Shelf life of primers?

[GT1]

I have seen them go off after being soaked in motor oil for a couple days.
The best way to dispose of them is to load them and shoot them.

[farmbif]

if the primers are on the shelf they don't last very long, they get loaded into ammo and shot up in no too much time

[David2011]

GT1, since you’re new here you may not understand why we use the “cartoon” name “boolits”. It’s an easy way to differentiate whether cast lead or gilding metal jacketed is the subject. Boolits = cast; bullets are jacketed.

Apologies to everyone else for hijacking the thread.

[jpamp]

It amazes me how often I think of a question like this and then find a thread on this forum. Now with primers being the prized possessions they are right now I don’t want to test submerging them, but glad to know they should go bang even if they were once exposed to a little humidity in storage.

[GONRA]

GONRA reminds ya'll that "GREEN" (Pb, Ba, .... free, etc) primers are unlikely
unlikely to EVER have the shelf life of the lead styphnate - tetracene primers
we're all used to.

[pworley1]

I am still using some I bought in the early 70's with no issues.

[Gtrubicon]

I’m 45 years old, I am reloading and shooting with primers that are much older than I.

[jmorris]

They will last long enough for new generations of reloaders to come about wondering where to find any. My oldest were around before AOL launched, the Pontiac Fiero was considered a mid engine sports car with all its 140 hp, kids wore parachute pants to hang out at the skating rink and cell phones were the size of suitcases and were “installed” into cars by stereo shops.

Yeah, they have a longer life than lots of stuff.