Do Primers Go Bad

[John@redmt]

I was talking with a buddy who was shooting with me yesterday and is an experienced reloader who lives in AK. He said he has a stash of primers also that haven't been wet but live in the basement with no special care and never had a misfire. His thought too is that there could be some sort of contamination in the primer pocket. It's unlikely that I missed anything but not impossible. I have a stash of new brass in 6.5 and .308. I'm going to load a variety of loads with one thing in common, the primers. I'll get some new primers and and use the old primers as well. Narrowing it all down, it almost has to be contamination or funky primers. I'm thinking contamination of walnut hulls that I must of not seen.
BTW, I have switched up to a stainless pin tumbler. Much cleaner brass.

 

[John@redmt]

Another thought,,, the hang fires could easily be from contamination. The no fires I have unloaded and the primers have not gone off. They have a huge firing pin strike right dead center so it's not the guns. That brings me back to the primers.

 

[Oldschool280]

I had a bad box of rem 91/2 's in my bulk pack of 1 thousand. Went to the range and all of my reloads from this particular box failed to fire, went home check brass dimensions and yada yada, primed a few empty cases of new lapua brass with primers from the same box, tried to test fire and three more failed. Tried another box and they went pop. I threw away that box and havent had an issue since. I have no idea what the story was. My loading room is warm and dry with a dehumidifier set at 40 percent and it rarely runs. Still have some from the bulk 1000 pack they came in and they have been fine.

 

[ar10ar15man]

there are multiple reasons why a round does not go off.
a hand loaded round that does not go off is most often the loaders fault.
case over sized, sits too deep in the chamber and gets a poor or no strike
is a good example.
primers are one of the most consistent performers in the reloading field.

Would you explain what you mean by a reloader issue?

 

[John@redmt]

The primers have been hit very hard. I'm not ruling out operator error but where? How could a hang fire be operator error?

 

[cape cove]

I have some Winchester primers that I purchased in the late 80's. They still work great .If stored properly they will last a really long time.

 

[Bravo 4]

I had a bad box of rem 91/2 's in my bulk pack of 1 thousand. Went to the range and all of my reloads from this particular box failed to fire, went home check brass dimensions and yada yada.

Same here, had a box of Remington primers fail on me several years back. First failure to fire was actually when I had a big 13 point buck within throwing distance in front of my muzzle. Tried several more and about half went off. That box got tossed and the rest are still in a case I keep primers in. I called Remington and they would have replaced them but those $3.00 worth wouldn't bring that buck back. A fella down the road killed that dude a week later.

 

[jasonco]

Yes! I lost 2000 CCI-200 & BR-2, due to an unknown roof leak, while stored in a vented storage tote. Dank damp conditions. I still buy by the 1000, but not more than I'm going to need.

 

[KyCarl]

I have shotgun 209 primers that are at least 15 years old and they are fine.
Stored in a climate controlled area of my basement I keep all my powders there too.

 

[MajorSpittle]

My MISTAKE. They are Winchester primers.

Winchester has some bad lots of WLR primers out in the world. I am in the process of returning some now. Miss Fires and Pin-Holing through the primer. The **** things etched the bolt face of my Tikka. Do a google search

 

[John@redmt]

I submitted a report through their website. I'LL call them tomorrow.

 

[ar10ar15man]

all you had to do was DRY them out.
they are made wet and then dried.
i had a couple of sleeves get wet in a basement flood.
spread them out, let them dry in the garage, and still shooting them today(10k..2 sleeves)

Yes! I lost 2000 CCI-200 & BR-2, due to an unknown roof leak, while stored in a vented storage tote. Dank damp conditions. I still buy by the 1000, but not more than I'm going to need.

 

[John@redmt]

I found some interesting reading.
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/the-truth-about-primer-misfires/247980
Seeing as how it's on the internet it must be true!

 

[ShtrRdy]

I have some primers from the late 70's that were stored in a garage for 15 of those years. The garage temps spanned -25 F to 110 F. They still work.