Are these primers bad?

[Trey Veston]

My father's reloading room suffered heavy smoke and water damage. Most of the primers were on a shelf away from the drama and remained dry.

But, a significant amount were close to the fire and the boxes got soaked, and then dried out.

Are they still good? Should I just load a couple of the most affected ones in a casing and test fire it?

I have no idea how susceptible primers are to moisture. None show any corrosion or other damage. I will sell quite a few of them, but want to make sure they are sound. Several thousand of them.

They were in the cabinet up above the bench...

 

[LiveLife]

significant amount were ... soaked, and then dried out.

Are they still good? Should I just load a couple of the most affected ones in a casing and test fire it?

Yes. My guess is that they should go bang.

Primers are made tough, especially sealed for moisture with sealants and barrier cups to protect the priming compound, made to endure long periods in planet's humid storage conditions and pounding transport conditions in trucks off road.

Color you see under the anvil is not the priming compound rather the color of sealant/barrier cup.

 

[adcoch1]

I'd bet they are fine, unless standing in water they should go bang.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Even if they were standing in water, just set them up somewhere to dry out they will be fine.

I was cleaning cases one day and got 357s mixed up with some primed 38 Special brass and ran the primed brass through my ultrasonic cleaner with citric acid and dawn dish soap for 10 minutes. When I discovered it I set them all up on a shelf for three months. Then I loaded them and shot them, every one of them fired and I couldn't tell they were ever wet.
It's really hard to kill a primer. Part of the process when they are made is under water anyways, then dried out before packaging.

 

[lordpaxman]

My father's reloading room suffered heavy smoke and water damage.

Very sorry to hear that and hope all are ok. I was interested in the responses as well. I have purchased very old primers and they still work so it wouldn’t surprise me that these will be fine. Unlike those cars they sell that have been under sea water for a while…

 

[edwardware]

I have no idea how susceptible primers are to moisture.

"Not very." Admittedly this lacks precision, but I've never had a primer fail for moisture, and I have had multiple powder charges fail for just a little moisture.

I suggest you put them in a climate controlled environment to dry out gently, and maybe don't use them for your world championship competition ammo. They're very likely just fine.

 

[243winxb]

how susceptible primers are to moisture

I soaked some in water for a week. Let them dry in summer sun. All fired. CCI400 that were still seated in 223 in brass.

I would not sell them without full disclosure & reduced price. As is.

 

[usaral63]

Well, I wanna know just HOW LL managed to disassemble those bang specs less detonation??

 

[Slamfire]

Primer cake is typically mixed with water. As long as it is wet, it is safe, though with energics, nothing is 100% safe. A lacquer is applied over the primer cake in the pocket, and unless the lacquer is removed, the primer cake stays dry. Since lacquer requires organic solvents, and primer cake dissolves in water, the combination makes it difficult to dud out primers. Though it can be done.

I would say, prime your cases and bang away!

 

[Walkalong]

I soaked some in water for a week. Let them dry in summer sun. All fired. CCI400 that were still seated in 223 in brass.

I would not sell them without full disclosure & reduced price. As is.

Yep

 

[LiveLife]

I wanna know just HOW LL managed to disassemble those

Very carefully with plenty of protection.

I removed the anvils from primer cups using a dental pick while wearing eye/face protection (Safety glasses, goggles and full face shield) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ts-your-experience.630512/page-2#post-7794378

 

[mdi]

In my early reloading, curiosity drove me to take apart some small pistol primers, I wanted to see how they work. Same as LL; very carefully with a pick. The most important thing I found, as a new reloader, is that primers had to be seated with the anvil firmly seated against the bottom of the pocket. A few years later (early '80s) I took apart some 209 primers, Looked like large primers in a brass plated battery cups (didn't measure though)...

 

[FROGO207]

I end up with all the bad ammo that is turned into the local PD. Some was still wet when I got it in the past. I take it apart and recover/recycle any useful components I can. In over 3K metallic and over 1K shotshells not 1 primer has failed to ignite when reused for blasting ammo by me.
I ended up with half an ammo can of 308 that was still under water from a flood. Took it apart, let the brass dry for most of a year with primers still in the brass. Put in new propellant and reused the FMJ bullets. Everything shot as normal. As stated above use common sense and don't use the primers for critical uses and all will be OK.

 

[eddiememphis]

What would the danger be trying to fire a wet primer?

They either ignite or they don't. Water is unlikely to make them more explosive.

I'd be curious to soak a few overnight and then fire one per day to see how long it takes them to dry out enough to work.

 

[.308 Norma]

I'd be curious to soak a few overnight and then fire one per day to see how long it takes them to dry out enough to work.

Years ago, back before primers were expensive and hard to find, as an experiment I filled a half-dozen primed .357 cases with water, another half-dozen with gun oil, and another half-dozen with WD-40, set them all up in a loading block and let them "soak" overnight. The next day, I dumped the liquids out of them and loaded them (6 at a time) in my .357 Ruger Blackhawk.
Every darned one of those primers went off, although the water filled ones sounded a little weak. AND, I had a heck of a time testing all 18 primers because they kept backing out of their pockets and binding my revolver up. As far as I was concerned though, I'd dispelled a myth I'd heard about always washing my hands before I handled primers because "the oil from my hands will ruin them."
I still do wash my hands before handling primers though. I'm superstitious. So???

 

[tmd16556]

I’d expect them all to work, but might avoid using them for anything where inconsistent ignition or a click might be bad. So no SD and probably not hunting (though I’d load shotgun primers for dove loads in that state) or match loads.

 

[Blue68f100]

Primers are very hard to kill. Let them dry out for a week or so and use them for non-Critical use. Another word foulers or blaster loads. I dought you will see very little difference but it's best not to take the chance.

 

[unwashed]

Years ago, back before primers were expensive and hard to find, as an experiment I filled a half-dozen primed .357 cases with water, another half-dozen with gun oil, and another half-dozen with WD-40, set them all up in a loading block and let them "soak" overnight. The next day, I dumped the liquids out of them and loaded them (6 at a time) in my .357 Ruger Blackhawk.
Every darned one of those primers went off, although the water filled ones sounded a little weak. AND, I had a heck of a time testing all 18 primers because they kept backing out of their pockets and binding my revolver up. As far as I was concerned though, I'd dispelled a myth I'd heard about always washing my hands before I handled primers because "the oil from my hands will ruin them."
I still do wash my hands before handling primers though. I'm superstitious. So???

That's concerning since back in the day, before the internet it was to dispose of primers you had to soak them in motor oil first to deactivate them. I can't remember how many I got rid of in this manner. Unless primers were made different back then.

 

[FLIGHT762]

Take some of the primers, the ones that look worse than any others and prime them into some empty cases and fire them to see if there's any issues.

I use a lot of old primers, some over 60 years old. They all go Bang. I was just gifted about 800 Winchester small Pistol primers a few days ago. I checked the lot numbers and it appears these primers were Mfg. in 1959. They have wooden dividers in the 100 trays. Winchester went to plastic trays in the early 1960's.

Yesterday, I primed a dozen empty 9MM cases and tested the primers. They all popped.

As long as the primers have been dried out well, they should be fine. I would use them only in practice ammo.

 

[BushMaster-15]

Primers broken down ;

Lead Sulfate is insoluble unless done in and acid solution ,it will then produce acid salts or other compounds .

Antimonous sulfide requires and even stronger acid solution such as sulfuric or Hydrochloric and phosphoric acid combo .



Barium nitrate is a white solid that is soluble in water. It is a salt of barium and nitric acid. When it dissolves in water, it forms a solution that is acidic .