Dry primary storage

Can storing primers in a sealed box with a desiccant degrade the primers?

Had primers from the 60s and 70s stored in original cardboard sleeves and wood trays stored in a barn in Maine, not in an ammo can. They shot fine in the 90s.

I had some small pistol primers from the 90s stored in ammo cans ever since. They shot fine last year.

Greetings,

DO NOT STORE PRIMERS WITH DESICCANT.

I cannot locate my source; but, primers contain/need a wee bit of moisture.

Store them in an old ammo can in a cool/dry place.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave

Since they have been stored in a desiccant, do you think they could be restored with a little room air.

I had a bunch of duds today from a box that had been stored with a desiccant.  I am not sure if it was the storage or something else.  I would have liked to rule out my storage technique.

Fred

The desiccant makes the priming compound brittle.  It needs a teeny bit of residual water to make the priming pellet not fracture in handing.

Does that moisture comment apply to rimfire or just centerfire cartridges?
Could explain a lot of .22 duds that, when disassembled, reveal brittle, green primer floating in the powder charge.

I dug out a box of primers that had been stored in a sealed box with desiccant for about 5 years.  They all went bang when loaded.  So 5 years was not enough to cause harm.

On a side note, several 1911 forums advocate storing primers in desiccant.  I guess the difference in opinion is like tribal knowledge.  Since I have joined this tribe, I opened my primer storage boxes to the air and removed the desiccant packages today.

over and over and over again, My God I am shooting rifle and pistol primers small and large, S&W ALCAN, Winchester Federals CCI from a damp basement in Illionois to a hot humid garage in Florida almost 100,000 some in ammo cans(metal) some in plastic ammo cans 40,000 in the original boxes just thrown on shelves most if not all from the 60's? powder too, metal cans and cardboard kegs. I have not had a miss fire yet.

So that’s where all the components went!

james r chapman wrote:So that’s where all the components went!

 I wish I had the stuff we had to throw out