Shelf life of Ammo

[SHOTGUN MESIAH 855]

I was talking to a guy at Cabelas today and he said ammo has a shelf life of 10 years.

So after 10 years ammo or powder becomes unstable?

I'm curious because I have a ton of 7.62 x 39 that I have had for at least 15 years.

What say you.

Edited April 10, 2013 by SHOTGUN MESIAH

[Agent Lemon 157]

Depends on how it is stored. I have Russian ammo that was made in the 50's that still works. It is stored in air tight metal cans.

 

Also I think maybe the primers might go out before the powder. Wasn't this the reason that the Soviet ammo was corrosive? A kind of life-prolonging salt added to the primer?

[Syndicate 812]

my pops and I used up all my grandfathers old ammo, the loose stuff, saved all the old school full boxes, some of it was from the 40s, had very few issues, some of the .22 was so corroded it was nearly unfirable, but we for kicks and giggles in my revolver smoothed it out and it worked also.

 

*shrugs*

 

there are those people that think honey needs to be kept cold and expires and gets crap in it...

or ones that freak out when I leave bianco d'oro sitting out. OH NOES your cured meats are going to mold!!!!! To late they have mold on them already...

[yakdung 2,926]

In all of my years, I have heard all kinds of crap emitted from the mouths of gun salesman that isn't true.

[dolomite_supafly 56]

So my wife and I decided to do a little metal detecting. We were in an area that probably hasn't had a lot of people shooting in it for a very long time. During out adventures I got a blip about something small about 6" down. As she dug she found an unfired 22 that was at least 4" in the soil. It was pretty well packed soil so the round had been buried for quite some time. It was on the side of a hill that I frequented as a kid, some 35 years ago. Not saying the round was 35 years old but it was under 4+ inches of soil so it wasn't placed there yesterday.

 

Here is the picture as found:

 

I was able to determine it was a Federal. I have no clue why the tip was like that though. The lead did have white corrosion.

 

So the next thing that pops into my head is I wonder if it will fire? I grab my Taurus PT22 because I could care less if the bore gets scratched. I chamber it, which was hard becuse of the dirt and corrosion, and I pull the trigger.

BANG!!!

 

Although it didn't extract it did in fact go off which I do find this pretty amazing.

 

Dolomite

[SHOTGUN MESIAH 855]

Good stuff right there. ^

[Rhodes1968 1,638]

Frankly I have yet to find ammo too old to work and I've used some that was 1930s.

85 years old and fired just fine.

 

The corrosive primers and powders do theoretically last longer but if you understand oxygen and water are the enemy you can deal with it.

[thebuns1 4,323]

While cleaning out my buddies dads house after he died last year, we found his trunk that was locked since he got back from WWII. We found an Nazi marked P35 Hi-power that was made by FN back in the day, in almost mint condition, still loaded German ammo with a spare loaded mag. We went in the back yard and emptied both magazines with zero failures.

 

Ammo will last for years, and it wont hurt mags being loaded either.

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

I'm still shooting WWII M1.30 carbine ammo, that sits loose in an ammo can, no desiccant or anything else.

I know for a fact that it sat in a garage, loose in a cardboard box for over a decade before I bought it.

It had a little patina, aka discoloration on the brass, but that just wipes off, it loads fine, goes bang every time and it still chronos to milspecs.

 

As long as ammo is not exposed to excessive conditions of heat/cold/humidity, you can toss a box in any reasonably dry sheltered place, e.g. house, shed, warehouse, ammo can, and expect to last for several decades.

[Ronin38 2,117]

Would "excessive conditions of ... humidity" include being under flood waters/mud/sewage, etc. for a week or so?

 

Friends of mine bought a few cases of .22 LR ammo recovered from the Johnstown Flood of '72. Out of aaallll that ammo, I think they counted a half-dozen misfires.

(His Dad was an Engineer-type, and he DID keep track of any misfires!)

[ChileRelleno 7,071]

Key words, "for a week or so?"... Well obviously it wasn't too excessive

 

Would "excessive conditions of ... humidity" include being under flood waters/mud/sewage, etc.]for a week or so?

 

Friends of mine bought a few cases of .22 LR ammo recovered from the Johnstown Flood of '72. Out of aaallll that ammo, I think they counted a half-dozen misfires.

(His Dad was an Engineer-type, and he DID keep track of any misfires!)

[termite 463]

I've still got some ammo that my wife made back in 1150 A.D., it works just fine. :) If she reads this, I'm dead.

[U.S. Pratorean 1,234]

I've still got some ammo that my wife made back in 1150 A.D., it works just fine. If she reads this, I'm dead.

Roger that! I found some stuff from the dating from the Triassic that works pretty well.

[Voltia 375]

My father and I shot paper shotgun shells made in the 40s back in the 90s.

 

One would occasionally not fire. The second hit always set it off.

[Syndicate 812]

My father and I shot paper shotgun shells made in the 40s back in the 90s.

 

One would occasionally not fire. The second hit always set it off.

I still have some paper hulls that I load, they shoot great, they are from the 60s and 70s, got them from my grandfather and my dad

 

they crimp so nice for bird loads

[jrance@iacwds.com 716]

Be careful about shooting paper shells with paper wadding in your Saiga 12. Did that and the paper blew back into the trigger mechanism and it took awhile and a call to Pauly to get it straightened out. LOL Shells worked fine but the Saiga hiccuped.

[VR762Shooter 838]

When my cousin and I were about 11 we found some old 30-30 Remington rounds. Paper boxed and stained: looked like this

 

I wish I had been able to keep them to this day so I could have tried them out. They had been sitting in their garage for however long since they had been purchased I'm guessing 40's-50's. We had them taken away from us when our parents found us using the live rounds as cannon fire for our plastic army guys

Edited April 11, 2013 by VR6Shooter

[Syndicate 812]

I use the paper on my trap gun, different hulls different purposes

they shoot sooooo sweet, I wouldn't mess up my paper hulls in an auto

[devildogdakota 804]

A buddy of mine ohh, five years ago bought a sealed sardine can of corrosive x.54 ammo for his Mosins. We opened the can and a bunch of the boxed rounds inside were all corroded with the white powder you see on older car batteries. Some of the bullets came out of the shells. We fired off the ones that looked solid, with a bunch of them failing to fire. The can was completely sealed when he got it. He brought it over and I used tools to puncture the can to get it open. I think it was Yugoslavian ammo, if I remember right.

Must have just been a bad batch, because I've never seen or heard of this before with older Yugo ammo, which is great ammo.

[Lone Eagle 839]

When I had my Mosin, I had about 200 rounds of the old brass cased cupro-nickle jacketed rounds from 1908. Picked them up at the fun show for ten cents a round more for collector's purposes. I randomly pulled a few, and they all went bang. They were also dead-nuts accurate(rumor was they were a sniper round, but discontinued because nickle was expensive in Russia). I still have one I pulled the bullet and put in a newer brass case for my collection.

 

Dolomite, that was an old semi wad cutter, circa 1960's, for target practice. I had 2 boxes of 50 by Winchester my dad had in his stash.

[Capt Nemo 882]

Shot about a dozen paper shells through my S12 and only had 1 FTF. Those were older than I am (46).

[Sim_Player 1,939]

Damn, I just tossed 5 cases of 7.62x39 because they were 10 years old + 1 day.

 

Old TNT may become unstable, but ammo?

 

Who thinks this shit up?

Edited April 11, 2013 by Sim_Player

[gunfun 3,931]

My dad had a bunch of ammo that I found in storage and on the boat in alaska. Mostly .22LR. There was a lot of 12 ga that had to have the "brass" sanded to chamber, but out of hundreds of rounds, I think about 2 of them failed to fire. I think a lot of those steel BB loads he had bought were 3" magnum steel/ iron oxide composite slugs. I'd see one big splash with a handful of stray pellets when I missed, which I did a lot in those days. I think most of the ammo had been in a marine environment 15 -20 years. the 22 LR had a higher failure rate and was likely 10-15 years old. Some of it had gotten damp, and some had not. they were kept in tupperware or ammo cans. many were gummy with corrosion or something. I think the shells and bullets are lubed with a wax sizing, and salt water made that change consistency. bare lead was oxidized, and plating was moreso. depending on box, we would get roughly 10-50% dud rate. I also chucked a couple boxes that had lots of duds and a few squibs to avoid risk of a bore obstruction. Report varied a lot with the older .22lr.

 

old 38s & 357 had to be over 20 Y/O stored in similar conditions, but was just fine.

[Ronin38 2,117]

This reminds me... I have a replica black powder pistol (never been fired, AFAIK) in a box with all the "stuff" for it (powder measure, etc.) In the box is a tin containing a large handful of round, lead balls for it. They are... "moldy?" What's the best way to clean those before possibly trying them out? The pistol itself looks brand-new.

 

I need to find someone local with BP experience, first. I don't know anything about this.

[Gaddis 1,689]

This reminds me... I have a replica black powder pistol (never been fired, AFAIK) in a box with all the "stuff" for it (powder measure, etc.) In the box is a tin containing a large handful of round, lead balls for it. They are... "moldy?" What's the best way to clean those before possibly trying them out? The pistol itself looks brand-new.

 

I need to find someone local with BP experience, first. I don't know anything about this.

 

I just roll my oxidized lead round balls in a little gasoline, and then toss them into my brass tumbler.

 

Be careful with those oxidized (white patina) lead round balls though. It's supposedly very toxic in that state, especially if you somehow manage to breathe it in.

[thebuns1 4,323]

I think its safe to say that most ammo will outlast our asses.

[Ronin38 2,117]

This reminds me... I have a replica black powder pistol (never been fired, AFAIK) in a box with all the "stuff" for it (powder measure, etc.) In the box is a tin containing a large handful of round, lead balls for it. They are... "moldy?" What's the best way to clean those before possibly trying them out? The pistol itself looks brand-new.

 

I need to find someone local with BP experience, first. I don't know anything about this.

 

I just roll my oxidized lead round balls in a little gasoline, and then toss them into my brass tumbler.

 

Be careful with those oxidized (white patina) lead round balls though. It's supposedly very toxic in that state, especially if you somehow manage to breathe it in.

 

Roger that. I opened that tin to see what was in it, and closed it quick! Phooey! Anything I do with them will be done outside, for certain!

[Syndicate 812]

I think its safe to say that most ammo will outlast our asses.

not much is gonna outlast dat ass on your avatar

 

 

Edited April 12, 2013 by Syndicate

[storm6490 2,768]

I was talking to a guy at Cabelas today and he said ammo has a shelf life of 10 years.

So after 10 years ammo or powder becomes unstable?

I'm curious because I have a ton of 7.62 x 39 that I have had for at least 15 years.

What say you.

What say me? I'd say you should take all information from a salesman at a box office gun shop with a grain of salt.

[S12KS-K 40]

A buddy of mine ohh, five years ago bought a sealed sardine can of corrosive x.54 ammo for his Mosins. We opened the can and a bunch of the boxed rounds inside were all corroded with the white powder you see on older car batteries. Some of the bullets came out of the shells. We fired off the ones that looked solid, with a bunch of them failing to fire. The can was completely sealed when he got it. He brought it over and I used tools to puncture the can to get it open. I think it was Yugoslavian ammo, if I remember right.

Must have just been a bad batch, because I've never seen or heard of this before with older Yugo ammo, which is great ammo.

Damn, someone went to the gulag for that one!