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Primer Storage - Advice

jmdvet
Howdy again: just getting geared up to reload and have been piling up on primers (i'm not the only one obviously) and have a question: What is your interpretation of a 'cool and dry place"? Inside my home here in south central Texas in a room kept at 78 deg F okay?
Please advise.
Thanks
JD
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Nwcid
    I keep them in a military ammo can. Throw in some moisture absorbers. Limit quick temp changes if you can.
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  • aap2
    The temp of your house is fine; if humidity is a significant problem a sealed container with dessicant would help. One place NOT to keep primers is your refrigerator..it's way too humid....I didn't think that anyone would store primers in a refrigerator until I saw that in an ad selling primers on GB...I don't think that he got any bids.. Winchester's handout that comes with bulk primer shipments advises keeping primers in the original container and to store them away from flammable materials such as powder..
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by aap2
    The temp of your house is fine; if humidity is a significant problem a sealed container with dessicant would help. One place NOT to keep primers is your refrigerator..it's way too humid....I didn't think that anyone would store primers in a refrigerator until I saw that in an ad selling primers on GB...I don't think that he got any bids.. Winchester's handout that comes with bulk primer shipments advises keeping primers in the original container and to store them away from flammable materials such as powder..


    Nothing wrong with refrigeration, so long as the primers are kept DRY.

    If there were in a refrigerated dry box, that would be OK.

    I'd think 78F would be fine to store them, and again, so long as there were kept dry they should keep for years if not decades.
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  • USN_Airdale
    quote:If there were in a refrigerated dry box, that would be OK.


    and/or leave them in their factory container and seal them with one of those vacuum food preservers
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  • yblockhead
    Concur with Nwcid. I've been storing primers in the military ammo cans with desicant bags with no problems so far. Obviously cooler is better, and in Texas that might be a problem. Up in the soggy/wet/moldy northwest, moisture is our is our biggest enemy.
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  • jonk
    Do what you like. I just keep them on the shelf. Never had any issues. Same with ammo.

    I've shot primers that were 100 years old already. They all went bang, no issues. I have occasionally found some milsurp ammo with hangfires and misfires but it has to be stored in pretty poor conditions to get to that point.

    So I say, just put them in a box on the shelf. If 78 degrees, that's fine. If you want to use a dessicant pack and dry box, that's fine too but imo, unless you live in a swamp, not needed.
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  • partisan
    Don't stress out about the "cool & dry" info. The real enemy of primers (& powder) is MOISTURE!
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  • cwi555
    quote:Originally posted by jmdvet
    Howdy again: just getting geared up to reload and have been piling up on primers (i'm not the only one obviously) and have a question: What is your interpretation of a 'cool and dry place"? Inside my home here in south central Texas in a room kept at 78 deg F okay?
    Please advise.
    Thanks
    JD


    50 cal ammo can, twin purge nozzles, supply of nitrogen gas(dry), desiccator gauge. problem solved.
    Or you can go for the commercially available models.
    Just google 'desiccator storage'
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  • bpost
    I have many thousand primers that are from the early 1980's. Nothing was ever done fancy for storage. They were in the house in Alaska, stored in the basement in a ammo can. Moved 5,000 miles and are in the basement here in S. Ohio. I run a dehumidifier in the "gun room" to keep moisture under control. No other efforts are made to keep them. They sit in an ammo can until I need them then get loaded and shot. These primers still produce excellent SD and ES strings with awesome accuracy.
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  • lcdrdanr
    I still have several thousand ALCAN large rifle primers that were stored in their original containers and inside a large mayonaiise jar in a box of reloading stuff in a garage in South Texas. All the reloading stuff had a heavy coat of rust all over but the sealed jar evidently kept the primers okay. I figure they have to be from the early 60's, there is no zip code on any of the addresses and telephone numbers are alpha numeric (Like MA4-5542 and there is no telling how long they were in the mayonaiise jar.

    I acquired them in the mid 90's and have stored them in a GI ammo box in my garage, but I have moved from South Texas to Indiana to California to South Georgia and now in Arizona. I started off with over 10,000 primers and am down to about 4,000 left.
    I have never, ever had one fail to fire.

    Dan R
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