Primer shelf life?

[Ngoins01]

I am new to TGO and also just now getting in to reloading, so I could use some advise from those more knowledgable than myself. I'm wondering what the shelf life of most primers are. Also, what about corrosive/non-corrosive primers. Are they clearly labeled or should I just know what brands to buy or not buy? Also, looking for best primer recommendations for 9mm, .40, 45ACP, .223, and 300 AAC blackout. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jamie Jackson]

I'm still using CCI small rifle primers I purchased in 1990 and 1991...IMR 3031 powder as well.

 

My preference on primers for handgun are Federal first, Winchester second.

 

But I've had good luck with Wolf and Tula primers the past few years as well.

I have had more ignition reliability issues with Tula Lead Free primers, so I steer away from those...but that said, I would use them if they were all I could find.

 

Just protect your primers from temp extremes & moisture and you should be GTG.

 

 

 

All components are a challenge to locate these days, and prices are going up steadily.

 

Get in touch with DLM (David or Sam) as recommended by many here on TGO and I'm sure they'll be of great service and treat you right.

[frankmako]

i got some old 1985 primers and powder that i have used and they still work.  kept in army ammo cans.  

[nightrunner]

Suppposedly the lead free primers go bad after a certain time period. Ive heard around 2 years.

Others would be good to go though.

[Raoul]

I loaded some CCI primers last year that were bought in the 80's.

As for brand, the only primers I've had trouble with were PMC.

[GlockSpock]

i got some old 1985 primers and powder that i have used and they still work.  kept in army ammo cans.  

 

Primers and powder in a tightly sealed metal can. Bad idea?

[Lowpower]

I've had primers discolor from sitting around for some many years. They still work.

 

Not all were created equal and not all guns like all primers. For example, my 40X .308 tack

driver is extremely accurate using winchester primers. Stick any other primer in the Lapua

cases and the group grows.  It's not that one primer is better than another. It's just my 

rifle likes a particular brand. When I acquire a new rifle, break it in, then begin to reload I

set up the brass and do all the accuracy stuff to the bullets then get the powder charge it likes.

Then I load up 5 bullets using each of the available primers and go shoot them. There's probably

5-6 to chose from. You'll find one your gun likes. Then you can adjust the bullet depth to close

the group even tighter.

 

There's actually a primer on primers. Someone took slow-mo pics of primers at the instant of ignition.

They all have a little different explosive characteristics. The pics show the blast and how it can effect

ignition of your powder. I have that book around here somewhere. I'll see if I can track it down as there's

lots of great info in it.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Lowpower

[enfield]

Primers and powder in a tightly sealed metal can. Bad idea?

 

BAD idea - it's a bomb.

[GlockSpock]

BAD idea - it's a bomb.

 

Yeah...no kidding.

[173rdABN]

I'm using win primers from the 60's my grandpa left me. Zero issues so far. Not even a bad primer.

[Caster]

I've used Remington Kleanbore primers that were still in their original packaging.......wooden trays. They ain't put primers in wooden trays in MY lifetime. They all went bang just like new ones.

Now, you can buy primers made in the last year or two that were stored improperly that will not ignite reliably. Primers are a LOT hard to kill than most people believe but proper storage is very important. Store them in a sealed army can and your great grand kids could possibly be loading them.

[Clod Stomper]

My Dad got a metal box full of old (really old) hand loading stuff from a guy at work. There was a fine film of oil on the bottom with stray primers rolling around in it.

Just as a test, I seated them and fired them. Most of them worked, some didn't.

So if they've been stored halfway properly, they'll work fine. Don't know about the lead-free types. I have heard that they can be spotty. Just don't buy them unless you're goin to use them immediately.

I bet you couldn't find corrosive primers if you wanted to. Unless you go to Eastern Europe.

[Jonnin]

almost all modern primers will be, and will be labeled, non-corrosive.

 

To get corrosive primers, you need to either buy some very old ones or seek out some of the very odd foreign stuff.  I do not think even modern foreign ammo is corrosive, but I could be wrong, who knows what the chinese will do.

 

If it is not labeled non-corrosive, you should look it up or ask here with a picture of the box maybe. 

[Clod Stomper]

I have had two experiences with "modern" corrosive ammo.  One was in the '90s.  It was some Russian 5.56 (this was pre-Wolf) that was sold as non-corrosive, but it was corrosive.

 

The last time was, of all things, Sellier and Bellot.  This was just a few years ago.  It was some .22 Savage Hi-power ammo.  It was corrosive as well.  Rusted the barrel of an old, take-down Savage 99.  Made me sick.  I never would have suspected it was corrosive.

 

I don't know if they were just using up old stocks of corrosive primers, or what.  But it pays to be suspicious of Eastern Bloc ammo, even today.

 

Now, as to running across primers that are corrosive, that's highly doubtful.  I have been using Wolf and Tula primers for a while and they are fine.  

[GlockSpock]

This thread begs the question, why exactly is the purpose of corrosive primers? I understand that it is the mercury in the corrosive primers that makes them corrosive. Was it used for lower cost production, long term storage/reliability, or simply an older way of doing things than the way we do modern non-corrosive primers?

[LngRngShtr]

Corrosive primers are old school, I imagine the Eastern Bloc countries never saw need to change however the civilian market saw the need for and the marketability to the hunter/sportsman/competition shooter so they evolved

 

corrosive primers actually create Potassium Chloride residue that when dampened by humidity will set about rusting the cause was as CZ9MM noted was the use of mercury fulminate  they have since switched to lead styphnate which makes it essentially non corrosive

 

Generally 1955 is considered the cutoff for corrosive .45ACP and .30-06 Ball ammo. however the sniff test is always preferred you will smell a sharp chemical odor if it was corrosive and cleaned like a black powder firearm or if you have a can of old surplus bore cleaner that smells worse than the fired ammo

 

I have ammo I loaded back in the 80's still goes bang

 

and ammo cans with primers and ammo in them are a bad idea but until I find a better one that's how they will sit under my reloading bench I guess I could always use Tupperware but the old G.I. ammo can is absolutely the best storage device for durability and air tightness unfortunately it does hold pressure for awhile in a fire and loaded with any components that create pressure  not a good thing but not going to blow a house apart, the casings would split and vent by the time the rounds get hot enough to cook off the rubber seal would have melted enough that it would be the weak point and keep the pressures lower than the Hollywood version of what happens. take the seal off an ammo can and see how loose the lids become plenty of room for escaping gas so no "bomb" effect.  I would be more concerned about loaded guns in a fire...

 

In his book "Gunshot Wounds" Vincent Di Maio describes various experiments where ammunition was heated in ovens. He says that .22 long rifle cartridges detonate at an average of 275F, .38 Special at 290F and 12 gauge shotgun shells at 387F. The interesting thing about these furnace experiments was that in all instances the cartridge cases ruptured, but the primers did not detonate. In fact the primers were removed from some of the ruptured cases, reloaded into other brass and fired.

When cartridges are placed in a fire he confirms that the most dangerous component of a cartridge is the brass, or fragments thereof that may cause eye injury or penetrate skin, but certainly there is no evidence that a cartridge that is not in a firearm can cause a mortal wound, either by action of the bullet or the brass/primer fragments. It is important to remember however that a chambered cartridge that detonates in a fire is just as dangerous as a cartridge that is fired under normal circumstances in a firearm.

To get a better understanding of the behaviour of free-standing ammunition in a fire, he conducted experiments with a propane torch. A total of 202 cartridges (handgun, centerfire rifle and shotgun cartridges) were used. If the heat was applied directly to the base of a shotgun shell the primer would detonate, the powder would ignite and the shell would rupture. Any pellets that emerged were traveling too slowly to be recorded on a chronograph.

In rifle and handgun cartridges where the flame was applied to the base of the cartridge the primers always detonated but the powder only ignited in half the cases and in those instances the cases did not rupture but the gas was instead vented through the primer hole.

When he heated these same handgun and rifle cartridges at the front, the powder would burn and the cases would usually rupture but with few exceptions the primers did not detonate. The velocity of expelled projectiles ranged from 58 ft/s to 123 ft/s. The only exception was the .270 cartridge where the bullet velocity was 230 ft/s. Primer velocities ranged from 180 ft/s to 830 ft/s.

As a side note he says that a revolver in a fire is especially dangerous because all the cartridges can cook off and be discharged such that there is a danger from projectiles. Only the bullet that came out of the barrel will have rifling marks and the ones that came from non-aligned chambers will have shear marks on them. Obviously if there is a question about the firing of a weapon and whether it was cooked off or fired intentionally they will look for a firing-pin impression on the primer of the suspect cartridge case.

References:

Sciuchetti G.D. Ammunition and fire. American Rifleman 144(3): 36-38, 59-60, March 1996.

Cooking-Off Cartridges. NRA Illustrated Reloading Handbook. Washington, D.C.: The National Rifle Association of America.

And of course Vincent Di Maio's excellent book "Gunshot Wounds - practical aspects of firearms, ballistics and forensic technics". My copy is the second edition, published by CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-8163-0
This information can be found on pages 268-270.

Edited March 18, 2014 by LngRngShtr