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February 14, 2018, 12:46 PM | #1 |
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Long term storage of primers
How do you guys store your primers so they do not get damaged from moisture?
I like to keep my reloading stuff in the garage in case of an accident, which makes them more prone to moisture damage than keeping them inside where temp/humidity is relatively stable. I always keep primers in their factory packaging. I am thinking *plastic* ammo cans that has a rubber gasket and put some silica gel packets in each of them? (color change kind so i can check and re-charge them as needed). I have seen some suggest a metal ammo can which probably gives a better seal to the environment but Primers + locked metal can = bomb. |
February 14, 2018, 01:17 PM | #2 |
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I keep all my reloading stuff inside and have never had anything go bad due to heat/humidity.
If I had to keep primers in the garage, I'd suggest using one of the vacuum sealers to shrink the 4-mil plastic bag around the primers in their original boxes. The vacuum sealers evacuate all of the air (moisture) from the bag before it is heat sealed. If you use a large bag, you can get several opens and re-closures out of a single bag. There are a ton of them on Amazon. Here's a sample, but check the others out also. https://www.amazon.com/NutriChef-Aut...sealer+machine |
February 14, 2018, 01:25 PM | #3 |
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anyplace cool and dry will do, no need to get all OCD but I would not leave them on a car dashboard in summer with the windows rolled up
http://www.saami.org/specifications_...01-Primers.pdf 5. Modern sporting ammunition primers will not absorb moisture under normal or even severe conditions of atmospheric humidity. There is no advantage to be gained from air-tight containers. The factory containers in which they are packaged need only normal conditions of storage. They should be kept dry and not exposed to high temperatures (in excess of 150° F). If exposed to wet conditions or high temperatures, they may deteriorate, yielding misfires or poor ignition of the propellant powder.
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February 14, 2018, 01:28 PM | #4 |
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Did not even consider the vac seal bags, i have a huge roll and a sealing machine already. I think that will be the ticket... toss in a moisture absorber for good measure and i should be good to go.
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February 14, 2018, 01:29 PM | #5 | |
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February 14, 2018, 01:38 PM | #6 |
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Thats why i like to talk things out sometimes, you get caught up over analyzing the situation and overlook the simplest fix
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February 14, 2018, 02:03 PM | #7 | |
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I recently finished loading primers from a batch that I purchased sometime between 1980 and 1985 that had been stored that way. They all went bang. |
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February 14, 2018, 02:32 PM | #8 | |
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I think the damn things are nearly indestructible. I have taken primers and soaked them in detergent and water for several days and some of them would still go pop under a hammer on an anvil. to be sure they lost some wompf, but damn.....
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February 14, 2018, 02:39 PM | #9 |
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I keep powder and primers on a closet shelf in the house under heat and air. When I lived out in the arid West, I kept them in the garage.
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February 14, 2018, 02:49 PM | #10 |
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February 14, 2018, 02:59 PM | #11 | |
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February 14, 2018, 03:00 PM | #12 |
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In the factory package , inside the house , on a shelf in a small closet.
Primers have a long life so stored. Since the last powder and primer shortage I've been hoarding up , so I'm glad they they have a long shelf life and will keep. Gary |
February 14, 2018, 03:03 PM | #13 |
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Glad i asked now, a few vids i had watched on good ol' youtube were giving the impression that they did not store long. Seems that is not the case at all.
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February 14, 2018, 03:05 PM | #14 | |
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February 14, 2018, 03:07 PM | #15 |
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Primers do not get damaged from moisture.
"...on a car dashboard in summer with the windows rolled up..." Isn't going to bother 'em either. That'd probably lead to a break in though.
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February 14, 2018, 03:16 PM | #16 |
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An addition to my post, above, with a big "ick" factor is I had a tray of CCI small rifle primers get left out of the cabinet. Sometime between 1995 and 1997 an unaltered male cat sprayed the primers with his scent. The male cat spray also got onto an RCBS shell holder. This was not discovered until some years later.
The RCBS shell holder was a useless lump of rust - a testimony to how corrosive cat spray can be. The primers had a greenish corrosion but were otherwise recognizable as primers. I soaked most of the primers were soaked in denatured alcohol (lead styphnate is soluble in denatured alcohol) to dispose of them, but out of curiosity I decided to see whether a few of the primers would still work - - they did. It was an object lesson to me in just how hard it is to "kill" a primer. |
February 14, 2018, 03:28 PM | #17 | |
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On another gun forum, someone learning how to reload from Youtube videos didn't learn how to properly resize cartridge cases. When the new reloader tried to seat bullets in his cases, they just fell all the way in. Now he has to fix the bad lesson he learned and then invest more time to learn it the right way - for him Youtube was "worse than useless". |
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February 14, 2018, 03:28 PM | #18 | |
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February 14, 2018, 03:42 PM | #19 | |
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Course we have Skeeter building codes up here and un-named Huri canes so maybe we are ahead.
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February 14, 2018, 04:04 PM | #20 |
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Never got bit by an Alaskan skeeter when I was there, but when I got bit by several in Florida I would swear they had a beak the size of a woodpecker. Heck, the firing pins in my guns are smaller!
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February 14, 2018, 04:55 PM | #21 |
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Worse than the skeeters are the no-see-ums - they SWARM and will carry you AND your primers far, far away. I leave brass, bullets and hulls and wads in the garage; I even leave my reloaders there; but I keep loaded ammo (except shotgun, have too much), primers and powder indoors.
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February 14, 2018, 08:56 PM | #22 |
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If you have a legitimate reason to think that they might get splashed or immersed in water, you could transport them in zip-loc freezer bags. Other than a canoe trip to some remote, back-woods cabin, you likely have no need to do this. That being said, there are a lot of things in my backpack, day-pack, fanny-pack, etc., that are in freezer bags, just to keep items clean, separate, and dry.
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February 14, 2018, 09:11 PM | #23 |
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wayy of the subject of primers but where I live we have almost every annoying insect and arachnid known to man up to and including a small population of black widows that I share my shop space with but the one I fear the most is the chigger or red bug as it is locally known.
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February 14, 2018, 09:33 PM | #24 |
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Black widows kept the rest of the insects at bay in my garage - you learned NOT to put your hand in dark spaces; kinda like not putting your hand in dark rocky places in the hills and mountains where the snakes were......
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February 14, 2018, 09:55 PM | #25 | |
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