[Ned Christiansen]

Thought you guys might be interested, I shot some .308 handloads yesterday that were made with RWS primers from 1973. Got some decent, under 1/2 MOA groups from 300 yards (WW cases, 748 powder, Nosler 168 J4's). No misfires, they still work!

 

[Sheldon]

It always nice to hear any news that reinforces what they all say about about powder and primers lasting indefinately as long as they are stored in a cool dry environment.

 

[maxwayne]

I just got done shooting up some 9mm that was headstamped 1952.

 

[shane45-1911]

Once.

I'm sorry Ned, I couldn't resist - I read the title of this thread and I started thinking I must be doing something wrong if you are getting more than one bang out of each primer.

My primer life expectancy is once.

 

[Ned Christiansen]

I got a real LOL out of that, Shane. Jeez, yer such a beginner, ya mean ya use 'em once and then just toss 'em!?

Maxwayne, I've had some '52 9's too, Czech stuff-- would misfire in some guns but I believe it was hard primers more than old primers. Had some Nazi 1944 stuff too, same story. Had some 1918 GI .45 that was pretty iffy, but one never knows how it was stored the first 65 years!

 

[Walking Point]

I'm not surprised at all.

The worst case I've seen is W231 powder that was 10 years and stored in a garage that was hot or cold depending on the weather. It shot as good as new powder. I've never used primers over 7 years old and anything of mine is stored indoors where the temperature is consistently too cold(my wife) or too hot(me).

 

[johnnybravo]

The other year I found a box of my old bullseye reloads in an unheated storage building on the folks' property. They were dated 1977, and probably had been in there since the early 80's.

3.5 gr Bullseye, 185 gr swc handcast bullets, RA 65 cases, and I forget what primer, although I think I used CCI at the time. Took them out to the range, and they worked just fine.

Only got a single use out of each primer, though.

------------------
johnnyb
A slow hit beats a fast miss

 

[Bompa]

Had a bit of Canadian 9mm that was headstamped 42 and 43. Worked as well as when I bought it in the 60's..Great brass also..9mm like 45acp gets lost before it is worn out..