Guess l'll put my 2 cents or $400 in here. l am a silhouette shooter and have since the beginning of IHMSA silhouettes in the late 70s. I usually shoot 3 matches a month and practice twice a week. l throw a good bit of lead down range on a yearly basis... IHMSA is a handgun sport... By choice l have always used Federal primers. During the GREAT PRIMER FAMINE of 2008-2016 l shot anything l could get my hand on. At the beginning of 2008 the primer well suddenly dried up overnight... lf yall shot any volume during those years you know what l mean... Anyway, a few yrs ago l fell upon a treasure of 10,000 or two sleeves of Federal Match Large Pistol Primers. Got them from a trusted friend thru a trade.. They sit a couple yrs and one day l open the sleeve marked LPP, but they are NOT. lnside is 5000 Large RIFLE Primers!! Same goes with the other sleeve... These were factory sealed sleeves... So l call FEDERAL... ''Take a number. Ballistic people are busy. They'll call you back''. Well that dog and pony show lasted for 3 solid months. l usually called twice a week.. Always varying time of day... lts been a year or so now... l passed those on to another... Never, Ever will l buy a Federal product... lt wasn't always this way... But that's the way its been since they were bought out by VISTA OUTDOORS... Vista also owns SPEER/RCBS, ALLIENT POWDER, BUSHNELL, BURRIS, WEAVER, and a bunch of other old time good name companies... They did own SAVAGE til recently, but sold them.. l wish SAVAGE well.. The Handle recently broke on my RCBS SUMMIT PRESS.. l called RCBS customer service... Got the SAME switchboard as l got when calling Federal.. Same dog and pony show answer, ''WE'LL CALL YOU BACK''.. Lotsa luck. l'm still waiting on that call too. Found a replacement on GunBroken.. No more Vista Products. EVER. lf its buy vista or do without, l will do without..
BTW... As far as l know, there's no expiration date on primers, powder... As long as they are kept cool and dry they should last indefinitely... l read awhile back the US NAVY still has Naval Gun Powder from World War One. lt's still good. l have some 40 yo SUPER VEL primers. They still go P O P!!
