Primed Case

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Marquezj16

New member
I have a habit of prepping my cases and priming them before I actually reload.
Sometimes they will sit in my garage for a week or so before I put the powder and seat the bullet.

They are stored in plastic ammo cases with the case mouth down so not to collect any dust in them.

Am I doing something wrong?:confused:
 
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Marco Califo

New member
No problem

No problem. You can even buy primed cases. I tend to process in steps. Resize is a step, prime is another. Powder and bullet seating always get done at the same time, although I will charge up to 50 cartridges, then seat 50 bullets.
 
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beex215

New member
nothing wrong with that. i prime away on a progressive and have about a few hundred ready to be charged.
 
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Sevens

New member
I sometimes load in to brass that I had prepped maybe a year before, so there is no problem with priming cases to be loaded in the future. (that's precisely my method of all my handgun loading, actually)
Sometimes they will sit in my garage for a week or so before I put the powder and seat the bullet.
Click to expand...
Gulf coast, MS? I'd wonder about the humidity and climate control in your garage, however. In your position, I might buy a big Rubbermaid-type tote and find somewhere inside the A/C regulated house to store your primed cases.

Do the work in the garage, but when you aren't working on them... store them in the tote and bring 'em in the house.
 
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Uncle Buck

New member
I am with Sevens on this. I have some .38 Special cases that were prepped almost two years ago.

We loaded 50 of them two weeks ago and had no problems.

They are stored in a Tupperware like container with a desiccant pack. Keep the humidity under control and you'll be good.
 
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serf 'rett

New member
Batch mode of operation at my joint.
1. Punch out the primers upon return from range.
2. Clean when I have enough cases to make a run; wet tumbling w/sst pins so I generally wait until I have 500+ cases.
3. Size, expand, separate by head stamp, count, ziploc bag 'em, label and drop in large plastic buckets by caliber.
4. Remove ziploc with the headstamp I'm wanting, prime with hand primer, update label, back into the ziploc and store in "primed" box, where they may sit for months before loading.
5. Powder, bullet, crimp, update label and box 'em.

I'm a big fan of Ziploc bags for cheap storage, along with dust and moisture protection, even though all my reloading stuff is inside.
 
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gonzoo75

New member
I like many others I see reload in steps. I size clean on day. Prime the next and the load and seat another. I think the longest i have left primed brass sit is two week.I have left them in the tray and covered them with a clean towel. I havent had in problems as of yet.
 
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Colorado Redneck

New member
Primed brass

If a primer is sitting on the shelf in the factory package, it is exposed to air and time and any other envirnmental factor that a primer in an unloaded case is exposed to. Primers seem to be darned resilient. I have used some primers that were decades old, that work fine. CCI large rifle primers that my wife's grampa had purchased around 1980, and I used them up a few years ago. Never a misfire. No problems. If the primed brass isn't exposed to something unusual, it should be fine for a long time.
 
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dacaur

New member
was going to say the same thing... sitting in the package its not like they are sealed from the air, I see no difference in having them sit in the package waiting or sitting in a primer pocket waiting.... store the primed cases wherever you would store the primers in package....
 
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federali

New member
Hard to Kill

I must keep a dehumidifier running in my basement during the summer months. That's where I keep all my stuff. I've had primers approaching 20 years old that fired fresh as brand new ones. I also deprimed a batch of primed cases received from an estate and more than 15 years old. Took those primers, loaded them in something else and they all went bang.

Primers have a sealant applied and they will last indefinitely.

And now, to make you purists pull your hair out and shake your head in dismay. To make primer seating easier, I tried applying just a bit of vegetable cooking oil, with an artist's brush, to the walls of a batch of primer pockets(.45 ACP). Priming was then easier and smoother. I let the loaded rounds sit for a few weeks to see if the vegetable oil contaminated the primers. Nope, all the rounds fired without fail.

I've recently started uniforming my primer pockets with a Sinclair tool chucked in a cordless drill. That solved the seating problems and I haven't bothered with the cooking oil. The point is, excluding uncontrolled, long term dampness and exposure to the various space age penetrating oils, primers can withstand more abuse than we give them credit for. I think "killing" a primer by touching it with dirty hands is an old wives tale.
 
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Edward429451

Moderator
It's very convenient to have primed cases ready to go when the urge strikes. I am doing it more and more. Remember to tag them to ID the primers.
 
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will99

New member
Priming is the easiest and least messy step of all. I have primed 50 or so cases before sitting down to charge then seat bullets. Having said that, usually there's a large stock of primed cases in Tupperware ready to go. Once you have set up you powder measure, filled it, calibrated it and set up the scale, you're in for a long session. You have to load a quantity to make the set up worthwhile. Just my 2 cents.
 
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jepp2

New member
You are not doing anything wrong. And I don't expect any difference in the stability of the primer being in brass vs. in the shipping container.

I have frequently done that in the past. But.....

I have stopped doing that because when I went to use the brass I found a couple of reasons why I wish they weren't primed. I had some 223 brass sized and primed that I found the shoulder hadn't been set back enough. While I was able to work around the issue with the primer in place, it would have been easier if they weren't primed. The other instance was I needed a different primer than I had earlier primed them with.

Just something to think about. May not be an issue for you.
 
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