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Old primers

edxc
I acquired some old CCI small pistol primers--they are in the little green packs. The first three digits of the code on them is 079 which leads me to believe they are from 1979. Assuming they were stored ok, should they still be usable?

Three Precious Metals: Gold, silver and lead
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Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • edxc
    I have several thousand old primers. They were given to me by a widow of an old friend. They are in packaging that I would recognize as from the 40's through 60's. They are intact in original sleeves and cartons, still factory taped in some instances on the oldest looking sleeves. Packaging is absolutely pristine. All rifle sizes 61/2,71/2, 8/12 Remington and Winchester.

    Are these safe and good to use. I would only use in plinking loads...........ed
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  • XXCross
    In a word.. YES. I still use primers that date before WW-I and they still go bang!
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  • dcs shooters
    Use them. I have some about that old and they still go bang. As long as they were stored in a dry place they stay good.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:Originally posted by edxc
    I have several thousand old primers. They were given to me by a widow of an old friend. They are in packaging that I would recognize as from the 40's through 60's. They are intact in original sleeves and cartons, still factory taped in some instances on the oldest looking sleeves. Packaging is absolutely pristine. All rifle sizes 61/2,71/2, 8/12 Remington and Winchester.

    Are these safe and good to use. I would only use in plinking loads...........ed


    Safe? Definitely.

    Good to use? I'd bet they are all functional, or nearly so, but there is really one only way to find out for sure.

    Go load up a box of shells, try to shoot them, and see what happens.

    If they aren't working right, you'll find out pretty fast.
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  • partisan
    Absolutely safe! I'm still using primers from the early 1970's, without any incidents. Moisture is the real curse to primers.
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  • v35
    Try a box or two before loading up all your brass.
    I've had some bad primers that may be up to 50-60 years old that may have been improperly stored at some time.
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  • lcdrdanr
    I'm using AlCan Rifle Primers that are 250 to a box sleeve and the address has no zip code on it, prior to 1963 I think.
    They were stored in a mayonaisse jar in a box sitting on the dirt floor of a barn in South Texas for around 30 years.
    Out of the 2,000 plus I have used to date, only two have failed to go "Bang". And, those may have been from other factors.
    Use 'em !!

    Dan R
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  • ikeda
    A friend had probably 25K that went under water in hurricane Ike. He dried them out and uses them to this day. About 99% go bang. I wouldn't use them for dangerous game hunting but for just "shootin" they seem to work fine.
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  • airmung
    Primers of this age will most likely be corrosive, so clean your guns appropriately. The upside is that corrosive primers usually are more stable in storage (that is why the eastern bloc used them long after the West switched to non-corrosive primers). Stored properly, they will last upwards of 100 years or more. Count your blessings, since most of us are presently having a devil of a time finding primers at all.....
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  • Ambrose
    Remington 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 as well as Winchester 8 1/2 are not corrosive.
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  • hk-91
    I would just load up acouple and find out. IF they were kept dry they should be good to use.
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