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.

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.

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.

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.

If they don't fit your Lee turret, they likely won't fit my Lee turret, nor my Dillon.

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.

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

I think I am set for powder for my 300 win mag for a LONG time.

Though before I go, are the RCBS dies carbide or steel?

Probably steel unless specifically marked otherwise.

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.