Primer Hordeing?

[Jack Ryan]

I've been reloading a long time. Shotguns, rifles, pistols, black powder, they all have the same choke point. PRIMERS

I've bought a lot of primers and caps in my day. Enough to know that THEY WILL GO BAD if you keep them long enough and don't take some kind of effort to keep them good.

I just always bought them to USE. I never bought them to horde before.

Now if I'm going to buy a lifetime suppley, do ya'll have and good tricks, tips, or suggestions on keeping them good?

My plan so far...

Buy enough primers, large&small, rifle & pistol, and 11 caps to burn all the powder and lead I have now plus a little. Seal them in those pump out bags they sell to freeze food in. I plan to put an extra bag inside each one with the goods to reseal at least once if opened. I know the comercial desecant is best, I was fortunate enough to work in shipping and packing once and collected a lot from the trash from incoming shipments. That stuff still protected some reloading equipment of my for 10 years of storage in a bad enviroment. But... I don't have that option any more. Don't know what it cost. But I thought I'd super dry a couple pounds of rice in the dehydrator and pack a hand full in each freezer bag before pumping the air out and sealiing it. Keep it all in a dark room temperature enviroment.

Any better plans out there for saving primers forever?

[BeeRian]

I've been using some of my Dad's old primers that are AT LEAST 20 years old. They were just stored in their original packaging inside a cabinet (in a very smokey house by the way) and they all work fine.

As long as they stay reasonably dry (not exposed to water or left in a very moist humid environment) and I supposed are not repeatedly exposed to extreme high and low temperatures, I would think they should be OK.

FWIW, I just store mine locked up indoors-each 1000 primer brick in a ziplock bag.

[Swapfoot]

I used to shoot a lot 15 years ago and had several thousand primers left over. I left them in the original boxes and put them in a chest of drawers in a shed. Wet, cold, hot and dry. Anyway, I just started shooting again and have ran through all of them with no misfires. I would say that they are pretty durable. Just a case study for you.

Greg

[Old Syko]

I've bought a lot of primers and caps in my day. Enough to know that THEY WILL GO BAD if you keep them long enough and don't take some kind of effort to keep them good.

I suppose if you left them outside in the elements long enough they would eventually go bad but even that would take a while. I just finished shooting some 3,000 that were bought September 29, 1975 and loaded December 26, 2008. Primers are more durable than some would like to believe. If their surroundings will sustain human life they will survive just fine.

Sealing them in plastic is a short road to failure. As I've already said, If their surroundings will sustain human life they will survive just fine. I'm still loading some powders I bought as surplus in 1969.

[mospeada]

I also have loaded up some 20+ year old primers and haven't had an issue. Now I wouldn't load them up for carry ammo, but for practice, meh.

[Jack Ryan]

Originally Posted by mospeada

I also have loaded up some 20+ year old primers and haven't had an issue. Now I wouldn't load them up for carry ammo, but for practice, meh.

If that's all that's left after4-8 years of Obamania...

It's good to hear others have not had a problem. The ones I had the prblem with were CCI caps. You could tell the pink inside had turned a little lighter and half of them didn't go off. After about 20, I just threw the rest away and bought new.

A big part of my investment/retirement/survival plan includes owning a lot of what ever I'll need for the rest of my life and to heck with what ever the rest of the stupid morons in the world want to do or make a law about. That means either a lot of primers and caps or a means to produce them. I don't have that producing primers or caps figured out but I've got wheel weights, molds and powder that I don't much give a flying... what law they pass. The most it's going to be is an inconvenience "probably" or you'll see my name in the paper at the worst I suppose, next to the headlines something like this. "Nut Job Survivalist Tax Resistor..."

Or maybe I'll just have a garden that grows really really good.

[NEOCON]

Originally Posted by Jack Ryan

If that's all that's left after4-8 years of Obamania...

It's good to hear others have not had a problem. The ones I had the prblem with were CCI caps. You could tell the pink inside had turned a little lighter and half of them didn't go off. After about 20, I just threw the rest away and bought new.

A big part of my investment/retirement/survival plan includes owning a lot of what ever I'll need for the rest of my life and to heck with what ever the rest of the stupid morons in the world want to do or make a law about. That means either a lot of primers and caps or a means to produce them. I don't have that producing primers or caps figured out but I've got wheel weights, molds and powder that I don't much give a flying... what law they pass. The most it's going to be is an inconvenience "probably" or you'll see my name in the paper at the worst I suppose, next to the headlines something like this. "Nut Job Survivalist Tax Resistor..."

Or maybe I'll just have a garden that grows really really good.

I like the way you think!

[hornadylnl]

Hordeing? Whatchoo talkin bout Willis?