Old Primers

I was eating lunch today and came across a recent video by Elvis Ammo on using old primers that were improperly stored or not so clean/pristine. Got me to thinking about some of the older primers I have come across in my reloading career, so I thought I'd put together a short video on two of my favorite primers...CCI and Winchester
Some CCI history...past/current:
Cascade Cartridges, Inc., or CCI was founded by Dick Speer (brother of Vernon Speer, who founded Speer Bullets) in the early 1950s.
It was once a subsidiary of Omark Industries with Speer Bullets, RCBS (formerly the Rock Chuck Bullet Swage company), and Outers.
In 1985, Omark Industries was purchased by Blount, Inc., which at the time was a construction company
On December 10, 2001 Alliant Techsystems (ATK) announced it completed the acquisition of the ammunition business of Blount International, Inc. The Blount product portfolio includes such well-known brands as Federal(r), Speer(r), CCI(r), RCBS(r),Outers(r), Ram-Line(r), WeaverTM, Simmons(r), and Redfield(r).
ATK spun-off Vista Outdoor after merging with Orbital Sciences and became Orbital ATK on February 9, 2015
CCI is currently (as of December 2020) one of the Vista Outdoor Inc. product lines
Some Winchester history...past/current:
Western Cartridge Company began manufacturing small arms and ammunitions in 1892/1898.
In 1944 Western became the Olin Corporation and Western is still a subsidiary.
The Winchester name was purchased by Western/Olin in 1931.
Winchester primers are made by Olin.

[@halfdollar86]

The recent supply/ demand of primers has brought out lots of old primers. My friend recently gave me some cci 500 that came in a tiny white and green box with a revolver on it. The primers are turned on their side and all in one slot. It’s really interesting to see the 1000 next to a Box of federals. They are about half the size of a cci package that is produced now. I honestly will probably never shoot them because it’s a collectible to me now. They are even older than the white and red packaged ones. I do believe they are similar to the same size package though. I also have some Winchester’s in that exact package. I bought them at a gun show last year for 11 bucks per 1000 from a reloading trader table. I thought what the heck why not, I’ll use them for AR plinking. The other day I decided to try them in some precision loads. They literally work as good as my brand new Federal match primers. Old primers are just fine with me.

[@thomastoups3451]

Fifteen years ago or so I found a batch of really old CCI primers at a yard sale. From the packaging and art work, they appeared to be from the 1960s. They said "Cascade Cartridge, Inc. Lewiston, Idaho." The original, hand-marked price on each sleeve of 100 was 64 cents! They had been stored in a non-climate controlled garage for decades in humid southern Mississippi. I shot most of them, but still have a few boxes. Every one I loaded and shot went bang!

[@ReLoadersBench]

Over a year ago (pre C-19 times) someone was selling Winchester Primers in an unopened (5 bricks), OEM box. A box I've seen before, so my comfort radar was low. So I drove an hour each way and paid normal pricing (same as online before the craziness). Got home, opened them and realized this was new old stock. Way old. Not the current small container colors/design. I was bummed. Decided to use them and haven't found a single issue...and in hindsight (post C-19 and current market pricing) I'm no longer bummed ;-)

[@emoryzakin2576]

Very cool thanks for sharing, been acquiring a lot of vintage primers lately so great timing

[@AlexNesemeier]

You are one of my favorites...”at the end of the day, I don’t really care.” Keep it up, love it!

[@shadowcat3163]

Those top CCI primers were the packaging I was getting mid to late 90's (still have some), same with the middle Winchester packaging (still have a case or two) they were selling for 10 bucks a thousand back then or 50 bucks a case circa Y2K.

[@nickjm37fordel1]

It's fun to watch any product go through it's growth periods.
It's kinda like "keeping up with the Jones's " To me it's fun to see a
product from "back in the day" and look at it now. I still enjoy a good
burger at a 50's dinner. Have a good week :-D

[@kirkboswell2575]

Western cartridge has been around a really long time, and as you mentioned is a part of the Olin corporation. Packaging with just the "Western" name hasn't been around since about 1960. That was around the time that you started seeing "Winchester-Western" on the packaging (even though Winchester was part of Olin since the '30's). I'm assuming that the "Winchester" took precedence because of name recognition and not for any other reason. Either way, it appears to me that the box of Western primers is a minimum of 60 years old.

[@ReLoadersBench]

Seeing primers "stacked" on their sides on top of each other in a plastic tray (the small CCI pack) like a roll of coins told me they were old (would NEVER see that today in our over the top safety minded world), but when I found the Western primers stacked the same way but only in a wooden tray, I knew they were "older"...wooden tray, OMG, too costly to manufacture today. Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Cool facts to know.

[@user-fd8uv3hk6x]

Shoot Em if you got E'm

[@joejeans7913]

.13¢. is cheap people on gun broker gouging now at . .20¢ each.

[@ReLoadersBench]

20 cents...OMG...I thought 13 cents was crazy crazy. I always thought it would be the lead that would go price crazy...maybe that's next. Primers, powder and lead...must have all three (brass doesn't seem to be quite an issue...unless you're trying to find 12ga brass hulls!) to make the pew pews.

[@joejeans7913]

yeah Im just learning to use Bots to buy from online retailer that are not gouging. you have to, just to compete. If you want primers. Sad times for us re-loading hobbyist. BTW you have a great channel man! you're on Auto-play all.! 👍

[@ReLoadersBench]

@@joejeans7913 - bots...that's a good idea...who would have thought that you'd have to do that? Time are changing and I don't see this getting better any time soon. Back in 2012 I was caught off guard with Sandy Hook, when 22lr was unavailable for EVER and when it was, the pricing was up to 20 cents per round. Saving grace was reloading components stayed available and that space wasn't so bad. Can't say that now. EVERYTHING seems to be either gone or in short supply. I think the preppers are getting the last laugh right now.
Thanks for the compliments on the channel! Appreciated.

[@joejeans7913]

@@ReLoadersBench yes sir I do remember Sandy hook time. I thought I had learned my lesson from previous hard times for us 2A guys. Ive been tapping into my personal stash of factory ammo. just to stay warmed up. i just now signed into distall.io. you should check it out. ill give an update how this one will work to get reloading components.

[@lmbear]

Is there a point to this video? You aren't giving dates on those primers, which would be dang useful. The numbers you are reading off of the back of the packaging are lot numbers and manufacture numbers. You don't even remember "when you got them"??? The newest CCI's are very new. Just seems odd you would not remember when you bought those. I bought the same ones a few weeks ago. The blue and silver ones are from the 90's, the one in the middle are from early 2000's. The Western primers are from the 50's, the white box Winchester are from the 90's, and then the newer Winchesters are from about 2015 on. Too bad your video wasn't more informative. I have all the primers you are showing on the table, plus some shotgun primers made in the 90's and older CCI large rifle primers in the small green and white packaging. They will all go bang, if you properly store them.