I have a 338 Win Mag rifle that I'd like to shoot, but ammo is expensive and hard to find.

A friend offered to reload some for me.

About 30 years ago, I did some reloading and have about 150 338 Win Mag cases which I primed but never loaded.

Several people told me that primed cases need to be loaded shortly after priming, or they are not good and not reliable.

My question is this BS or true?

Do I need to remove the primers and put in new ones?

Note that the cases have been kept dry in the garage, in a non-humid California environment. They are in plastic MTM boxes.

How do you remove un-fired primers safely?

I have removed unfired primers with no issues the same as you would remove fired primers, but many would say not to do it. That is up to you to choose. My guess would be that the primers will be fine. I would shoot a couple in the rifle with just the primer no powder or bullet to save time and see what they did. If they fire I would load them and shoot them if the ammo is for target shooting. If for hunting I might favor using new primers.

Load and shoot them. What’s the difference in a primer stored in a primer sleeve or in a brass case?

You should be fine. Most any component stored decently should be no problem.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I bought a large quantity of new primed Winchester .25-06 brass about thirty five years ago at an auction. These were in boxes of twenty pieces. Some here may remember when the big companies sold new brass primed or unprimed.

These have been stored in a garage in Texas. I still have several boxes of this brass. All the primers have worked as they should. It matters not if the primers or in their boxes or in primed brass. As long as you're not storing them unprotected in your backyard under a shade tree, primers will keep for many decades.

I was given some 7mm Mauser ammo a few years ago that was of unknown origin or powder and primers. I broke it all down to salvage the brass and the bullets. I deprimed the cases and tossed them into my yard waste burning ring made of heavy salvage gas pipe. Months went by before I got around to cleaning up the yard and burning limbs and such. I had forgotten about the primers until they started popping. From the sound they all went off. These had been rained on exposed to heat cold and who knows what for a considerable time.
All that is to say load them and shoot. IMO the primers if stored right will be good.

Load a few ,try them If they shoot you should be good to go.
Jim

I have fired cases that sat around for years with primers in them, uncovered in plastic bins in my garage. They worked fine. I have also fired commercially purchased prime cases that were NOS that had been laying around somewhere for years. Also all worked fine.

My experience is that older (say from WWII or later) primers, either in their original packaging or seated in loaded cartridges or in empty cases, will probably perform OK. Regarding removal of live (Boxer) primers from cases, I have never had difficulty in removing them slowly in the reloading press, just like popping out a fired primer. That might not work so well if the cases are military with primers crimped in place. I would certainly recommend wearing safety glasses or a face shileld while doing that. I once came into several hundred Boxer-primed (uncrimped) Israeli-made 8x57mm cases from the 1950s. I did determine that those primers were corrosive, and I removed them all without incident, and replaced them with newer non-corrosive LR primers.

Go shoot them!

Randy

I agree, load them up and shoot them especially since they were stored as you stated.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Just shoot them. With the primer shortage of 2020/2021, I found a box of 1000 small pistol primers that are 20+ years old in the bottom of a safe that I forgot about. Loaded them up, and they were/are fine. Worst thing that could happen is you have a hang fire, so if you pull the trigger and nothing happens, keep it pointed down range and count to 10 before clearing it.

I inherited several hundred .222 Remington and 30-06 primed cases from my dad several years ago. He resized and primed them back in the 1980s. No powder or bullet. They all went bang when I loaded them up about 10 years ago.
Run a random sampling of those primed cases in a gun and see if they go "pop". Then try loading up some. I think you will find that they are still live and will work fine.

John

This /\/\/\

They should make more than a “pop”. If they all go off and sound the same, they’re fine.

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"I also cook."

If the primed brass was stored in a reasonably well controlled environment, the primers should ignite without issue.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

If primers went bad after being seated, manufacturers wouldn't be selling primed cases. (At least back when you could find some.) The packages primers come in are in no way sealed from humidity, etc., so they're no worse off seated in a case than stored in the box they came in. Properly stored, of course.

So what did you do? Don't keep us in suspense!

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Primed cases should be just fine . I have some primed military brass from WWII that fire with no problems . I had 500 AP 30-06 rounds and pulled all the projectiles . I reload 20-40 at a time untill they wear out and grab another 20-40 ... every one has fired the original primers .
Easy to check ... pop a few primers in your rifle ... Primers are incredibly long lived ... and in truth sort of hard to "kill" .
Someone was giving you BS story ...
My advice ...test a few to prove to your self and load the rest .

You can de-prime live primed cases ... just go slowly , use a single stage press , don't put face or fingers over de-priming die and although I have never had one pop ... wear eye and ear protection ...
Go Slow is secrete .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

When I started reloding in the 60's we were warned by everyone that simply touching a primer with your fingers was enought to "kill" it ...the oil on your fingers skin ... That Is Total Hog Wash !

Primers are hard to kill ...See post #6 ... you would think leaving primers in the yard , in the rain and sun would do something ...
And you can pick up primers with your fingers untill the cow's come home and you wont deactivate a one . Bad primers from the factory used to be unheard of ... but I'm starting to hear some talk about that happening and I would believe that a distinct possibility .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I remember reading an article several years ago about how difficult modern (lead styphnate) primers are to kill. Soaking them in oil - Nope. Boiling them in water - Nope. (at least not reliably). Not sure about some of the Lead-free priming compositions (DDNP) or the new thermite primers Federal was supposed to be coming out with. I haven't seen anything about those for awhile, maybe that project was a bust.

The 19th century mercury fulminate primers had a reputation for having a fairly short shelf life (like maybe just a few years), especially if stored at high temperatures.