what is the shelf life of primers? I have some out there that I know are really old (some must be 10 years old). misfires expected or what?

thanks dudes.

Red

If stored properly, and by that I mean aaway from solvents, moisture, and at a reasonably stable temperature under 75F, they should last for 50 years. An old ammo can in a cool basement is ideal.

I've used primers from the 40's and 50's and they went bang.

A 10 year old primer is a young one. Not to fear, shoot them!

Ten years old? That stuff isn't even cured good yet.

I'm just finishing using up a big batch of RWS Sinoxid primers from 1972. They have been among my favorites all these years and I'm sad to see them go.

Now, that's just the loading part. Many of the hundreds/thousands of rounds of ammunition I've loaded with them possibly won't be fired for another couple of decades. If some of this ammunition is available when my four year old grandson is able to take his old grandpa on a hunt, I'll still have full confidence in it.

I have a partial box of steel case .45 ACP that my father brought back from WW II. Every couple of years I'll fire off a round of it just out of curiosity. It always goes "bang". At a minimum it has to be somewhere on the far side of 60 years.

Speaking of which, I'm down to my last 10 or so pounds of surplus 4831. It has been my "go to" powder for the bulk of my rifles for some 40 years. It has to be in excess of 60 also. Few powders can match it in terms of consistent (low standard deviation) chronographed velocities.

Come to think of it, using powder and primers as fresh as 10 years old might even be dangerous! You don't know how that green stuff might act.

I have some Speer primers in little wood boxws covered with white paper. My favorite primers tho are my Herter 120's, and I got about 12,000 of them. these are all fairly old I'd think.

Geez, Don, you must be older than dirt! I thought I was getting old, but I didn't even remember Speer making primers. CCI was once closely associated with Speer, so maybe that's where CCI came from.

I still have a small stash of Herter's Small Rifle Primers. They work like a charm and are probably about 1968ish in vintage. If you'll check the small print on the box, they're made in Japan. To my knowledge, these are the only reloading components of any type ever imported from Japan.

Thanks guys, it was just suggested to me that maybe a misfire problem I had was due to primer problems, I thought maybe age. I'll load for the rifle with primers from different lots and see if it really is a primer problem that way (some lots have to be bad, play the numbers long enough) or if I have a rifle problem. I am fiarly sure it is a rifle problem probably sear trigger engagement, but going to check all angles.

Thanks.

Red

I have some primers from the 1960's that a neighbor of my Mom's gave me. I haven't had a misfire yet.

Dago

All that's been said up to now is true. None of these guys would lie.

I also have primers that are older than dirt and I don't hesitate to use them. But, if you're loading ammo for a hunt or for a big match, spend a buck and use a fresh box of primers. JMHO

Ray

Back in the early 60's an uncle gave me an old tobaco can full of 240gr steel jacketed 06's. I think they were 06's.

After checking for many yrs I wouldn't be surprised if they were some of that original 30'03 stuff before the 06 was invented.

Anyway, fired some and they were fine. The one just hissed long and loud.
Slug stuck in the barrel about 10" from the muzzle. Gunsmith I used at the time worked for hours with an electric hammer before it finally started to move and he kept it going til it came out. Said he had given up a couple times, then knew it was for a good kid and his only gun that meant a lot. So picked it up again.

After that I pulled them all down and refreshed the primers and powder, then shot them all. Don't know what they were, or how old. But, am sure they were from WWI, or before and had to be at least 50 yrs old at the time according to my uncle.

That's the only time I've had that kind of problem.

In 95 I got my stored wooden box of reloading stuff from the folks garage. The dies were rusted some, but, the primers all fired just fine. They'd been stored in an unheated adobe garage under the work bench since 74.

Dad used the 18# of powder along with 5 sticks of dynamite to "develope" a spring in his cow pasture. Didn't need to use the loader he'd borrowed to build a pond!!!!!!!

Had a nice one with a nice round bottom plenty deep enough to water 100 head of cow's from. Spring ran a bunch of water too, before it was just barely a seep.

That was the last of my 50 cent 4831 surplus. Sure p'd me off when I got started again and then it was $16. Expensive storage for sure.

George