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Do primers go bad with age


Majja

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I finally got around to going through a bunch of reloading stuff my grandfather had, that has been put up on a shelf in my garage for years. And there is a brick of primers and various packs of primers in this box. I was wondering are they still good to use most are rifle primers but there are a few packs of lg pistol. My guess is they are from the 80's.

Thanks

Majja

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My guess is they are from the 80's.

1980's are good, 1880's Not So Much. :devil:

Jack, is that experience talking? I had no idea you were that old! :goof:

Yeah, that is a very telling post, Grump!

I use primers from the late 70's, that were always stored in a cool, dry place. They are 100% ;)

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Speaking from personal experience, I had bought a old stock case of Rem 5 1/2 primes before the "insanity," severel years ago, The went bang everytime, but I was getting mystry carbon build up around the the primer pocket edge, I shoot a couple of hundred of them and they worked great. HOWEVER, I went home to clean my guns, my AR 9mm, 1911 9mm and my M&P 9mm had significate eroision damage on the breech face from leaking gas.

I contacted Remington and supplied them the Lot# and pics of the damage guns. They tested my loads, and they were within spec, so overload was not an issue. They informed me that they had a lot of primers from the late 80's to mid 90's that had primer cups that would age harden and crack when shot. It affected only 1 1/2 and 5 1/2 primers sizes Light loads or heavy loads, the primer cup shoulder would crack and leak gas. In the end Remington did not repair my guns due to the age of the primers (1992 Lot if my memory serves me correctly). However they did send me two free cases of primers for my trouble. They were really nice about it, 20 year old primers are a bit out of the warrenty period. But to this day I won't shoot old stock Remington until I call to check the lot and check the primer anvil. If it has 4 wings, it is the bad lot that has age harden, the newer 3 wing style are safe to use. However, I would buy them and call Remington, they said they will always do an exchange.

Sad part, I had 500ish rounds loaded up with the bad primers. In the end, I gave them to a friend who is a cop, who then gave them to bomb guys to disposed of. . . . . .I didn't want them around to accidently find there way back into my gun or anyone elses.

Edited by Walnut
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