Buying old primers

[chickenfried]

A neighbor has some primers ~6 years old, they've been stored in his ground level garage underneath a work bench. he no longer shoots. Besides obvious condition issues, anything I should check before purchasing?

[Mssr. Eleganté]

It depends. How long are you planning on storing them under your workbench before selling them?

[chickenfried]

I dry age my primers for 21 days before reselling.

[WileyWilly]

I have used CCI primers that were purchased from a local HARDWARE store that went out of business in the 70's. They were marked $.69/100. They all went bang (zero misfires). Anybody else remember when hardware stores sold firearms?
WW

[rabagley]

6 years is a very short period of time.

However, garages can get hot and can be the first place to show mold if the lip isn't properly designed and rain can enter. If his garage temps are sustained 100+ in the summer, if the garage was flooded in the past six years, if rain regularly blows into and puddles in the garage, etc. Things like that may be worth asking about.

If you think that the primers didn't stay relatively cool and dry for the past six years, it's probably worth it to load 10-20 rounds with them and test them for reliability. If they all go bang pretty consistently, assume they're good.

Again, 6 years just isn't that long. I just opened a can of powder from 1982, still nice and citrusy. Some of my small pistol primers were my dad's when I was growing up (>30 years old) and still shoot great.

[anyracoon]

I'm still using Winchester primers that came in white boxes that shoot just fine that I bought in the early 90's and powder that came in metal & cardboard kegs.

[CSACANNONEER]

I recently bought 6000 primers that were probably made in the 50's or 60's. They have wood dividers in the boxes. Well, they all work every time. In fact, a friend of mine, who is using my reloading equipment to reload, likes them so much, he keeps buying new primers and trading them to me for the old stuff. So, six years isn't old by any means!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FLIGHT762]

I also have a good variety of U.S. mfg. L/R primers that I've been given from the 50's, 60's and 70's. They all go off. I use them for plinking loads.

As long as the primers you're getting have been stored properly. They will be fine.

[sargenv]

I still have a brick of 1000 Norma Large rifle primers I bought for $10 back in the late 80's. They have never failed to go bang.

[Bongos]

I accedently tumbled 15 primed case for 4 hours and they all went bang! WLR

[ar15barrels]

A neighbor has some primers ~6 years old, they've been stored in his ground level garage underneath a work bench. he no longer shoots. Besides obvious condition issues, anything I should check before purchasing?

Make sure they are the type you need, large rifle, large pistol etc...
If you end up with a bunch of small rifle primers and you don't have anything that uses small rifle, it will force you to buy a new gun, dies and brass...

[ar15barrels]

I still have a brick of 1000 Norma Large rifle primers I bought for $10 back in the late 80's. They have never failed to go bang.

You must not shoot much large rifle...

[sylstral]

You must not shoot much large rifle...

Be nice

Hunters can take years to go through a single box of ammo for their bolt-action rifle. My dad chipped away at a box of 30-06 for about five years just as I was getting into guns. He'd shoot to re-zero the scope and then at game. Didn't require a lot of shots to put food on the table.

[ar15barrels]

Be nice

I happen to know sargenv is a competetive shooter.
I once bought about 5 gallons of 9mm brass from him.

I did not use very many large rifle primers when I was only shooting 3gun type matches.
Now that I shoot precision rifle, I find myself using a LOT more of them.

[rcschummers]

if the packages are deteriorating that may be an indicator. but from what everybody else has to say, you should probably be fine.