How About Some Old Primers

[AJ]

I have a habit of collecting old firearms related stuff....ammo, scopes, cleaning gear, oil cans, reloading presses and reloading componets.

In my stuff I have several bricks of primers. Some are possibly 30 to 40 years old. My question is has anyone used primers this old?

 

[NYlakesider]

I have a habit of collecting old firearms related stuff....ammo, scopes, cleaning gear, oil cans, reloading presses and reloading componets.

In my stuff I have several bricks of primers. Some are possibly 30 to 40 years old. My question is has anyone used primers this old?

Yes for shotgun shells. They came out of the mid 70s when I stopped skeet shooting. Started skeet again recently and they and the same age powder worked well. (FWIW, checked the powder out before I loaded shells)

FWIW I had about a 1,000 12 with number 8s loaded up since the same time and all but one worked perfectly. The one that sounded a little light still broke its bird!

 

[moosedog]

As long as they were stored correctly, they will still be good. I use primers that old and store mine in military ammo boxes.

 

[2152hq]

I use and have used rifle/pistol and shotshell primers from the 50's and earlier.

I've even got some of the 'Battery Cap' shotshell primers (CCI).
Intended to be used in reloading the primer assembly itself with a new primer cap while saving and reusing the orig outside Batter Cap and the Anvil.
The small reloading tool press for it is somewhere packed away.
Talk about tedious work. At least I can say I've done it...
I'd have to guess it was a real $$ saver at one time(?). I don't know why else. Primers are generally pretty cheap.

Some of the earlier Shotshell primers from before about '64 or so maybe a #57 size,,The #57 is slightly smaller than the standard #209 of today.

Older Remington & Peters shells of the day were loaded with the #57.
Maybe some other brands.
Other primer mfg'rs made the #57 size too along with the #209.
You can still find bricks of #57 shotshell primers here and there.
I buy them cheap (last one was $5/brick). I get them for a friend who uses the shotshell primers in a #209 chambered blank revolver for K9 training and Field Trials. They fit the #209 sleeved chambers just fine and work perfectly in it.

As long as the primers have been stored in reasonably good conditions, they will work OK,,just like powder.
I'm using up some Western brand now (large rifle) that are packed in slotted wooden trays. Those are probably at least 50's or before as a guess.

 

[diyj98]

As long as they were stored correctly, they will still be good.

I think proper storage is the key. I've been given old primers or got them in a group buy of reloading goodies in the past and I normally just toss them. That goes double for powder. Who know how it was stored or what moron mixed the power up or dumped it in the wrong can.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

I don't have any primers quite that old, but:

1. The Clinton Memorial stash all fired

2. The Obama Memorial stash are all still igniting well.

I sincerely hope that I don't have to invest in a Biden Memorial stash.

 

[schutzen-jager]

these old black powder ones still work if i put them on anvil + hit with hammer - very corrosive

 

[Sevens]

I just finished a case of 10,000 Winchester small rifle that I am certain was being sold new in the 1980’s. I have also used primers that I know were older.

If they appear as if stored away so you cannot tell they have been in existence for decades, my own experience is that they will act as if they are brand new.

 

[Sevens]

Oops, to clarify, it was a case of 5,000 primers, not 10,000. It was the white package with the prominent orange and red highlight.

That was 5,000 loaded rounds, zero failures.

 

[HKSmith]

In 1965 I bought 1000 Winchester LP primers and used 400 of them. The box then disappeared, only to turn up in a box of old stuff in 1997. I used them to load .45 Colt rounds and all of them worked perfectly.

 

[H Richard]

Yes, I still have a couple bricks of Winchester Small Rifle in yellow and red box. I think 50's, used about 200 for Prairie dog loads in my .222 a few years ago and still did a job on the dogs.

 

[DWalt]

I just opened my last carton of old CCI Large Rifle primers, got a great price on them at an estate sale about 10 years ago, think there were 7 or 8 cartons (1000) at a couple of bucks per. Previous owner had dated them all with a magic marker or something similar, 1970. They all go bang, I loaded some .220 Swift with them today. I had some even older Remington LR primers, from the mid-60s, finished those off a few years back. Age basically means nothing to primers. I shot up a 20 round box of GI M2 .30-'06, Lake City, 1962 headstamp, in April. They fired some excellent groups from my M1 Garand, no misfires.

 

[ajgunner]

I am just about out of mine from the $0.89 to $0.99 price range---late 80's early 90's. Time to start into the $1.09 to $1.19 bunch. Don't know what years the Clinton scare/shortages were, but my plan then was to buy enough to last my lifetime. I just figured that they would never be cheaper than they were at the time. So far this has been working pretty well, so 30-40 year old primers are NO problem.

 

[fredj338]

If stored properly, cool & dry, probably fine. I date the primers when I buy them. I opened my last 1000 from 1992 a couple months ago, shoot just fine.

 

[fredj338]

I am just about out of mine from the $0.89 to $0.99 price range---late 80's early 90's. Time to start into the $1.09 to $1.19 bunch. Don't know what years the Clinton scare/shortages were, but my plan then was to buy enough to last my lifetime. I just figured that they would never be cheaper than they were at the time. So far this has been working pretty well, so 30-40 year old primers are NO problem.

Clinton was 1990-1991. That was when I changed my buying habits. I now keep 10k in reserve for any size I load a lot of. When I get to 10k, I am buying at least another 5-10k. They dont really go bad & they dont get cheaper. Plus, who knows what stupid laws will be inacted in your state.
Her in Kalif, they resytricted online ammo purchases. At some point it will be components. Since you absolutely need primers to reload, I focus my $$ on primers.

 

[AJ]

None of the boxes pictured have a ZIP code on them. So that would lead me to believe 1963 or earlier for these.