Information and Education => Reloading and Handloading => Topic started by: nukehayes on November 18, 2012, 02:23:56 pm
Title: shelf life
Post by: nukehayes on November 18, 2012, 02:23:56 pm
Do primers and powder have a shelf life? I recently stumbled upon a gold mine of left behind reloading components in my new house. It seems the late gentlemen that lived here liked .223 and 9mm. I have unopened cans of Hecules Bullseye and Win 748 and 4k winchester small rifle primers and a box of winchester small pistol primers (old yellow, orange and white boxes). Also, do you think modern reloading manual info is good for these? Do companies change their recipe every so often or do they just make new lines of powder? Thanks.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: JesseL on November 18, 2012, 03:26:58 pm
As long as they've been stored in an are with low humidity and minimal temperature swings they should be fine and should work with currently published loads.
I put together an awful lot of .38 Special with the Bullseye in old square tins and Remington 1 1/2 primers my Grandfather left behind.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: nukehayes on November 18, 2012, 04:01:02 pm
Thanks Jesse, didn't want to start crunching out rounds until I heard from someone else. They've been in an outside shed, in a tool box off the floor, in southern CA. Max temp swings are only 60-80. They should be pretty solid.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: ksuguy on November 18, 2012, 04:05:24 pm
Much better than the old can of asparagus I found in my house.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: nukehayes on November 18, 2012, 06:12:42 pm
Much better than the old can of asparagus I found in my house.
LOL, yeah, I can only imagine the look on my face when I popped the latches on the tool box and opened it up. I swear I heard an Angelic chorus. There is also a complete .357/.38spl RCBS die set, RCBS powder measure, ~50 pcs .223 brass, some shell holders and case lube, an AR short mag, taurus 9mm mag, and a Ramline 10/22 mag. Christmas came a little early for me.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: mwcoleburn on November 18, 2012, 06:54:21 pm
And way better than the Pot Pipes I found in my old house...
Title: Re: Re: shelf life
Post by: Outbreak on November 18, 2012, 07:10:27 pm
LOL, yeah, I can only imagine the look on my face when I popped the latches on the tool box and opened it up. I swear I heard an Angelic chorus. There is also a complete .357/.38spl RCBS die set, RCBS powder measure, ~50 pcs .223 brass, some shell holders and case lube, an AR short mag, taurus 9mm mag, and a Ramline 10/22 mag. Christmas came a little early for me.
Wanna get rid of any of that? Ill take any or all except the taurus and 10/22 mags.
Title: Re: Re: shelf life
Post by: nukehayes on November 19, 2012, 01:25:08 am
Wanna get rid of any of that? Ill take any or all except the taurus and 10/22 mags.
Those are the only two that i'm getting rid of. If RCBS dies don't fit my lee turret press, then I can send em to somone on here.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: Outbreak on November 19, 2012, 01:30:39 am
If they don't fit your Lee turret, they likely won't fit my Lee turret, nor my Dillon.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: cpaspr on November 19, 2012, 01:57:44 am
Don't know about the Lee Turret, but I use RCBS, Lee and Dillon dies on my Dillon and they all work fine.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: Outbreak on November 19, 2012, 02:11:42 am
That's the point. My Lee dies fit fine in my Dillon, and Nuke is only getting rid of them if they don't fit his Lee. If they don't fit his Lee, they won't fit mine, and are thus useless to me.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: cpaspr on November 19, 2012, 02:12:20 pm
Sorry for the confusion. I picked up that you had a Dillon, so was basically commenting that the RCBS will fit the Dillon, even if they don't fit the Lee. I'll go back to lurking now.
Though before I go, are the RCBS dies carbide or steel?
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: sqlbullet on November 19, 2012, 05:04:22 pm
Been answered, but as was said if properly stored, a very long time.
Friend of mine stopped by a few weeks ago with a can of surplus IMR 4831 he found at his dads house. Powder looks brand new.
Oh...It was a 50 lb can :thumbup1
I think I am set for powder for my 300 win mag for a LONG time.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: Outbreak on November 19, 2012, 07:13:26 pm
Some people have all the luck. And I get none of it.
In fact, the people that moved into my old house found a box of about 2k Montana Gold 115gr 9mm bullets. Luckily, they have no use for them and will be shipping them to me.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: seanp on November 19, 2012, 07:34:46 pm
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: Killowatt on January 21, 2013, 02:33:45 pm
I would load up 10 or 20 and see if they go bang, they should.
I got back into reloading 4-5 years ago, loaded up a batch with components I got back in 1989, took them to the range and they all went bang, no problems at all. I did keep them stored in the house, in the AC.
Title: Re: shelf life
Post by: THE NORSEMAN on January 22, 2013, 08:57:00 pm
I have, and do use primers and powder that are over 40 years old. They work fine. IF they have been stored properly. When powder goes bad, it stats smelling funny, and you usually see an odd looking red dust in it.
As far as primers go, if you think they may have been moisture contaminated, leave them in the package they came in, and bury it in a covered container of uncooked rice for a couple days. That should pull any errant moisture out of them. Load up a few to test(25-50 rounds or so) If they all go bang, use the rest of them up just like normal.