Shelf life of primers

[George]

I was cleaning out my gun cabnet and found some CCI Large rifle primers that have to be at least 15 yrs. old.  What is the shelf life of primers?  They look real good.
I was reading the box of Remington 6 1/2 small rifle primers and it said not to use on 17,  222 and 223 cartidges.  Whats up with that?

[Randy]

Keep them cool and dry and you will have no problems.
Primers that have even been wet once dried are still good.
Primer shelf life is measured in Decades.

Remington 6 1/2 Primers are designed for 22 Hornet & the 218 Bee.
The primer cups are thin there is risk of a firing pin penetrating the primer.

Here is a link to Midway's site, about the warning.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=152548

[George]

Thanks Randy..........I am going to take them back and see what the dealer has to say...
He knew I was going to use them to reload .223.........I just bought them a couple of weeks ago.  I have already loaded 100 rounds with them.......He might get the 100 rounds where the sun don't shine...........

[Ronvandyn]

How timely is that?  I was going through my ammo box yesterday and found 2 boxes of primers that my Dad gave me, 30 years ago.  The only reason I noted they were there is because I spilled some. 

So, I have 1 box (most of it) of small pistol primers and 1 box of large rifle (again, most of it) that I am willing to donate to ... well just about anyone who wants them.  I dont currently reload (a problem I intend to fix pretty soon) and even if I do my pistols dont use the small primers.  So, PM me and I can give you their location and set a meet.

[JimP]

I thought I wrote about this before, but the search thingy did not turn up anything.....

I was given some Winchester/Western "Staynless" primers...... the guy that gave them to me had them given to him back in the 1970's...... I loaded them up and shot them  a couple of years ago...... they worked just fine: velocities and accuracy were no different than regular WLR primers....... at least according to my chrony and the dead prairie dogs I used most of them on........

[George]

Randy
I took the 6 1/2 Rem primers back and they did not know about the warning on the box.  The man I always deal with said he has used them for years with no problem in his AR.  They did replace mine with 7 1/2 primers.  I figured they would make it right with me, (I spend a lot of money for supplys in there)

[Randy]

Yes some people are willing to take that risk.  I am not one of them.
It is simple though the manufacture did not design the 6 1/2 Primer for use in .223 ammunition.

The US Goverment has urged ammunition manufacturers to develop a Primer that deteriorates within a two year time frame or shelf life. The chemists involved have fortunately not found a stable reliable formula that works.

Side note: Primers that have been acidentaly soaked in oil once allowed ro dry have been reliably used.

[rugermanx]

The US Goverment has urged ammunition manufacturers to develop a Primer that deteriorates within a two year time frame or shelf life. The chemists involved have fortunately not found a stable reliable formula that works.

More government regulation that is B$. If there was a demand for this then the companies that make primers would have been researching this for years. For crying out loud. Get out of the free market. Sorry, I hate people bashing the free market when we have the government trying to mess around with it.

[Randy]

rugermax, who is bashing the free market here?
Please clarify your post.

[rugermanx]

The people in power at the white house and some in congress. In particular our regulatory czar, with his rant of "Generally speaking we get the joke. We know that the free market is nonsense. We know that the whole point is to game the system, to beat the market, or at least find someone who will pay you a lot of money because they're convinced that there is a free lunch. We know this is largely about power, that it's an adults only, no limit game. We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun. And we get it that if you want a friend, you should get a dog."

ETA: If you want to find more about this winner his name is Ron Bloom.

As well as congress's complete and total disregard for the constitution and the principals upon which this nation was founded.

Sorry I didn't clarify. But I take for granted that I spend too much time listening to the news and hearing this and not everyone does.

Barney Frank is also guilty of this saying that the free market needs "regulation" that is what the free market is.... the consumers REGULATING it.

Its more of a rant on the government stepping in and modifying products I apologize, I get worked up about stuff like this.