and tossing in my vehicles.
If you are worried, I will take your primers off your hands for free.
I keep my primers at 30 to 90 degrees on a good day, but I don't give it much thought. I literally have some rounds that are older than myself, and they shoot well. The only thing that has changed is the COAL from poor handling and tossing in my vehicles.
If you are worried, I will take your primers off your hands for free.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Primers last a very long time. If you are worried load some up in range ammo first to prove to yourself they are good. I have never had a primer go bad from age.
ironworkerwill
Member
I got a lot of old Federal 210s that were fairly old.( Mid 80's) I couldn't tell any difference in groups and they all fired. I still use them without a single problem. They were kept in a gun safe with desiccant in very humid Alabama. The desiccant was probably well past its prime.
LiveLife
Member
As rcmodel would say, "Choot 'em!" I would test fire them and if you do not experience any issues, keep using them.Nickotym said:
Oldest primers I have are from 90's (Winchester) kept indoors and they work fine. During the last two component shortages, I bought some CCI/Winchester primers from 80's as claimed by the sellers and they worked just fine.
Primers are made with barriers/sealants to keep moisture out. The color you see below the anvil is not the color of priming compound but the color of barrier/sealant. This is why it is so hard to deactivate primers as they were meant to be transported and stored in rough/harsh conditions.
Here are some close up pictures of primers showing barriers/sealants:
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Primers aren't a delicate as some think. I have some primers from the '80s and I have just kept them in a plastic tub, in their original sleeves/bricks, not hermetically sealed. I have handled primers (without washing my hands!) for many years because I prefer a ram prime. I have kept my tub-'o-primers in a tin shed with temps from upper 30s to 100+ degrees in So. CA and lower 30s to upper 90s degrees in wet, rainy Oregon. I have not had a primer fail yet.
Go ahead and stuff those primers in aome brass anf get to shootin'...
Go ahead and stuff those primers in aome brass anf get to shootin'...
Some people have noticed increased elevation shot stringing with old primers.
Others have noticed greater extreme spreads of velocity as well as lower average fps numbers with old primers.
If your oldies do as you wish, shoot the darned things. Otherwise, get new ones.
Others have noticed greater extreme spreads of velocity as well as lower average fps numbers with old primers.
If your oldies do as you wish, shoot the darned things. Otherwise, get new ones.
d'Artagnan
Member
Laphroaig--
Your box of Remington 8 1/2 primers is earlier than you think. Since their primer lot numbering systems are different from their ammunition lot numbers, which I can equate to a specific date, I can only give you the following timeframes. Remington introduced nickeled primers between their 1917 and 1921 catalogs. Also, the arched Remington Arms Company, Inc. address group was introduced on primer boxes sometime after mid-1920. Sometime in 1926, after signing a game-changing technology transfer agreement with Germany's RWS, Remington started producing "Kleenbore" primers which were initially less corrosive and less mercuric than their previous product. Eventually they were non-mercuric, then non-corrosive and non-mercuric. After WW2 a whole new packaging style was used. So I'm guessing between 1935 and 1941. Anyway, when you empty that box, I'd like to have it for my collection. If you'ld prefer to keep it, please send me the lot number printed on the side. For my research on UMC and Remington-UMC primer boxes, see mdshooters.com forum reloading and search terms UMC, early Remington primers.
Your box of Remington 8 1/2 primers is earlier than you think. Since their primer lot numbering systems are different from their ammunition lot numbers, which I can equate to a specific date, I can only give you the following timeframes. Remington introduced nickeled primers between their 1917 and 1921 catalogs. Also, the arched Remington Arms Company, Inc. address group was introduced on primer boxes sometime after mid-1920. Sometime in 1926, after signing a game-changing technology transfer agreement with Germany's RWS, Remington started producing "Kleenbore" primers which were initially less corrosive and less mercuric than their previous product. Eventually they were non-mercuric, then non-corrosive and non-mercuric. After WW2 a whole new packaging style was used. So I'm guessing between 1935 and 1941. Anyway, when you empty that box, I'd like to have it for my collection. If you'ld prefer to keep it, please send me the lot number printed on the side. For my research on UMC and Remington-UMC primer boxes, see mdshooters.com forum reloading and search terms UMC, early Remington primers.
ironworkerwill
Member
d'Art knows his stuff and he's a man of his word. He gave me a box of bullets for a bunch of old primers in boxes I had. Thanks again bud!
D'Artagnan: I'll have to post pics of these boxes before i use them to see if you need any of them. Can they be mailed with intact primers? Based on what i know of the guy i guy them from, I'm guessing they are from the 50's or 60's. I have a couple old powder cans if you collect them.
Average Joe
Member
I have primers from the 50's and they all go bang.
witchhunter
Member
I'm on my last case from the 80's. I have been using them since then, I bought a hundred thousand on a deal back then. Loading them for pdogs ever since! I think they were about $35.00/5000 back then.
TexasDon
Member
I have several boxes of old CCI primers (SRP & SPP's) in the small package that all in rows back to back....They still are just fine, they have been in a desk drawer for ???? years.
Think they were bought in the early to mid 70's???
( Getting harder to remember that far back) oUcH.....
TxD
Think they were bought in the early to mid 70's???
( Getting harder to remember that far back)
oUcH.....TxD
TimSr
Member
Unless they were stored in a bucket of water, they are fine. For that matter, even if they were stored in a bucket of water they are probably fine.
FROGO207
Member
I have recently used my last bunch that I had from the late 40's. I wanted to make sure all my primers are all non corrosive in the future so I shot up the questionable ones and cleaned well after. As far as the OP's question I find that they are good until I shoot them. Bart B might have something there about not being consistant when old but I use the old ones for blasting ammo so not really worried about anything but a possible hangfire which has not happened thankfully. The only hangfires I have had were from the surplus POF 303 BRIT ammo from the 40's-50's I used to have.
Bart B might have something there about not being consistant when old but I use the old ones for blasting ammo so not really worried about anything but a possible hangfire which has not happened thankfully. The only hangfires I have had were from the surplus POF 303 BRIT ammo from the 40's-50's I used to have.Lafitte
Member
Load 'em and choot 'em. Primers don't die easily.
Lafitte
Lafitte
Blue68f100
Member
The only shelf life I've heard on primers are the new NT versions. The standard that have been used for decades are still good decades later. Even the old primers made in WWII are still good today.
d'Artagnan
Member
Thanks IRONWORKERWILL. To see what I did with those primers, see mdshooters.com, forum, reloading, and search "dating Federal primers". As a primer collector, I'm caught in and endless cycle: the more I find out, the more I realize the vastness of what I don't know. Currently I use 60 year-old Remington small and large pistol primers I got in a trade for recent production Winchester primers. I prefer them to the recent production.
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