Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.
Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
I found a bunch (about 1800) of 30 year old CCI primers still in their cartons, stored most of the time in the house, but I think spent a couple of winters in a sealed ammo can in the shed. Think they're any good? I hate to waste them, but I don't want to load 1800 rounds of ammo and find they stink, either.
I thought about just priming 100 cases, and if all 100 go off, and sound the same (with hearing protectors), moving to 'phase two' - load maybe 10 or so rounds with lead bullet loads and chronograph them; if the velocities show minimal spread, assuming they're consistently 'hot' enough to work.
On the other hand, I just thought about sprinkling them in the next big brushpile we have to burn and standing back...
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
I was given a bunch, like 6000, OLD cci primers a while back. I don't even know how old they are, but I suspect some of them date back to the early 60's. That was way before I handloading. Heck, I prolly wasn't even born when these were made. Anyway, I've been using them for paper punching loads and have not had a single misfire. If the trays and cardboard sleeves look good, I would use them for sure.
Maybe some of you more 'experienced' gentlemen would be able to guess the vintage of these?
I'm still using some Herters Large Rifle primers given to me about 15 years ago. Herters went out of business in the 70s. I'm down to about 500 left out of a couple thousand. IIRC, I did have one dud last year, that was the first and only one.
"People who object to weapons aren't abolishing violence, they're begging for rule by brute force, when the biggest, strongest animals among men were always automatically 'right.' Guns ended that, and social democracy is a hollow farce without an armed populace to make it work."
Use em! At least for practice and plinking loads until you know if they seem OK.
Heck, I think I have ammo around I loaded that's almost that old.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt-
Isnt it amazing how many people post without reading the thread?
Hobie wrote:What type of primers? I'd try them. Probably are good.
CCI Large Pistol and Large Rifle.
I think I'll just test them and try them as planned.
What is weird to me about primers is that 'they' always say about how even spraying WD-40 into the guts of your carry piece and forgetting to dry it out thoroughly will cause fumes to get into your ammunition and neutralize the primers, yet most of us store our primers in a drawer in the reloading area, garage, shop, or whatever - areas with all kinds of solvent fumes present much of the time. Of course for self-defense purposes, I suppose a failure rate of 1 in 100,000 is 'intolerable' whereas for target shooting, most of us would not find a failure rate of 1 in 100 'excessive' as long as the bullet didn't lodge in the barrel.
One GOOD thing about this is that for the next 1,800 rounds I can blame any misses on 'old primers'
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
During WWII primers were unobtainable and the only folks who keep shooting were the ones who had a good stock. So when Viet Nam headed up about 1965 I stocked up on primers. I still have some small rifles primers (CCI and Winchester) from that hoard. They are good as new in terms of performance. I suspect yours are just as good. Way back then CCI said their primers had a shelf life of a minimum of 50 years.
I'm using some Herters LR primers I bought back in the early '70's, about 35 years old. Out of 1000 I just finished shooting up that had 2 misfires. I'm just using them for target practice, not hunting.
44
“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” Ronald Reagan
According to knowledgeable sources, there is no way to render an unpopped primer inert. That is, there isn't a solvent or oil that you can treat them with that will ruin them. When whatever is is dries off the primer, the primer will be ready to go again. I finally used some old primers my bro in law had found in a box at a transfer site, and every one of them worked fine. I only wish there had been 1800 of them.
Flood ,Bangor,Maine. 1974 0r 75 or thereabouts. Dakins Sporting goods distributor was down town and their shipping room was in the basement. Lots of stuff was sitting in water for a few days. After the insurance adjuster had released much of the spoils, some of it was not thrown out. I took several cases of Rem #9 1/2 LR primers to the retail department where I had to cover the reloading and firearm counter. A customer requested to try some. Found them to be AGAN and bought the whole lot. Cheaply of course.
Flood of '87 on the Piscataquis, a shop in Howland Me. was flooded. Again I salvaged ammo and primers all perfect.
Several years ago I tried to find a solvent to kill primers with controlled experiment. Tried 3 different products including WD40 and finally gave up. The best I could do was to make some unreliable for a short time. I've got my notes somewhere in my growing pile of "stuff". But I'm convinced.
Pepe Ray
Primers are primers . As I have shot lots of 100 year old ammo with hardly a misfire, they last. I have even shot military 45-70 and 45-90 blackpowder loads and all seemed fine. This is asumming that the ammo looks decent and not all dinged up and corroded.---------------Sixgun
Last edited by Sixgun on Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1st. Gen. Colt SAA’s, 1878 D.A.45 and a 38-55 Marlin TD
Don't do what my brother did when we were kids, he set one on a metal plate a smacked on with a hammer, I then got the opportunity then to take a pair of pliers and pull it out of my leg.
PM me for my address and send them out to me, I'll test them for you for free for a few years!! 
and I'll use 'em.
.***
