Primer shelf life?

13 April 2004, 03:20

Oddball

Primer shelf life?

A while back I recieved a box of 1000 Remington No.9-1/2 "KLEANBORE" primers. Hand written on the box is "From Jim Schultz 1981". So far I have loaded and fired 50 of them with 100% ignition. How long can I expect primers to last on the shelf?

13 April 2004, 04:12

Dutch

Under proper storage conditions, longer than you will last.... JMO, Dutch.

13 April 2004, 04:22

courtney plater

I found a box of 1000 small pistol primers I bought in 1975. I loaded them up in some .38 plinking loads and every one went bang. I wouldn't use them for match ammo but everything else seems just fine.

13 April 2004, 04:36

LE270

Quote:

Under proper storage conditions, longer than you will last....

This is true, but....

The relevant condition here is "proper storage."

I have a cache of Federal 210 primers that I bought sometime in the mid 1980s. I got them from a small store that had apparently bought out the stock of one or more other stores. So I don't know just how old these primers are or how they have been stored.

In any event, I found that I was having blown primers (i.e. a rupture hole in the primer cup, with gas blowing out that hole) in loads I made using these particular primers, with loads that I knew should be well within safety margins; in one case, one of these blown primers in a 25/06 load in a Tikka rifle blew the extractor off the bolt. I was distressed and puzzled about what was happening, until I finally began to suspect that these primers themselves were the culprits, since exactly the same loads, but with a different primer, functioned completely OK.

I got in contact with Federal about this, and was told that the problem is that, sometime in their life, these primers had come into contact with ammonia (probably ammonia gas or vapors), and this had weakened the brass of the primer cups, so that when they are fired, the brass ruptures, thus causing the blowouts.

I have not had this trouble with any other primers in my stock, including Federal ones, so I doubt that this happened while they were in my possession.

In any case, beware of this possibility, and store your primers in such a way that this doesn't happen to them.

13 April 2004, 06:10

Stonecreek

My "go to" primers for consistent results are some RWS with a manufacturer's box date of 1973.

I'm very suspicious of Loyd's problems being related to brass weakening from ammonia exposure. I don't have another explanation to offer for it, but defective primer cups due to ambient ammoinia vapors sounds more than a little far-fetched. I don't for a minute doubt Loyd's report, but I think Federal just wanted to get Loyd off the phone.

13 April 2004, 08:41

CGB

Check the last 'Handloader's Digest'. There is an article in there which includes pressure data taken with the most common primers of various 'vintages'. Pretty interesting stuff.
C.G.B.

13 April 2004, 14:26

Paul5388

Stonecreek,

I have to agree on all accounts. I'm still using RWS/Alcan primers. I'm also still using some Omark CCI's.

13 April 2004, 18:14

vapodog

I had a thousand Herters (RWS I think) primers in a tool box in a garage in southern minnesota for twenty years. They saw 20 below in winter and high humidity and 95 deg in the summer. They was packaged well but certainly saw the poor storage conditions.....all of them went bang and they killed a heck of a bunch of prairie dogs when the big primer shortage hit several years ago.

When the primers finally returned I bought 20 M and put them away for another bad day.....but these are stored in a very controlled room and are even better packaged than the Herters primers.

14 April 2004, 00:46

Bearhunter

Where can I purchase RWS primers? I've only heard about them, but have never seen them. Are there any noticeable differances?

14 April 2004, 00:52

Reloader66

The primer and the ignition compound used in them is pure genius. Shells laying around for years still go off. Keep them in a cool dry place and they will serve you well. Primers have been soaked in oil, water, penetrating fluid, etc, and they will still fire.

Never ever think for one second no matter how you try to render a live primer inert it is dead, it just may go off. In all my years of reloading I have never had a dud with centerfire primers except for a primer having no compound in it from the factory. Have had minor problems with rim fire ammo from time to time but that was faulty ammo from the factory.

14 April 2004, 02:55

KTS1

Yep. I have a bunch of old Peters (Rem.) primers I got from an old guy whose father had bought them.
So far everyone has gone off and the only thing I've noticed is the primer pocket is a bit dirtier than with new primers.

A word on making primers inert....
I keep a jug of old oil under my bench and toss unsalvagable brass, questionable primers in. I had some that had soaked for over a year. Now how this jug ended up out in my shed is up for debate but I inadvertantly used it on a brush pile to start a fire. Well, needless to say when that fire started getting hot I had brass popping out. Some of it hit my fence a good 20-30 feet away and took some pretty good chunks out of the wood.
Be Careful Out There.

16 April 2004, 11:36

Oddball

Thanks, So far, so good.