How long do primers last?

[BillBro]

You know, I go to the same range every weekend for about the past 7 or 8 years and always go in the store to see whats new.
They have a small reloading rack by the front door (I know, weird place ) and for about the first 5 years or so there was a single sleeve of CCU large pistol primers laying there in the sun, getting hot and cold air when the door opened and who knows how long they were there before. Anyway, I gave him the $4 asking price (pre flu) and took them home, loaded them all and every single one went bang. I was surprised myself.

 

[GT_80]

Well I tried 7 random shells in my S&W 15-2 and they all went bang with plenty of authority and a small flame lol. So I am pretty confident they’ll work. I’m happy, because that’s a pretty decent amount of primed shells ready to load.

 

[Dashriprock]

Nice! I've been loading with some primers dad bought in the 1970s recently. Nary a one has failed.

 

[DWalt]

I mentioned this recently, but I discovered around 3K primers I had stored in an outbuilding around 25 years ago and had completely forgotten about. Many of the cardboard boxes and outer cardboard covers had disintegrated or had been chewed up by mice, and there were mouse droppings and dirt all over them. Some were loose, some were not. After spending several hours of recovery and cleaning them up as best I could, I found they fired reliably. I have loaded and fired several hundred rounds using them without any misfires.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm glad to hear you now see they are good.

Primers are extremely difficult to kill even intentionally. You can soak them in water and when they dry out all will go bang.

I would be crazy if I threw away 250 primers in today's environment, or in any environment actually.

Have fun with your early Christmas present...

 

[CH4]

I still have a brick or two of western SPP from the late 40s that still work fine.

 

[Imissedagain]

Rem LR Mag primers from the early '80s.
Some with two strikes did not go bang out of the last 24.
I pulled the bullets/powder from the lower four.

 

[max]

A friend died in the Spring of 21. His family gave me his reloading supplies and equipment. There were 1K old CCI large pistol primers that had been kept in the original packaging but in a damp basement.

I loaded them in 45acp brass and so far all that I have fired have worked just fine.

 

[venomballistics]

I've never gotten more than one use out of them.

 

[chief38]

I currently ave Primers loaded in ammo that are almost as old as I am - they work just fine. I've yet to encounter "bad" Primers regardless of their age and place of storage. A friend gave me 700-800 SPP stored in a damp garage. While I was a bit hesitant to use them - not one failed to ignite.

While I'd always encourage storing them in a cool dry place, they do seem to be incredibly resistant to abuse!

 

[Protocall_Design]

Primers normally last until you pull the trigger!

 

[Green Frog]

I’d say the primer question has been pretty well answered so let me address the nickel case question. I’ve seen nickel cases that have been reloaded so many times the underlying brass is beginning to show through from wear. I don’t see good brass being affected by plating or not plating.

The one hazard I have seen documented but not experienced personally, is chipping of the plating which can score the inside of the sizing dies. I rarely use nickel plated brass because my late father was a stickler to avoid it… not because of splitting but to avoid damaging his dies.

YMMV,
Froggie

 

[Jeff423]

To pick up on the brass vs nickle plated question:
About 93.5% of the shooting I do is .38 & .357 mag. All my cases have been fired multiple times. I do no sorting and have both plain and plated cases. All my loads are low power. I inspect every fired case when ejected and I have to say that invariably if I have a split case it is one of the plated ones.

 

[gjgalligan]

Nickle plated cases might not last as long as plain brass but so what?
I use them until they are not usable anymore. I'm not gonna throw good, usable case away.

 

[Pisgah]

The primers will be fine. What I am concerned about is that you will never find a .28 Special revolver to shoot them in...

 

[crstrode]

Just once.

 

[Skeet 028]

Have a couple 1000 WWII Frankfort Arsenal rifle primers and a few 100 FA 45 pistol primers here. I gave a few to a friend and he loaded some of the rifle primers. All went bang and he said shot well. I also have a round cardboard can/carton of 45 cal primers...about 400 or so. said for 45 pistol and rifle loads. Dated about 1900. Fellow took 1 dozen or so...loaded 'em in 45-70 and 45 Colt. All went bang just fine...must say he used black powder though! I shot some FA 30-06 dated 1911 and every round fired normally. However every round fired had cracked necks after firing. They had brass problems back then I guess. Shot 'em in a Winchester 1917 Enfield(accurate rifle) and they shot under 2 1/2 inches even for me.

 

[lkabug]

I have fired live .38 Spl that were 55 years old. Not a problem with any of the 50 rounds. I believe proper storage is the solution.

 

[ReloadforFun]

Just a reminder, WWII era primers (and military ammunition) and earlier are corrosive and appropriate cleaning should follow shooting them.

 

[Dvus]

I'm still using properly stored Western primers from the 60s with no issues.
I did find some primed .44 mag brass that had been stored poorly in cardboard boxes for several years and had gotten wet several times. While all still went bang, they didn't have enough heat to ignite IMR 4227 reliably.
As to the nickeled brass, I believe that the plating process hardens the brass, making it more brittle, and some brands are worse than others. Most brands of plated .357 brass, in my experience, would start splitting after 7 or so loadings, but I do have one batch that just keeps going like the energizer bunny.