Primer Questions - Rat infested reloading box

[Pat Riot]

Howdy,

Long story short:

In 2005 I gave my son-in-law a complete set up of Lee Precision reloading equipment and a bunch of primers brass and bullets. He never got into reloading, for one reason or another. The primers are about 16-20 years old now. Not a big deal, just information. 
Anyway, he put all the reloading equipment, press, dies, primers, etc into a big Rubbermaid box that has sat in his garages through a couple of moves here in southern CA. Moderate year round weather in unheated garages. 
Recently I sent a New Vaquero to Ruger for warranty work - that is another story. 
Anyway, when it got there I remembered that I forgot to ask about fitting a .45 ACP Cylinder to the gun. Even though they aren’t doing elective work, Ruger agreed to do it for me. 

 

So, it dawned on me that I had all the stuff I needed for reloading .45 ACP except dies. When I went online I couldn’t find any .45 ACP dies except for a set of Lee dies (which I love, by the way) on Amazon for $150. 

Our Pard, Ethan Cord gave me 2 dies made by Lachmiller Eng’g but I still needed a crimp die. Thank you Ethan. Another PM coming your way.  

My son-in-law offered to give me the set of .45 ACP dies that I gave him. 
I accepted. 
When I went to his house to get the dies he had all his reloading stuff out and was cleaning it. Rats had chewed their way into the Rubbermaid box and nested in there. What a mess!

Any how, the photos below show boxes of primers that were in their original box but were removed because the original exterior packaging had rat urine stains on them. 
These sleeves do not appear to have been urinated on. They smell like old poster board, not rat pee. 
 

Question: Do you think these primers would be okay to use?

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Yes

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Take a random sample from each sleeve & load 'em up. They'll either go bang, or they won't. I'm betting they will.

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

1 minute ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Take a random sample from each sleeve & load 'em up. They'll either go bang, or they won't. I'm betting they will.

This. But ill bet they work. 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I would designate their usage for practice rounds only, if I had any doubt.   OR,  only reload a couple boxes with them

and if you get 100% ignition with them, then you can feel more comfortable using the rest of them.

 

P.S. - how do you know what rat pee smells like? 

 

..........Widder

 

[Pat Riot]

1 minute ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

 

P.S. - how do you know what rat pee smells like? 

I work in a government agency and use the men’s room often. 

[Pat Riot]

Thanks for your replies. I kind of figured as much but just wanted some input from you fine folks. 

 

Thank you. 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Pat,  slide out a couple of trays and look at the inside of the cover.  If there are no stains, they're good to go.

[Eyesa Horg]

I'll bet they are fine. I had over 10K of small & Large Winchester primers in the old white box that accidentally got stored in the attic of my garage when I moved. The temps ran from -30 to +110 year after year. They were stored that way for about 12 years. When I started CAS, I dug them out and they looked OK so I gave them a try. They are all gone now and every one fired.

[Pat Riot]

16 minutes ago, Tex Jones, SASS 2263 said:

Pat,  slide out a couple of trays and look at the inside of the cover.  If there are no stains, they're good to go.

They look okay. 

[Doc Marks]

Went through this myself some years back and they worked just fine

[Texas Joker]

No they are horrible. Sell them to me immediately .

 

Really they are likely fine. If there is no smell or residue. But I like the idea of practice rounds only.

[Cypress Sun]

57 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I work in a government agency and use the men’s room often. 

 

Now that's funny as all get out and deserves more than just a LOL.

 

And, yes they are probably still good. Load up about 25 of them out of one box and go shoot them. Either they go bang or not. All of them go bang, they're probably all good. I wouldn't use them for self defense purposes though. Loading one out of every box and trying to keep track 27 samples sounds like a real PITA to me.

[Muleshoe Bill SASS #67022]

40 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

They look okay. 

Hmmm they look Ok.. but how do they taste?

[Utah Bob #35998]

1 hour ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

I would designate their usage for practice rounds only, if I had any doubt.   OR,  only reload a couple boxes with them

and if you get 100% ignition with them, then you can feel more comfortable using the rest of them.

 

P.S. - how do you know what rat pee smells like? 

 

..........Widder

 

The expression “I smell a rat” actually means, “I smell rat pee”.

 

[Pat Riot]

Thanks Pards. 
 

I believe I will load them up for target practice rounds. Definitely not in ammo for matches or defense. I believe I will just put them aside for now stored in a fresh Rubbermaid box indoors.  If things progress so far that I have no other options for reloading I will use them. 

[Sedalia Dave]

IAW California Health and Safety code 1D10T you are required to immediately send them out of state for disposal.

 

Being the kind hearted fellow cowboy shooter that I am, I'll gladly take them off your hands and even reimburse you for the shipping and hazmat fees. But wait I am not done yet. In addition to covering the shipping and handling of said primers I'll also adsorb the costs associated with their proper disposal in a fitting manor that more than complies with all Texas environmental regulations. 

 

Just think how happy the capons in Sacramento will be when they learn how you did your small part to save the People's Republic of Kalifornia.

[Kid Rich]

I've had primed cases go thru wet tumbling for 3 hours and they all went off when they were dried out.

kR

[Pat Riot]

11 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

IAW California Health and Safety code 1D10T you are required to immediately send them out of state for disposal.

 

Being the kind hearted fellow cowboy shooter that I am, I'll gladly take them off your hands and even reimburse you for the shipping and hazmat fees. But wait I am not done yet. In addition to covering the shipping and handling of said primers I'll also adsorb the costs associated with their proper disposal in a fitting manor that more than complies with all Texas environmental regulations. 

 

Just think how happy the capons in Sacramento will be when they learn how you did your small part to save the People's Republic of Kalifornia.

I truly do appreciate your offer, but I choose for those capons not to be happy in any way. 

[Trailrider #896]

My suggestion would be to open one box and smear the primers with Cheese-Whiz, then leave them for the rats.  When you hear a bang, you will be rid of at least one rat! 

[Rye Miles #13621]

They won’t work, you need to send those to me and I’ll dispose of them for you. I’ll even pay shipping 

[Texas Joker]

You could use em for ratshot .

 

 

[John Kloehr]

After 15 to 20 years in an unheated garage in the Great Smoky Mountains, they would probably be green with corrosion. And the rats here would also have chewed through the Rubbermaid container and pissed on everything. In all likelihood, rats here would have left a pile of primers under all the chewed up and pissed on packaging. They would have chewed all the packaging.

 

But stored in a garage in SoCal? Are they still shiny? They probably are. Load some. Shoot 'em. If they all go bang, no reason not to use them for matches and not just matches. And FWIW, your rats are total pissy wimps! Rats here chew through tightly-packed steel wool. Not kidding.

 

For SD, I take a much harder line but that would be for a different thread. I would not use these for SD purposes.

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, John Kloehr said:

After 15 to 20 years in an unheated garage in the Great Smoky Mountains, they would probably be green with corrosion. And the rats here would also have chewed through the Rubbermaid container and pissed on everything. In all likelihood, rats here would have left a pile of primers under all the chewed up and pissed on packaging. They would have chewed all the packaging.

 

But stored in a garage in SoCal? Are they still shiny? They probably are. Load some. Shoot 'em. If they all go bang, no reason not to use them for matches and not just matches. And FWIW, your rats are total pissy wimps! Rats here chew through tightly-packed steel wool. Not kidding.

 

For SD, I take a much harder line but that would be for a different thread. I would not use these for SD purposes.

I guess the rats hadn’t been there long. It was a recent thing. 
 

The primers are not corroded though they are not shiny. They look normal for 15 to 20 year old primers. 
 

Actually for SD ammo I only utilize  factory ammo for HD and SD. 

[Three Foot Johnson]

They'll work fine, I'd bet your life on it.

 

A couple years ago, I bought some CCI and Remington primers with 50's date codes - no problem with any of them.

[Perro Del Diablo]

Hmm you get free powder and you complain, now free primers and complain again. Not to mention the powder and primers are good for caliber you plan to load.

[Pat Riot]

Just now, Perro Del Diablo said:

Hmm you get free powder and you complain, now free primers and complain again. Not to mention the powder and primers are good for caliber you plan to load.

Ah, but see the powder wasn’t powder I use so I spread the wealth. Now, these primers? These are primers I bought and gave to my son-in-law. So, technically, they aren’t free as I bought them in the first place. Haha! 

[Perro Del Diablo]

7 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Ah, but see the powder wasn’t powder I use so I spread the wealth. Now, these primers? These are primers I bought and gave to my son-in-law. So, technically, they aren’t free as I bought them in the first place. Haha! 

Too bad 231 is what I use in almost all pistol caliber 

[Pat Riot]

51 minutes ago, Perro Del Diablo said:

Too bad 231 is what I use in almost all pistol caliber 

I like Hodgdon Universal for my pistol rounds. I used to use Unique and when the shortages began back in 2015/16 I couldn’t get Unique anywhere but Universal was plentiful so I switched. I like it more than Unique for .38, .357, .45 Colt and 9mm. I plan to try it in 45 ACP. 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Even the primers soaked in rat pee should work if dried out.

I recall Jabez had water soaked primers that worked fine for him after they dried.

I have been using small pistol primers in wooden trays, with a 1949 mfg date from Canadian Arsenals w/o a misfire. 

[DeaconKC]

5 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Even the primers soaked in rat pee should work if dried out.

I recall Jabez had water soaked primers that worked fine for him after they dried.

I have been using small pistol primers in wooden trays, with a 1949 mfg date from Canadian Arsenals w/o a misfire. 

If'n you run em with BP, no one will notice the funny smell either!