Old Primers

[jrbauerjr]

Started cleaning up the garage and came across a forgotten GI ammo can that I hadn't opened up since 1980.. Its got a couple of thousand CCI primers in it along with a lot of forgotten reloads.

The question is: Can I still use these primers or have they aged too much even though they've been in an air tight container (had to pry the box open as there was a vacuum in the GI case).

If I need to toss them, how do you safely dispose of old primers....

Jim

[BajaJames83]

they will probably still work try a few if not toss em.

[kendog4570]

Kept in sealed can, no signs of corrosion.They are OK.

Ammonia fumes are the worst thing for primers. They can be exposed by being in open air next to your gun cleaning area, a cat box, a diaper pail. The ammonia degrades the brass cups quite rapidly. Don't laugh, this happens. I had some primers stored on a shelf in a room that I used for fuming maple wood with 28% ammonia. a year or two later I loaded some up and they gas cut the face of my M14 bolt enough to ruin it. Sent some to Federal and their lab found "Stress/Corrosion Cracking" in the brass cups. They even called me on the phone. (No internet in those days.) Question and answer period with them arrived at the ammonia exposure that I had unwittingly caused. They had seen this with diaper pails and catboxes, as well as other forms of exposure. Must have been one stinky diaper pail!! Since then I store all my primers in GI ammo cans. Some are 40 years old. I use the really old ones for blasting ammo or chicken and pig rounds at silhouette matches. They work just fine.

Once I had 40 or 50 primers I removed from live ammo and put them in a Dixie cup. Covered them with WD-40 and set them on the roof of my reloading shed, and promptly forgot they were there. 6 months later I saw them and the cup was full to the brim with rain water. Another 6 months and they water had evaporated and they were dry as a bone. Just for laughs I hit some with a hammer. Guess what? They all went off. Surely degraded and not going to win any matches with them, but damn sure able to ignite a charge.


If you need to dispose of them, savvy recylers wont break your balls and throw them in with the #1 brass scrap. Some are uninformed and want to call the bomb unit. As they heat up for smelting they pop and become harmless.

[Duluth88]

Just for laughs I hit some with a hammer. Guess what? They all went off. Surely degraded and not going to win any matches with them, but damn sure able to ignite a charge.

Good info to know, thanks for sharing!

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[elk hunter]

I've had old primers go both ways some were still good and some were bad and would not fire. All were stored in the same batch in the same ammo can, some good some not. These primers were CCI and were from my late FIL that he had stored in a good ammo can but he stored the can under the house. I would not store ammo or components (primers or powder) under the house or in the attic or anywhere else it gets very hot. Under the house they didn't get hot so might be a bad seal on the can and moisture got to them over the 20 or so years they were down there.

[Divernhunter]

I have primers I got in the 1960's that I still use. I do not use them for big game hunting loads. I use them for plinking ammo and ammo for ground squirrels. Have not had any bad ones and accuracy is as good as primers I bought recently.
I say use them or better yet send them to me and I will dispose of them for free