I just bought a bunch of late 1950's or early 60's Kynoch brass; Some never loaded and some once fired. It came with several hundred number 81 Berdan primers still sealed in their tins. Is there any way to tell if the primers are corrosive? The once fired stuff shows a little white/green color around the primer pockets, but they have been sitting around this way for 45 years.

Doug

Does the primer packaging have a Kynoch label? Non-corrosive Kynoch primers had a brass cup, corrosive had a copper cup. The non-corrosive RWS caps I use also have a brass cup.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

I personally, would not use 40+ year old primers in anything, much less a double. You have no idea how they have been stored and I doubt they are up to the job. You can get new ones from Old Western Scrounger and other sources relatively inexpensively. Why take a chance?

They either work or they don't. OWS doesn't carry Berdan caps anymore, nor does anyone else in the US that I'm aware of. If they're still sealed up, they're probably fine. I shot some 40+ year old stuff a couple weeks ago.
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"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

The only label on each tin of primers is a white square that says: 250
NO. 81
BERDAN
PRIMERS
MADE IN
ENGLAND
The 250 and the 81 are hand written. I know the guy I got these from pretty well. The whole lot was shipped from Holland & Holland in the early 60's along with a Farquharson rifle he had them make on a Westley action he bought here and shipped to them. With best wood, engraving, quarter rib, and quick detatchable scope he had less than a thousand dollars in the rifle. The one opened tin has three yellow round pieces of wool taking up the empty space. The others are sealed with a stranded cloth tape. The primers appear to have brass cups and the priming compound or sealer on the inside is a very dark purple or black. The original owner didn't remember if they were corrosive or not, but going by the brass cups I'll assume they're not but keep a good eye on things. He also gave me the cardboard box from Kynoch with the uncapped cases, so the primers are most likely Kynoch as well.
Thanks everyone.
Doug