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Posted: 5/23/2011 6:41:38 PM EDT
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I lost my dad a year and a half ago and my brother and I are still clearing his house out and fixing it up to sell.
We are also still coming across stuff he had from decades of shooting and reloading. Last saturday i came across 4 coffee cans of .30 carbine brass, tumbles, sized and trimmed. There was also a covered plastic bowl full of primed brass ready to load. The only thing is that I have no idea when he last loaded for .30 carbine. When dad first bought some carbines it was in '67. He bought 3- one for him and one each for my brother and me. Surplus ammo was very cheap and I don't remember him loading for them. He might have just to try a hollow point bullet just to experiment, but all I remember shooting is ball ammo. If this brass was primed, but not loaded, back in the early '70s what are the odds that the primers are still good? I have a Winchester .30 carbine, and a little surplus ball ammo on stripper clips but I don't really want to use up the last of it. I have shot some commercial ammo but was not really impressed. I would like to load some for it, and have been thinking about finding some hardcast lead bullets. What do 'ya think? Think I could depend on these primers? The brass is mostly Lake City. I don't remember the year. Jim |
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First, sorry about your Dad. That's rough. My dad is 71, still shoots and races cars. Can't Won't imagine... I'd probably hang one of those carbines on the wall. ANYway. I have been loading 10 year old large pistol primers that I shoot without a hitch. (CCI 300s) The package is different, but they have worked 100%. I only have 350 left. I'll load them all. If they've been kept dry, I imagine they'd work. I'd certainly try them. If something clicks or pops when it shoulda boomed, stop. Check barrel, etc. |
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I only have dad's Winchester left. When he bought them they were about $50.00 each so he treated them like they were slightly powerful, loud .22s. He traded the other 2 off years ago. He hadn't fired this one in at least 25 to 30 years. They are fun but not very accurate.
What makes this carbine neat, other than it was dad's, is that it is in a beautiful Irwin Pederson stock, I-cut but low wood. I also have an immaculate bayonet and scabbard. The bayonet has the old leather handle in very goos shape. The blade has never been sharpened. I will load some and try them. I figure I will single load at first, and slow fire if they work. I don't think I can completely trust them. These primers are not in a box. They are in brass, but no powder or bullet. It's just primed brass of unknown vintage. The container had a lid, but was in the garage. I know they were kept dry, but not cool. Summers here in Texas make a garage almost brutal. I have my loading setup in my garage and have had no problems, but I don't keep primed brass around either. If I prime I also finish loading. Jim |
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I think of him whenever I shoot anything. The very first time I shot anything was when I was 7. I went dove hunting with dad- which really meant I retrieved his doves since until that one day I was too little to shoot.
This one day I must have pestered him pretty good, and he agreed to let me shoot his shotgun. It was a Stevens 16ga double barrel. He told me to point it at the big tree he parked under. Keep that picture in mind. The tree was covered in blackbirds. There were so many that the whole tree was black. he said to point at it and I was bound to hit one. I held that double barrel as best i could, but it was a little muzzle heavy for a 7 year old. The barrels started drooping, dad saw I was too low, but right about the time he said to stop I yanked the triggers (notice I used the plural). Yep, I pulled both triggers, which knocked me on my butt in spite of dad being right behind me. Since I was kind of stunned I didn't get to witness what dad saw. I managed to put both barrels worth of 7 1/2 in a nice pattern- right on the side of his brand new truck. Not only did he not get mad but I remember him laughing when he told him friends about his truck killer. It didn't break the paint and you had to look hard to see any dimples but it had to hurt. I don't think he had had it more than a couple of months. He decided that a double barrel was just too much gun, so he bought me a break open single shot 20ga. For some reason until I grew up and moved out he always asked me, when we were hunting, if I knew what direction the truck was. 
Jim |
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I have done the same thing. Found some primed brass I started in '83. Loaded it last summer and it was perfect. No issue at all.
I have other primers from very senior friends that were from the 60's and 70's. If the boxes were in fair shape, the primers have been fine. If you want a less obvious test, place one in the chamber and snap it off in a darkened garage. Point it into something like a sheet of plywood from a distance. If the primer is good, you will get a loud snap and notice a little light from the combustion. Compare to a fresh one if you have any doubts. Wear hearing and eye protection and don't have any fuel or fumes in the path. It will be loud. |
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Quoted:
If stored in reasonable conditions, a very long time, WW2 stuff is usually still good, WW1 not so much, so if you have any which are around 100 years old, they are probably toast. If I find 100 year old .30 carbine ammo I would be rich. This is just primed brass, not loaded ammo. Jim |
If they are a"couple of decades" old.......they are new primers to me I've seen old guys in their 80's and 90's shooting primers that came in WOODEN primer boxes. Kepp them dry, cool and in a stable atmosphere. If you happen to have great grandad's musket that he loaded and hung on the wall(percussion) consider it to be fireable until you have verified otherwise
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Up to the 1980s, virtually all reloading primers sold were "lead based" - meaning the priming compound is LEAD STYPHNATE.
The primers you found are lead styphnate based and they are probably 100% functional (no reason to think otherwise). But, the new "LEAD FREE" or "NON-TOXIC" primers? They last about 5 years and then begin to go inert. As in: won't work. Some ranges only allow this sort of primer/ammunition (The SigArms Academy run by the Sig Arms company - for one). Something to think about as new environmental regs / laws are considered. |
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