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Anyone ever used these? Picked up a couple of sleeves at a gunshop Monday. Looked like they had been on his shelf for some time. Marked MAX-FIRE LARGE PISTOL PRIMERS on the face of the box and 100 LARGE PISTOL MAX-FIRE on each end of the box. They are placed on end (or on the side) in the box not flat. Much smaller box than CCI or Winchester. The guy at the gunshop said they were the same as Winchester. Any info on them? Are they Magnum or Standard?
Winchester doesn't differentiate between regular and mag primers in all sizes. Treat them as regular, but if the loads are near max, back off and work back up to be sure.
S&W used to market their own brass, too. I have no idea who made it up for them with their headstamp. I still have a few cases in my .357 practice bucket, they have to be at least 30years old and who knows how many times they've been loaded. (My practice loads are mild ones that don't stress the cases, I toss them when the necks split or the primer pockets loosen, but they last a long time.) I do not know for certain, but I would assume those primers are at least 20 years old. As long as they've been stored properly - not too humid or too hot - they ought to work fine. Last year a friend gave me some CCI primers that he got in trade that were almost 40yrs old (still had the sales receipt with them) and none of them were duds. In the old days, many primers were sold in packages that held them on edge. If you go even farther back, they were in wooden flats on edge.
I have never seen the S&W primers, but I have brass and loaded S&W ammo. I agree with Versifer, they have to be at least 20 years old.
Probably didn't give enough info on my original post. From other sources I have found they are actually ALCAN primers that were sold under the S&W logo and probably during the late 60's. They have the S&W and ALCAN logo. I will treat them as Mag primers for working up my first loads. They appear as new.