Thread: Primer & Powder shelf life

Hi everyone,

I am just starting rifle reloading and gearing more towards accuracy than cost efficiency like my pistol reloading.

At this stage I’m trying to work out what amounts of primers and powder I want to get. I am thinking I will probably shoot around 100-200 rounds a year with my hunting rifle calibres. Should I only stock 2-3 years or so of powder at a time or just start with a brick of 1000 primers and a 4kg jug of powder (could take up to 10yrs to work through it)?

I know both primers and powder can last decades and still function however at what point would precision/SDs start to show a change? Could I expect the same SDs and same hit rate at 800m with 15year old powder as I would new?