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I recently acquired about 20 boxes of primers some of which appear to be very old. Some are black powder cartridge/shotshell primers, some are for black, semi-smokeless and smokeless.

I am trying to find a reference source to identify the age range of these primers. I did find such a reference for Winchester/WRA but so far I haven't located anything for Remington, Peters, UMC or REM/UMC.

Some of the Winchester primers date back to the 1890s through the 1920s.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
LC Hunter 1

Article which is more than I ever knew.

Dad had some surplus mercuric primed ammo for his surplus Argie back in the early '60s. Hangfires were interesting, in terms of seconds, definitely deteriorated. Not much of that got used! Thrifty Dad thought it was wise to pop for Norma which was all that was available. Chlorate primers last a long time.

Do they have any value to collectors?

Some value, but you gotta find just the right guy. Collectors of components as opposed to collectors of vintage ammo are thin on the ground.

As stated, vintage chlorate primers last forever. I'm still using from a stash of 30's vintage Frankford Arsenal FA-70 primers for select loads for use in a couple pre-war sporters and '03's. Very consistent primers. Savvy handloaders in the 50's and 60's glommed onto them because of their reputation for consistency and longevity. Addition of a hot soapy water step in the cleaning process is the only necessity for preventing a rusty bore. After decades of using them (but mind you I don't use them a helluva lot) my bores remain pristine.

I also have a large stash of 60's vintage Alcan primers. I shall weep when I finally use the last of them for they are very consistent, providing SD's equal to what I get when using CCI's and RWS primers.

Thanks for the input! I've learned a lot about old primers and it's fascinating....and rewarding.

Start a big fire, throw them in, run like hell!

I only bought them on a whim. I figured there were a few folks out there who would find them worth acquiring. I figured they would only be for displaying and not for actually reloading.. Don't know how well they were stored or what they were subjected to over that many years but some of the opened boxes had some that seemed not to be deterioring. Some were unopened so don't know. Anyway sold quite a few of them. Don't think I'll throw them into the fire... yet.