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Thread: Some Old Stuff

  1. #1
    Boolit Master

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    Some Old Stuff

    I met a neat gentleman who was retired and getting out of reloading. I picked up from him some components for a great deal. I gave some away and kept what I'll use. I'm curious about the age of some of this stuff. I posted on another reloading site, but didn't get too much feedback.

    Here are some primers. Interesting how CCI changed packaging over the years. I think that the green striped box is 1977. The Winchester small pistol primers have wooden dividers. Pre-plastic.



    Here are some of the powders. Unique has changed labels too. I burned up the can on the left, and am well into the older can in the middle. Really interested in the age of the cans of Unique. One can of 4064 from 1974 was bad. So far everything else is just fine. The lot numbers on old cans of DuPont revealed year if mfg, a but this one is too smudged. 1970s for sure.


  2. #2
    Boolit Master corbinace's Avatar
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    I started reloading in earnest in the early eighties and the red label CCIs were on my shelf if I recall correctly.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master Guesser's Avatar
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    For me.......none of that seems particularly "old". I was buying all that when I was introduced to hand loading back in 1955 and I started doing it on my own in'56. Just doesn't seem that long ago.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master




    EMC45's Avatar
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    I have powder and primers of that vintage I load with regularly. I ended up getting a reloading stockpile from the estate of a man who passed away. Pounds of powder under 3 bucks on the price tag and still good. I also have Hercules 11 and 13oz metal cans of powder still sealed I plan to peel open and use. One Bullseye, one 2400 and a Unique.
    You can miss fast & you can miss a lot, but only hits count.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    I'm with Guesser, mostly..

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    Old stuff? I'm using some of that stuff as well. Those CCI boxes look real familiar.

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    I started saving money by reloading in 1973. Still use the Rockchucker I bought then. I shot up a bunch of 3031 from those days out of the metal cans.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master



    retread's Avatar
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    The Winchester primers are from the late 50's and early 60'S. The CCI are close to that vintage. The powder AI would guess is about the same era.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    You guys are cracking me up. I thought that more than a few of you would have experienced first-hand the evolution of powder and primer boxing/labeling.

    I'm no means young (all relative, right?!), but I was matriculating through the public education system during the 70s and 80s, so I was not a reloader when this stuff was made.

    Regarding the CCI primers, I believe the oldest box to be the green box with the stripes. "Decoding" the serial number seems to signal a 1977 year of manufacture. I believe the others to be made in years following.

    Retread, thanks for the clarification about the Win primers. Note that the rifle primers in the box use plastic trays, so I believe them to be "younger" than the small pistol primers with the wooden trays.

    Really curious about anyone's best bet about the age of the Unique powder in the middle of the three. It would be the oldest (purchased for $2 and some change), followed by the can on the left, and then the 4 pounder on the right.

    The great thing is that this stuff still works. Thousands of trouble-free loads downrange already. Like I said previously, only one can of 4064 was bad out of all of it.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check