The Gun Counter

For either U.S. made rifle primers, or Russian Wolf primers, what is a reasonable storage life expectancy before velocity SD starts to deteriorate? (storage conditions are using new steel G.I. ammo cans with fresh rubber seals, temperature 50-75 deg F.)

've asked Federal Cartridge this question, and 10-20 years is the official answer. If true, that's disappointing. I was hoping for 50 years.

Is that 10-20 years in shelf life, or loaded in ammo that possibly has the red military sealant applied to the primer and case neck? And how much of a deterioration of SD are we talking about?

Well, the answer is the answer; it is what it is.

I suspect that Federal was talking about component primers in original packaging. I know that Junior Doughty once found some primers he had hoarded and forgotten about. He estimated that they were 30 years old, still in the original packaging. He did some tests and they were so inconsistent that he soaked them in oil to kill them, and disposed of the whole bunch (2000, as I recall.)

I know I have used primers that were way older than 10-20 years, but my only criteria for those loads was that they went bang when desired. I think I still have a tray or two of large rifle magnum primers that I bought during the Clinton scare.

I located two boxes of Federal small pistol primers that predated bar codes. They all shot fine. Now I'm not doing bench rest so my definition of "fine" was it went bang and a hole appeared in a target.

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PawPaw wrote:Well, the answer is the answer; it is what it is.

I suspect that Federal was talking about component primers in original packaging. I know that Junior Doughty once found some primers he had hoarded and forgotten about. He estimated that they were 30 years old, still in the original packaging. He did some tests and they were so inconsistent that he soaked them in oil to kill them, and disposed of the whole bunch (2000, as I recall.)

I got some Alcan small pistol primers in 1985 that were already 15years old. I use them regularly and have yet to experience a misfire. The guy I got them from was a semi competitive shooter who tired of the sport and sold me the whole shebang in one lot. I'm grateful to have them in these days.

I still have a few hundred Winchester round-cup primers in WOODEN trays that give good results in the .30-06 I load. I had to make primer punches to fit them for my Lee priming tools.

I would imagine the life length depends on how they are stored. In a dry sealed container, below 85 F? Probably for decades.

I have used some large rifle primers from the 50s worked fine but again I wanted them to go boom and they did.

Termite wrote:I would imagine the life length depends on how they are stored. In a dry sealed container, below 85 F? Probably for decades.

I store mine in plastic bags with a desiccant bag and would not hesitate to use them if they are 5 or 10 years old in those conditions.