primer storage

[Tom Threetoes]

I have a small stock of large rifle primers that's been stored in an unheated non air conditioned garage for 3 or four years. Will this any effect on their reliability?

 

[Floivanus]

Everyone knows you’re supposed to keep primers next to the Cubans in the humidor, especially now, when they’re similarly priced.

Honestly, my dad has some that have been stored in a garage for decades that work reliably, so I doubt it makes much of a difference unless they were actually wet

 

[foszoe]

I have a small stock of large rifle primers that's been stored in an unheated non air conditioned garage for 3 or four years. Will this any effect on their reliability?

I never had a problem with primers. Mine are stored in the mechanics room. My uncle that taught me how to reload kept his in a non climate controlled garage.

We don't load thousands of rounds at a time though.

 

[turnerdye1]

Mine are also kept in my garage. It’s semi controlled climate wise. It’s varies from 50-100* throughout the year. I do have a dehumidifier that I keep set at 45% to balance things out. Keeps my powder and primers dry and keeps my tools from rusting.

 

[EyeCarry]

Somebody will be along shortly to offer to test 50% of your stock for free.

 

[Hohn]

Cool and dry is where I keep mine.

 

[Floivanus]

Somebody will be along shortly to offer to test 50% of your stock for free.

a proper gentleman would offer to consult on the storage of the primers for a 50% ownership of their primer storage.

it’s standard industry rate among us primer storage specialists.

 

[Tom Threetoes]

You guys are cool, thanks.

 

[DadSmith]

I stored mine in old wood ammo creates the large rifle primers im working with now are 23 years old have not found a bad one yet. The magnum primers are setting off 338 Lapua Magnum rds with consistency so I must have stored them correctly.

Now I use them plastic totes and put a moisture eater in each check it one every few months so far no moisture seems to get into them totes.

 

[bobjones223]

I may be a little more Sheldon than others but my stockpiled primers are in food saver bags and then my open partial boxes that I am working out of go in a ziploc.

 

[canebreaker]

I'm at the NW corner of MS. The last hurricane that moved through the area left us 2.4 inches of rain. The next evening I'm sitting at the fire pit and spotted a silver dot in the dirt. It's a primer, no clue how long it had been there, maybe 5 years. It was full of wet dirt. Well, it's no good, won't fire so into the pit it went. 10 seconds and there was a loud pop that sent ash flying everywhere.

 

[bwframe]

[video=youtube;v2RyqTHcM4k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2RyqTHcM4k[/video]

 

[shibumiseeker]

I'm at the NW corner of MS. The last hurricane that moved through the area left us 2.4 inches of rain. The next evening I'm sitting at the fire pit and spotted a silver dot in the dirt. It's a primer, no clue how long it had been there, maybe 5 years. It was full of wet dirt. Well, it's no good, won't fire so into the pit it went. 10 seconds and there was a loud pop that sent ash flying everywhere.

Priming compound is desensitized when wet but perfectly fine when dried out again. They load it into the priming cups as a moist paste.

Oil will also desensitize them but won’t dry out as readily. Neither completely deactivates them, that requires chemically altering the styphenate, or more simply just detonating them.

Desensitized means a firing pin strike might not detonate them, but they still can explode under the right conditions.

Primer storage has far more to do with preventing corrosion of the metal.

 

[jaymark6655]

Always kept mine in a sealed ammo can. Originally for avoiding moisture and in case they decided to go off. Good point about them being made with the wet paste, so I guess I'll keep them there just for safety reasons.