[1858rem]

hey, i have been soo broke the last 3 months, finally got another job a few weeks ago, only like 100 bucks a week but better than nothing. cant really afford much shooting right now, i have fired like 24 rounds of 45 ACP in the last 2 months!!

im gonna gradually build up my stock of supplies again, but it will be a while since my main focus it to just keep my bike running, (28 year old Harley:D)

anyhow, i want to keep my primers in the best shape possible and dont think the cardboard sleeves and plastic trays are the best for keeping out moisture, are ziplock baggies fine to use?

[Friendly, Don't Fire!]

My reloading equipment, powder and primers are all in my EXTREMELY DRY basement.

My primers are all on a shelf over the reloading bench while the powder is about 20' away, in another room (basement bathroom). The reason I have the powder there is two-fold.

One is that I want it a good distance away from my primers in case anything should happen creating a spark or flame. Second is that when I go to get the powder, I am making a mental note of the EXACT powder I am after. I return to the bench with my canister of powder and I double-check again TWICE that the powder canister now in my hand is precisely what the load recipe is calling for.

In order to keep my basement so dry (as I also have a lot of expensive tools down there), I must run a dehumidifier nearly non-stop from spring to fall. During the heating months, I don't need the dehumidifier, as the basement is then dry from the boiler and all the piping for the twelve zones.

[Offspring]

I was out of reloading for many years and have recently restarted. I had quite a few boxes of different primers and types. I left them in the supplied boxes and just put them in sealed coffee cans (sealed with plastic tops) and put them in a shelf in my basement. Now, after many years probably 8 or 9, I'm reloading again and using the old primers has not been a problem. I have not had any misfires due to bad primers since I restarted and I'm just now, after five months of reloading, starting on new primers. I reload probably 1000 rounds a month.
Just a note from a complete tyro.

[rfwobbly]

The preferred method is to bring them over to my dry basement so I can watch them for you. And of course, test them weekly to make sure they're still "good".

:neener:

[rondog]

GI surplus ammo cans.

[bullseye308]

The best method to store primers is in loaded ammo in ammo cans. :)

I store my primers on a shelf in the bedroom where I reload.:eek: No problems in 15 years.

[Walkalong]

On the shelf out of the way of AC/Heat vents.

I have primers over 15 years old I am using. They will last much longer than that. Don't expose them to undue moisture, heat, or cold, and they will last a long, long, time.

[rfwobbly]

GI surplus ammo cans.

+1 on the surplus ammo cans

[Beelzy]

Do not put primers in a baggie, condensation may ruin them.

Store powder and primers in their Original containers in a cool dark place. They will last
forever if stored properly.

Ammo cans are good for storage and watertight.

[Lee Roder]

I'd think if detonation were to occur, you'd be unwise to have them in a solidly sealed container like an ammo can. Maybe that's why they're in cardboard boxes??

[rondog]

I'd think if detonation were to occur, you'd be unwise to have them in a solidly sealed container like an ammo can. Maybe that's why they're in cardboard boxes??

The GI surplus ammo cans are designed to "give" in the event of ammo detonation inside them, so they won't just blow up. So I've heard, anyway.

[Ret.CWO]

Ammo cans, using 20 year old primers stored in GI ammo cans left in the basement. Not one misfire. I haven't had a primer problem ,as when I was financially better off I stocked up every time they went on sale at Midway or Graf's.

[USSR]

so whats your preffered method to storing primers?

Open door, place primers on shelf, close door.

Don

[ranger335v]

"anyhow, i want to keep my primers in the best shape possible and dont think the cardboard sleeves and plastic trays are the best for keeping out moisture, are ziplock baggies fine to use? "

You can store them in the factory packs for an awfully long time. They don't attract moisture and, if you soak them underwater a week or so and then let them dry out for a month or so they will be fine. That's the way they are made, keeping the compound wet with water greatly reduces the hazard.

I keep the original boxes in a 50 Cal. ammo box. Maybe I haven't done it long enough to see if it's really "safe" tho, only about 40 years so far. ;)

[Afy]

I just keep them in the cupboard, along with the miserably low amount of powder I have in the office at home.

[Guy B. Meredith]

I keep them on the floor of my clothes closet in the original case box. Just started back into reloading with a case I bought 6 or 7 years ago and threw in the closet, haven't had any problems other than the dread of having to find more to replace them at this time in the economy.

[Cosmoline]

In their original bricks stacked in surplus ammo cans which are secured in the knaack box.

[Sport45]

Mine stay in their original boxes on a shelf in my closet. Don't see a need for anything more than that now that my sons are old enough to know what they're doing.

[Steve C]

....and dont think the cardboard sleeves and plastic trays are the best for keeping out moisture,

Unless you have a leaky roof, are storing in a wet basement, or in an outside shed that's not climate controled and has the potential for leaking there's no reason to do anything special to store primers other than keeping them on the shelf inside the house in their original boxes. They'll last that way longer than you will be alive so don't worry about moisture.

Primers should be kept in the original boxes as the box seperates the primes enough to avoid static electricity or chain detonation. Storing primers in a metal or glass container is making a potential fragmentation grenade and not a sound idea. If you are still worried about water leaking on the boxes or a flood then get yourself one of those plastic storage boxes and put the cartons of primes in it.

There's enough real problems in life that we don't need to come up with imaginary ones.

[Mal H]

What Beelzy said: "Store powder and primers in their Original containers in a cool dark place. They will last forever if stored properly."

I have never worried about my primers going bad - well, maybe I did for the first 10 years, but for the 30 or so after that, I quit worrying.

[MikeS.]

When I started reloading back in May I used some primers I'd bought in 1995 when I thought I was going to start. Anyways, those 14 years old primers had been stored in an ammo can. Not a single misfire.

So I still store them in ammo cans on the floor of a bedroom closet.

[ohman11]

This is not a great idea but I have a few thousand that my FIL gave me and they have been in his garage for over 20 years just in the boxes they came in. I have used maybe 500 so far and never a problem. I think they are a little more resilient than we think they are. I am not suggesting you do this just using it for a example.:neener:

[RoostRider]

I have shotgun primers that my father purchased before I was born (40-50 years old). They were stored in a box in their original containers, left in the unheated garage, moved through several houses and finally given to me, where they sat for many more years before being used.

They all went bang.....

[Otto]

According to Speer:

"Never store primers in a tightly closed metal container like an ammo can. To do so is to risk a devastating explosion complete with deadly metal fragments from the can. Such confinement can make the discharge of one or two primers instantaneously progress to a high-order event involving all primers in the can."
http://www.speer-bullets.com/education/primers.aspx

[Rembrandt]

Watertight plastic storage boxes, kept in a cool dry place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Rembrandt51/reload%20room/primers5.jpg

[qajaq59]

Primers should be kept in the original boxes as the box seperates the primes enough to avoid static electricity or chain detonation. Storing primers in a metal or glass container is making a potential fragmentation grenade and not a sound idea. If you are still worried about water leaking on the boxes or a flood then get yourself one of those plastic storage boxes and put the cartons of primes in it. I was hoping someone would quote that.

[ranger335v]

"According to Speer: Never store primers in a tightly closed metal container like an ammo can.


I just KNEW some expert would tell me I've been doing it all wrong, ever since '65!

Now I suppose I'll have to live the rest of my life in fear that a primer is going to self detonate in my ammo box and set them all off at once! Oh well....

Everyone who has even heard, never mind experienced a self KABOOM of a just one primer out of the jillions that have been made, please raise your hand. Please... anyone??

Aw, man... can't we get some help here? ;) :)

[Mal H]

Do what you wish, ranger335v. The chances are very good that you could go several lifetimes with an ammo case full of primers and never experience a single kaboom. However, God forbid, what if you happen to have a fire? You now have a considerably powerful bomb awaiting the Fire Dept. I do know for a fact that some Fire Departments will not enter a building if they know it contains a large supply of powder or ammo. If they somehow determine that you have the case full of primers, your house may just burn to ground without their assistance. Yes, I'm serious.

You might want to go down to your water heater and remove that pressure release valve as well. After all, your water heater has never built up pressure in the past.

However, neither practice is something that any of us should recommend to our fellow members.

[1858]

You might want to go down to your water heater and remove that pressure release valve as well. After all, your water heater has never built up pressure in the past.

One of my favorite Myth Busters episode involved a water heater and a "sabotaged" pressure relief valve ... it was impressive to say the least!! :what:


Open door, place primers on shelf, close door.

:D Too funny!!

[Uncle Chan]

On the shelf in my reloading room.

[alsaqr]

My primers are stored in Army ammo cans with dessicant. I sometimes reload several obsolete calibers for which primers are no longer comercially available. Some of my primers are 70-90 years old and they still go bang.

Yep, I know that primers can go bang in a fire. That is why most of mine are in a bunker.

[Cosmoline]

Speer also says that the factory boxes are designed to prevent a chain fire. So if I'm keeping the factory boxes in an ammo box, why is that suddenly so horrible?

Military ammo boxes are ALREADY used to store extremely high octane cannon rounds--way beyond the realm of primers. In a detonation they will throw their lids open before they send a bunch of shrapnel around. They're designed that way.

I do know for a fact that some Fire Departments will not enter a building if they know it contains a large supply of powder or ammo. If they somehow determine that you have the case full of primers

So by that logic I can't have powder in the house either. Not terribly helpful.

[mooseracing]

Mine are just stored on a shelf above my reloading bench. The shelf is cupped so that can't come off the edge, and is a top loading shelf.

Also my first batch of primers were close to 30yr old winchesters, $9.99 for a 1000 from Osco Drug. They were part of the reloading equipment my parents gave me that was my grandfathers. Same for the Red Dot powder under Hercules and not Alliant. All of it sat in my parents basement (humid during the summer), and no misfires or problems.

[RoostRider]

I take contention with these two things-

Military ammo boxes are ALREADY used to store extremely high octane cannon rounds--way beyond the realm of primers.

Are you sure about that? I think primers are far more 'highly explosive' than gun powder, but I'm not possitive... and while you might argue that there are primers IN loaded rounds, you are right, but the box is not full of them....

You might get a much larger bang out of a ammo can full of primers than you would in a ammo can full of ammo.

So by that logic I can't have powder in the house either. Not terribly helpful.

No, by that logic you should NOT keep your gun powder in a metal container in your house..... please tell me you don't keep your powder in a metal container in your house... or worse yet, all of your powders in a sealed metal box....

I don't see why this is such an issue, seeing as primers don't need to be stored in an airtight environment in any way shape or form and will still last literally generations.... I know, I loaded some last night that were left in the garage for 40+ years in nothing but their own boxes in a card board box....

Will a primer go off just sitting on a shelf.... no.... but will it go off when a clumsy kid/dog/wife/you knock a metal box full of them on to the floor..... who knows.... not sure how much pressure it take to set off a primer from the anvil side, but I bet it's a lot less than from the cup side.... will it go off in a hot fire.... yes....

[ranger335v]

"However, neither practice is something that any of us should recommend to our fellow members."

You have totally missed the point of the thread. The question was, "What do you do...", not what do you recommend. I gave my method, take it or leave it, no recommendation at all. And, yeah, I pointed out one of the more irrational fears too.

Your considered logic on a "bomb" in a fire is misplaced. As a one time volunteer fireman/rescue squadman in a rural area myself I can assure you that few are worried about the small quanities of 'GUNPOWDER-AMMUNITON-RELOADING!" stuff someone may have. Or for heaven's sake a water heater with the over-pressure valve locked down - that's quite a reach!

Firemen do worry a lot about cans of flammables such as paint or hair spray and spray "butter", sealed solvent containers such as paint and lacquer thinners, canned fuels such as propane, LP or natural gas lines, etc., all quite common in most homes.

Spout what ever it takes to make you feel good, it's all pretty much harmless in the final analysis anyway.

[Steve C]

Military ammo boxes are ALREADY used to store extremely high octane cannon rounds--way beyond the realm of primers. In a detonation they will throw their lids open before they send a bunch of shrapnel around. They're designed that way.

The military has to haul their ammo around under adverse varied conditions. Their boxes have to be sturdy to withstand rough treatment, protect the ammo, and deliver it so it can be used to shoot at and kill other people. Their mission is one of danger and while metal boxes are not the safest way to store ammo and explosives its the best way to accomplish their mission which is more important than a few lives that may be lost. The theory is called acceptable casualties.

Gunpowder is a propellant and doesn't "explode" without sufficient containment. Black powder is an explosive and will explode with minimal containment. Primers are an explosive and will explode without containment.

There are lots of things in life you do where there are safer alternatives and the chances of being injured is relatively small even though you continue to do them over a lifetime. If you have some over riding need to keep your primers in a metal box then go ahead. Likely it will never be a problem but since for most folks its more risky than keeping them in a soft container the better choice is to use the safer method as there is no great reward, gain or convenience not to do so.

Every safety guideline, code and rule has been developed as a result of someone elses previous death or injury.

[Cosmoline]

No, by that logic you should NOT keep your gun powder in a metal container in your house..... please tell me you don't keep your powder in a metal container in your house... or worse yet, all of your powders in a sealed metal box....

Black powder, no. Smokeless, I've got in several places including ammo boxes. It's not an explosive, and ammo boxes are not grenades. They're for ammo, which includes smokeless powder and primers. The lid is sprung down on a bent wire, it isn't welded on. It's not going to fragment unless you weld the lid on, and even then the seam is likely to pop before the steel fragments.

but will it go off when a clumsy kid/dog/wife/you knock a metal box full of them on to the floor..... who knows

They're IN THE FACTORY BOXES that are stowed in a small ammo can. Now if the FACTORY BOX is supposed to be safe and prevent chain fires, why would putting that box in a steel box suddenly make everything deadly?

Every safety guideline, code and rule has been developed as a result of someone elses previous death or injury.

No, most of them were developed from paranoia and fear of litigation.

[FROGO207]

As an interesting note I purchased a bunch of reloading stuff from an estate sale. The wife said that it was probably no good so I got a real deal on the rusty old loading tools with a handfull of 30-06 brass within an old aluminum instrument case. the tools were salvageable as well as the dies but the 30 or so brasses were all tarnished like what you find out at the range from last year. they had been resized and primed however. I loaded 5 of them to min specs with 150 FMJ and fired. all went boom and the usual group at 100 yds. Loaded the rest and fired them also, no problems. It took overnight in walnut to get the brass clean of tarnish for next use however. She said he had been dead about 30 years so my conclusion ---primers are extremely tolerant of abuse.

[ranger335v]

"Every safety guideline, code and rule has been developed as a result of someone elses previous death or injury.... No, most of them were developed from paranoia and fear of litigation."

You've got that right, maybe even more so than you realize! Or rather, what you left out is that a LOT of the "rules" we read and hear are from college boy/ninnies sitting behind a desk without any real comprehension of things he's dreaming up "What if..." speculations to write "No-No" rules about! As a "pro-active" thing of course. Meaning if he can imagine it he needs to do something about it, no matter that there is no record of any such hazard as he suddenly wants to "correct". (I spent seven years working as industrial safety officer at a government research site and I KNOW that's where most of the truly silly Federal/State "safety regulations" come from!)

[Steve C]

No, most of them were developed from paranoia and fear of litigation.

Typical blue collar viewpoint. Summed up, if it hasn't happened to me its not a problem.

I guess I'm just one of those "college boys" but I've had 26 years of experience in design and planning of manufacturing facilities and process and can tell you that your veiwpoint is just that, a viewpoint and not based in fact.

Every safety rule, building code, and guideline has been the result of multiple deaths or injuries. Evaluated by knowledgeable people in the appropriate industry or occupation with the best common sense solution to the hazard found before adopted as code, rule or safety guideline. This is mostly true, even in Government.

If you want safety advice take it from the people in the industry. They see, hear and deal with a lot more safety problems than somebody who is a hobbyist.

[ranger335v]

"what you left out is that a LOT of the "rules" we read and hear are from college boy/ninnies sitting behind a desk without any real comprehension of things he's dreaming up "What if..." speculations ..."

Are you one of that type? If not, and either way I'm sure you do know some of them, you aren't one of those in view. ??

[RoostRider]

please tell me you don't keep your powder in a metal container in your house

Smokeless, I've got in several places including ammo boxes.


:banghead:

I really didn't think there was much chance you were actually doing that, hence it would have made my point... *sigh*.... I thought it was really well understood that a closed metal container, any closed metal container, is inappropriate for storing powder and primers....

Military ammo boxes are ALREADY used to store extremely high octane cannon rounds--way beyond the realm of primers

Again, are you sure of that? Please look into that before you continue that practice... not like rumor and innuendo look into it, but actual facts based on studies.

OK, so your contention is that anything the military does must be safe enough for everyday use? Really? Even though the military doesn't do this with their boxes? and have never tested it for such uses.

Ranger, just because you have done something since 1965 does not in any way make it safe... so yeah, you've been doing it wrong since 1965... but other people have been doing it right since WAY before then... you should have followed their example way back then, and then you wouldn't be so stubborn about it today as to suggest it is an acceptable way to store primers/powder simply based on the fact that you have never had an explosion (yet many others before and after you have)...

[Walkalong]

Calm down fellas. :)

[RoostRider]

Sorry.... stubborn is supposed to imply that it is just 'his way' at this point, given how long he has been doing it without incident, and that isn't likely to change no matter how much more information is supplied to him after the fact.... not that he is inherently a 'subborn' person...

I do, however, want some clarification on where the true facts are to support that a ammo box of ammo is just as volatile as a ammo box of primers.

[Remo-99]

Gunpowder is a propellant and doesn't "explode" without sufficient containment. Black powder is an explosive and will explode with minimal containment. Primers are an explosive and will explode without containment.

I think Steve has a point there, primer compound is a very powerful chemical explosive, intiated by extreme heat or shock. A single primer by itself may not cause alot of destruction, putting several thousand loosely in a container would be a different matter.

Wherever they are stored, it's better they are stored in their orginal packaging, spaced accordingly by the manufacter, not only to reduce chain reaction detination risks, but this also reduces the density of an explosive material.

[rcmodel]

It goes without saying that whatever you store them in, they should be left in the factory flats & cartons until you use them.

I know of one fatality where a guy liked to dump all the primer trays into a glass fruit jar to keep them dry! They were dry all right, when he dropped the jar and they went off like a nail-bomb IED.

There was another report of the same thing happening to an employee of a large ammo manufacturer. The guy dropped a glass jar full of primers and got blowed up dead.

rc

[Roccobro]

I keep mine in a computer case logged onto THR. Everyone knows there is no flaming there! :neener:

Justin

[Art Eatman]

Round and around and snarky. Who needs it?