Silica gel for primers

[Obie73]

Out of around 750 CCI SR primers I've had 3 misfires so far with my handloads, and I've got about 250 primers to go out of a box of 1000. I did at one stage have these primers stored in the garage, which can get a bit humid at times. Is it likely that humidity can spoil primers? Would storing the primers in a sealable plastic box with silica gel fix this? You can get "water-proof" boxes at Bunnings.

[Oldbloke]

Very unlikely. They are sealed.

[Bugman]

I store all my primers in my reloading room, on the top shelf of a metal ventilated locker. Have not had any issues since reloading. The vents in the door keep cooler air circulating. Maybe this has something to do with it.

[No1_49er]

Very unlikely. They are sealed.

Please advise us how they are "sealed".

ALL of the primers that I have bought during a lifetime of reloading are supplied in a tray which separates them individually, the tray them enclosed in a cardboard sleeve.
Dependant on the environment in which they are stored, it is entirely possible that they will be subjected to encroachment of humidity, amongst other things.

49er

[Oldbloke]

Very unlikely. They are sealed.

Please advise us how they are "sealed".

ALL of the primers that I have bought during a lifetime of reloading are supplied in a tray which separates them individually, the tray them enclosed in a cardboard sleeve.
Dependant on the environment in which they are stored, it is entirely possible that they will be subjected to encroachment of humidity, amongst other things.

49er

I think you will find that after they are assembled lacquer is applied over the pyrotechnic.
It's unusual for them to be effective by humidity.

[Wapiti]

I think he means that the priming compound is always sealed from the air by a coating or something like that.
Quite often, they are not "sealed" in the way we'd think sealing means. A video of a primer factory I saw on youtube showed a simple thin aluminium sheet, kindof like alfoil, pressed into the blob of wet compound and it cuts itself off around the edge of the upfacing cup by the die installing it.

This would be quite adequate to keep the moisture laden air out, but not always.
Plenty of videos showing a light oil sprayed onto primers making them inert, if oil can get in, very humid climates might not be so great either.

[CJRBOLTGUN1]

not saying that you don't have a moisture issue, but most misfires are caused by something else, for example primer not seated properly, too deep, not deep enough,
firing pin issues with not enough protrusion, but the main one will be user error

,too much oil in the bolt and pin area causing the pin to have a soft strike and the other main one is not actually closing the bolt properly, happens allot

[JohnV]

It's unlikely that the primers are dead . It's more likely you are not seating them all correctly , or some primer pockets are badly formed and or dirty and that stops you seating properly or the weapon has a weak firing pin spring or firing pin not protruding far enough or damaged . Buy a K&M primer pocket uniformer and clean them out to a better shape and then you can feel the primer skirt go down all the way to a definite stop . https://www.gunmart.net/ammunition/relo ... -uniformer just for example . Seating just level is not necessarily right . The primer skirt needs to be in contact with base of the pocket . If that don't stop the misfires start looking at firing pin and spring or oversizing and creating excessive head clearance ..

[zbenga]

I store mine in a 50cal surplus ammo tin can, it's water proof
they are also chemically sealed individually so maybe look at your seating depth, maybe you're pushing those in too far and only getting a light strike?

[Obie73]

"maybe look at your seating depth, maybe you're pushing those in too far and only getting a light strike?"

Yes, this could be the problem. I never thought of this. I do push them in as far as I can, wanting to get the anvil right down onto the brass. I use the press as I tried to use a hand priming tool but didn't like it. I also carefully clean each primer pocket out each time. Maybe I'm overdoing it. I'm pretty new to reloading so will see how it goes.

The other possibility is try a different brand of hand reloading tool. I can't remember the brand of the one I had. It had an aluminium pipe as the main section, a metal lever, and two plastic circular trays, one green, the other black. Didn't like the thing.

[zbenga]

"maybe look at your seating depth, maybe you're pushing those in too far and only getting a light strike?"

Yes, this could be the problem. I never thought of this. I do push them in as far as I can, wanting to get the anvil right down onto the brass. I use the press as I tried to use a hand priming tool but didn't like it. I also carefully clean each primer pocket out each time. Maybe I'm overdoing it. I'm pretty new to reloading so will see how it goes.

The other possibility is try a different brand of hand reloading tool. I can't remember the brand of the one I had. It had an aluminium pipe as the main section, a metal lever, and two plastic circular trays, one green, the other black. Didn't like the thing.

you will be able to see a light strike on the primer if it don't go off, if you reload you should aways check the strike as one of the criteria, good info in reloading manuals on what to look for like cratering, pierced primer, light strike etc.

I think most shooters should invest in the 50 call ammo boxes to store primers and rounds, check them by closing them and submerging them in water for about 1 hour to see if water gets in or if there are bubbles, if not it's a good can (have not seen a bad one yet), and yes throw a few silica gel packs in there if you really want to, make sure you put them in the oven for a few hours at say 40 degrees (plate warming function if you oven has one) and happy days.

3d printed some honeycomb insert into the 50cal box, can fit 125x .308/6.5 creed rounds in very very little space, I think 400 rounds easy with some room to spare

Those 50 cal and 30 cal ex military ammo boxes are fantastic to store thinks long time, just use a long shank lock, see image

[reloading-network]

A mate of mine has been using those bunnings waterproof tubs with some desiccant in a small tub to keep his 3D printing filament dry. Taking that idea I picked up a couple to throw my powders in and put a cheap hygrometer in as well so I could see what was actually going on. After a few days the humidity is down to 10% which I think is actually too low based on what I've read so I'll probably turf the desiccant and see how it goes after that.

A bit of googling reckons 40-50% or there abouts it fine for primers and powder. Like you I'm keen to avoid my gear marinating in those 80-100% humidity conditions I can get in the garage from time to time.