Vintage primers.

[Boomer454]

I have some very old primers that I've had in storage since 1995 when I inherited a bunch of old reloading stuff from an uncle that had passed.

I will definitely not be loading anything with them. I'm sure reliability would be disappointing, there is likely to be at least a few minor safety issues.

Is there any value to these to a collector? They are all still sealed except the all blue Winchester box. Not sure how many are in there as forcing it open will destroy the box.

Any ideas or info is appreciated.

 

[kjohn]

There might be some collector value there. According to some of the “dealers of collectibles” they are worth a fortune, when they have them for sale, that is. Not when they’re buying.

 

[Snider shooter]

I have lots of the CIL primers here. Haven’t had any failures or other issues. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s no good. Use them for plinker loads if your worried.

 

[Deathrawt]

I loaded up lots of old primers during the shortages we have had, every single one of them have gone bang

 

[Longwalker]

Yup, as suggested above, I'd shoot them up, loaded in low pressure plinking loads.

 

[recce]

^^^^^
Especially when you consider the prices today, that's 800 primers in the pics.

 

[Gatehouse]

I would load practice ammo with them. They are probably just fine.

 

[bearhunter]

All of these folks are right, to a point.

Those primers will likely work just as good today as they did when they were made.

I get primers like that fairly often, usually out of estate sales.

If they've been stored properly, they should be just fine.

One thing to realize with primers from that era, "they are not as consistent" as modern stuff, even from twenty years ago.

Variations from lot to lot has to be seen to be believed.

Most people these days don't remember having to work up loads every time they bought a new can of powder or a new batch of primers.

They won't be labeled as magnum, standard, etc. They will not be manufactured for cartridges producing more than 50K psi or the powders used to achieve those pressures.

They're old school, and require a bit more effort, but they will likely still work as reliably as ever.

I've never found anyone collecting them, other than as conversation pieces.

 

[PPCLI-Jim]

I agree with BEAR HUNTER, I've manage to get all sorts of "vintages" of primers. While most of the time they go bang, the spark they provided varied. While I wont use them for precision type shooting, they've worked fine for plinking and cast loads where accuracy isn't as crucial.

 

[kjohn]

A friend of mine brought a whole half ton bed of old stuff from years back when his Dad was a gun dealer and did a lot of reloading. Lots and lots of old boxes of primers, some “really” old. I am not home right now, but I will try to remember to lay out some of the neat boxes and post pics here. It think maybe I posted some info this Spring.