I found these primers in my house, when were they Made

[barnetmill]

I just purchased 1000 federal small magnum pistol primers at a local store for $85 plus tax and out the door. They had been sitting away. They could be old stock. Apparently most of their clients do not reload.

[Rickf1985]

85.00 is the going price right now.

[barnetmill]

85.00 is the going price right now.

I needed some magnum pistol primers and the price seemed ok. That is probably a life time supply for me for .357 mag and 296/H110 loads.

[Lead Puller]

I've used 50-year-old primers someone has given to me after their husband or grandfather passed away and they worked fine. As long as they were stored in a cool dry place, the packaging does not show any signs of moisture damage and the primers appear to be normal, they are most likely good to go.

If you have any doubts about the primers, press a few into empty brass and see if they work.

[Tripplebeards]

The blue box Winchester is around late nineties to early 00’s …or newer. The rest? Shoot them up!

[atr]

I have old primers for shotgun reloading that go back to the late 60's and they are still good!
I keep all my primers in a cool DRY place, stored in a inexpensive Styrofoam packing crate which was once used for shipping food.
happy new year all
atr

[HumptyDumpty]

I would hammer test of of each and decide from there.

That method failed me recently. The primers were very old, Remington UMC, copper primers. They popped with a hammer, but either weren't doing so in the rifle, or they didn't well enough to ignite my powder.

[35 Rem]

My best "lost" loading component find was 10 or maybe even 15 years ago when I was going through some shelves in my parent's garage and found 2 cases of shotshell primers I had stashed away and forgotten about. To say 10,000 free primers made me happy is very understated even at the prices back them. This year being my 1st to be retired with lots of free time and several times I've found stashes of primed cases that always make me smile. Found about 50 221 Fireball cases with primers just last night. Opened a box of at least 100 30-30's primed just a while back. A big batch of 45ACP primed brass turned up a few months ago.

[barnetmill]

That method failed me recently. The primers were very old, Remington UMC, copper primers. They popped with a hammer, but either weren't doing so in the rifle, or they didn't well enough to ignite my powder.

It might depend on the rifle. I suspect that mosin nagant rifle might hit it a lot harder than say a 94 winchester.

[tigweldit]

I found stash of Federal large rifle primer dated to 1955. Don't know where or how they were stored. Every one went "bang".

[justindad]

I have WLP in the same blue package that I bought new from a store in 2014.

[Rickf1985]

Hitting a primer with a hammer is not the smartest thing to do! The shell will fracture and the anvil will also become a projectile. I thought the people saying that were kidding but I guess some took them seriously.

[Charlie Horse]

$1.14/hundred.....from Walmart.

[HumptyDumpty]

Hitting a primer with a hammer is not the smartest thing to do! The shell will fracture and the anvil will also become a projectile. I thought the people saying that were kidding but I guess some took them seriously.

Well, in order to hit me, it would have to travel back through the hammer. I wear some gloves, eye protection, ear muffs, and don't anticipate ever having a problem.

[gc45]

i bought out about 20,000 primers from a pawn shop a few years ago that was closing it's doors; most are Remington, some federals. They are all old stock with Rems being the old green and white boxes. Have been using these for all my shooting in small pistol and large rifle with out one misfire. Have used up all my Dad's primers as well, some from the 1950's and all worked just fine. If keeped dry, I can't see primers or ammo going bad other than weird circumstances.

[Blue2]

Another primer story. They are harder to kill than you might think. A friend of mine living near a river had a basement flood. His primers were stored in a metal non waterproof container. They were under water for two weeks. He called me up and asked me about disposing of them. He did not want to put them in his garbage for fear they might end up in a fire. I took the lot of them and laid them on a concrete floor of my garage with the vehicle door open to the sun. While they were drying my dog ran over them and dispersed some of them out into my gravel driveway. About a month later after several rainy days I was doing a welding project. I had some angle iron to cut with a chop saw . Abrasive wheel type. I took the saw out into the gravel driveway to cut the steel to avoid sparks travelling into the shop. As I started cutting I heard a few load snaps and thought the abrasive wheel had broken. I stopped and examined the wheel and it was fine. The sparks from the wheel had bounced down into the gravel and found a few primers that I had not picked up. The rest of the primers I have used with cast bullet loads and only had a few failures. OK for plinking and they were free. As before suggested--probably not first choice for hunting.