50-year old primers

[d'Artagnan]

Got over 13,000 Remington small and large pistol primers in a trade. Labels same as 1946-1960 Remington ammo boxes*, making the primers at least 50 years old. Most of the 100-count boxes and 1000-count sleeves are unopened. I located the oldest, grungiest, and already opened box of small pistol primers and loaded up some 38 Special DEWC loads using Bullseye power. Basically I was doing a qualitative test/did they go boom or not. All 18 went off just like the same loads with recent Remington primers. In fact the old primer loads generated 9fps more muzzle velocity than my control loads/same case, bullet, powder, recent Remington primer (750 vs 741). Old primers have two-leg anvils otherwise look just like recent Remington production, and old boxes have wooden trays.
* See http://cartridgecollectors.org/daterem/remdates.pdf

 

[TonyT]

I would have no problems using 50 year old primers. Unlke fine wine they do not improve with age but nether do they deteriorate appreciably under proper storage.

 

[BinRat]

That's reassuring, as I still have some CCI that are over 20 years old and I'd been wondering whether there would be any issues with them. They've been in a dry cool basement the entire time, so I thought they'd likely still be good.

 

[Hondo 60]

d'Artagnan

Be aware those primers are most likely corrosive.
You'll wanna clean your firearm right away.

I was at the range today, firing a Tokarev.
The ammo had a date of 1955.
It all went bang just as I suspected,
just not very accurately though.

So old primers, powders & loaded ammo all work fine.

 

[Deavis]

Be aware those primers are most likely corrosive.

Highly doubtful since Remington licensed the the non-corrosive primer from RWS back in the 20s and have used it ever since. That is why they called it KleanBore, it didn't rust your bore. Once the patents expired on the non-corrosive primers, commercial ammo in the US switched over quickly. You'd be hard pressed to find any corrosive primers in commerical ammo post WW2.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would think 50 year old ammo would be 100% reliable but 50 year old primers that work are a surprise. Thanks for the report, it's good to know it's possible.

 

[1KPerDay]

I've been loading 40ish year old CCI primers since I started reloading. Never had one fail to go pop.

 

[Steve Koski]

d'Artagnan,

That is so cool! Thanks for the report.

Koski

 

[floydster]

I am using primers that I bought in the 60's, nary a problem.

I will be digging into my new stock I bought 10 years ago

Also I am shooting up some 30-06 Match ammo my brothers purchased back in the late 40's after the war---good stuff.

 

[jk2008]

d'Artagnan,

Do you know anything of the primers' history (e.g., type of climate [hot/cold, humid/arid]; how they were stored; did you get them from the original purchaser [or his estate] or was this a grab-bag from a gun show)?

 

[d'Artagnan]

Don't know when they were originally purchased, but it was by a friends dad, and it was in several 50-cal ammo cans in the deceased father's house's dry and cool basement.

 

[d'Artagnan]

Fired 45 Auto today using 50-year old LP primers and 9mm Luger using some SP primers from another 50-year old lot. All functioned flawlessly.

 

[Slamfire]

Primer technology changed and there were different primer compositions used at various periods. Some of these older compositions are corrosive and while they had a good shelf life, they tended to dud over time.

Lead syphnate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_styphnate has been used since the 50’s and is very stable.

There are lead free compositions coming on to the market, we will see how they age.

 

[Blue68f100]

I'm still using up some primers from the 70's, All go bang with no problems. So I don't see a problem at all. Use them...

 

[Haxby]

Well, heck. And I've been wondering about whether or not to use some 30-year-old primers.

 

[Slamfire]

Well, heck. And I've been wondering about whether or not to use some 30-year-old primers.

Load them and shoot them.

 

[dickttx]

Last year I used up my 1970 primers.
Then bought 5k from 1992 at a gun show for $100. Still using those.

 

[wally]

I was at the range today, firing a Tokarev.
The ammo had a date of 1955.
It all went bang just as I suspected,
just not very accurately though.

Was this the 800 round tins of Bulgarian that has recently resurfaced? If so its some of the worst ammo I've encountered!

OTOH the 1950's Polish 7.62x25 has been fantastic, even better than the 1980's Romanian.

I had a pretty high dud rate on some ammo loaded with Winchester primers during the Bill Clinton "primer shortage" years that I had forgotten about for ~15 years. The ones loaded using CCI, Remington, or Federal primers didn't have any issues as I recall. They were fine when fresh when I used up most of them.

 

[TheCracker]

A older guy that lives a couple houses down from me gave me a bunch of old cci primers 3 years ago. I called cci with the lot stamp and they were all from the early 70's.

They had been stored in a catboats box in his non climate controlled workshop/ barn for the last 15 years he said. This is in the super high humid and hot east Texas summers.

Every one of them went bang. I was surprised but learned a valuable lesson.

 

[jcwit]

Heck, I've recently shot some 8MM with Nazi Swastika headstamps on it. Had to have been prior to 1945. They all went bang as expected, but need to be cleaned right away as their corrosive.

 

[Beat-tu]

Info here is appreciated. I have been out of the hobby for about 25 years. I got on the forum to ask about 1978 Winchester small pistol primers and 375 handloads from same vintage. Looks like no worries!!

Tom

 

[Sport45]

Old primers have two-leg anvils otherwise look just like recent Remington production, and old boxes have wooden trays.

You can probably make some cash selling the empty boxes on ebay or Gunbroker. (After you've used the primers, of course.)

Be careful opening them and try not to tear the boxes. A table knife slid under the flap will apply even pressure across the length of it and help avoid tearing. Not worth the hazmat fees/trouble IMO to try to sell individual boxes with primers intact.

 

[jcwit]

I have large rifle primers from the latter 1940's that have a 3 legged anvil' they are Winchester and non-crossive.