Originally Posted by
georgerkahn
I, too, was looking for (small rifle) primers and in the very back of the cabinet I store them in I found a full box of CCI small pistol primers. I bought these 2nd hand at a garage sale in the early 1970s... They're at least 55 years old. For kicks and giggles I loaded fifty H&G cast bullets in .38 S&W Special cases, using some Bullseye powder and these primers and took them to range, complementing a S&W Model 64 revolver I had not shot in a while. My very first shot was a "click", and I opened cylinder to see primer was dented. After a few expletives and with nothing to lose, I tried the 2nd.. the 3rd... and all the way to 24 shots: ALL fired flawlessly. Again, I re-inserted that first case -- and this time it fired. My guess was the initial fault was the revolver's? Anyhoos -- 25 shots to shoot 24 of 24 rounds using 55+ year old CCI Large pistol primers!
My (recent -- early this summer) experience.
My thoughts are -- at worse case -- like on my first shot -- you'll get a "click". Then, you just need break down your loads and reassemble with primers that function.
geo