[Boats]

Or piece of unexploded ordnance you have heard of that went off? I know that periodically a WW1 shell goes off in a field in France or one hears of underwater mines that wash up on a mudflat that go off or have to be blasted and still produce a secondary explosion. These latter relics never cease to amaze me, because of all of the environmental attack that the charge withstood.

I just successfully fired off a 20 round, 13 year old box of Cor-Bon 9mm. That was not so remarkable except for the fact that I was purposely not taking care of it in any fashion regarding temperature or humidity concerns by neglecting it in my garage for all that time. I know that in relation to some mil-surp rounds that come on the market, my JHPs were just adolescents rather than geezers.

So how old of something have you heard or seen go BANG!?!

[On edit: Spelling]

[mcmoyer]

I was duck hunting with my grandpa when I was a kid & he slipped me a 16ga shotgun shell. I blasted a duck & he said "Well I'll be damned...I've been carrying that shell around for 35 years!" That was in 1965 & was an old paper shell.

Worked great!!

:D :D

[Gunsnrovers]

I regulary shoot a bunch of 1943 dated .303 from New Zealand. Always goes bang for me. Still have about 1k in the garage I slowly go through.

[Ross]

I fired a few .30-40 Krag cartridges dated 1917. Just for grins, I reloaded one case with mostly light loads over a hundred and twenty times. I only sized and trimmed and annealed it three times though.
The coiled 577-450 Martini went bang very satisfactorily. It was from Kirkee Arsenal, but I don't know how old it was. It sure gave new meaning to the concept of fireforming.
I ignorantly fired some original .44 Colt of unknown vintage. The black powder worked as intended.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross

[Dr.Rob]

I fired off a box of steel-cased Korean war era .45 ACP ball ammo. I was worried it would be a little hot, in fact it cracked the bakelite grip of the Colt Commander that came back from Korea with the ammo.

[greg531mi]

I shot a box of 44 rimfire that my Grandfather had for his Henry....must have been 100 years old, can't find them anymore....any good leads on that caliber?

[jefnvk]

I've got lots of 30's Turk and Greek 8mm.
1909 Stamped Iraqi .303 (I'm told this is not the same calendar as we have though, so if anyone can translate...)
60's stamped .30-06
Just got a tin of 1941 8x56R, ,haven't fired yet, but anyday now
40's Czech 8mm
60's Czech light ball 762x54R

Anyway, the only thing I have lost of is old ammo.

[oneshooter]

The oldest ammo I have fired has to be some 1917 stamped 45acp. Pull the trigger and wait 2-3 seconds before it goes boom. Talk about followthrough! :D Was real interesting when loaded in a full auto Thompson,slow motion autofire :what:

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[NMshooter]

Shot plenty of ammo left over from WW2. Last time I qualified we had to use tracers stamped 1967 because they had no ball.

Some times those old paper shotshells seperate from the brass and get stuck in the chamber.

[bnormal2]

A few years back I found a civil war era trapdoor and ammo in the wall of a house I was renovating. The gun and ammo were in the same condition they were prior to being walled up behind plaster. While I would never recommend that anyone do what I did I just had to try it. I fired 3 shells without failure. I cleaned the gun and sealed the remaining ammo in a vacuum sealed bag. I may never shoot it again with that ammo but it is being well preserved.

I have shot plent of old ammo 50 to 100 years old. You know what they say about keeping your powder dry...

[Texian Pistolero]

Years ago,

I shot some early '50's British .303 Enfield ammo.

It was total GARBAGE!!!!

One of three cartridges was a very dangerous hang-fire.

I wound up throwing most of that lot away.

[beemerb]

Headstamp 1938,8x56r. About 30 rds with no missfires or hangfires
Bob

[P95Carry]

Can't compete with some of you guys! Mine was IIRC some Radway & Green .303 dated 1943 ... that cordite stuff ... most characteristic odor! All went off but some were marginal hangfires - due I'd suspect to the perchlorate primers.

[Jim K]

About 5-6 years ago, I fired some .45-70 ammo made in 1880. All but one of the ten or so went off. I have heard reports of Civil War-era shells exploding when tampered with and I once fired a CW period .577 paper cartridge in a rifle musket. Black powder, given reasonable treatment and kept dry, does NOT deteriorate. Watch those "cannonballs", too. They are not all solid iron - they may be spherical case or explosive shell, either of which can spoil your whole day if they go off in your vicinity.

BTW, to me, 1950's ammo is near brand new; I have never had anything of WWII or later vintage fail to fire unless it had been stored improperly.

Jim

[Old NFO]

1917 Frankfort Arsenal .30-06. We ran it through an 03A3 back in the early 70's over in the PI. The Marines had found a bunch of it in a warehouse. I don't remember any misfires or slow fires,I DO remember that it kicked like H***. :what:

[jrhead75]

1939 8mm. Very accurate stuff.

[Gewehr98]

of blackpowder Rem-UMC ".45 Govt". The balloon-headed brass cleaned up real well, and I use it now for my Rolling Block Creedmoor long-range blackpowder loads.

[Robert J McElwain]

The oldest I've ever shot was a few years ago. I had some percussion caps for an orginal 1870s .32 cal. muzzle loader I have. Both the gun and the percussion caps worked fine.

Bob

[ScottsGT]

When they were renovating the SC State House, they found cannon balls that were still good.(powder was dry inside) They didn't fire any off to see if they went boom, just called in the Army ord. guys. think they're now in the state museum.

[M2 Carbine]

A man at work gave me a 1911 magazine loaded with 1917 and 1918 45 JRN.
He said his Grandfather had brought a 1911 back from WWI.
He said for as long as he could remember the magazine had been in a drawer, the pistol too, but he didn't know what happened to the pistol.

Anyhow I had to try it out. It all fired but was weak.
The magazine spring was still good and is mixed in with my other 1911 magazines. I don't eyen know which one it is.


So much for how long will a loaded magazine spring last. 30+ years anyhow. :)

[RaySendero]

ME TOO! Oldest = 1939 8x57 Mauser.
Wonder if it was same lot? :D
Got mine this year from web site in CO.

[Nick1911]

Shot some '43 dated .45ACP stuff my dad had in the garage in a really plane cardboard box...

http://www.sarcoinc.com/images/ammo9c.jpg

Similar to one of these. Worked fine.

-Nick

[Jeff White]

In February of 1980 I was detailed to be Range Safety NCO for our Battalion's M2 .50 caliber range. It was bitterly cold and I wasn't looking forward to the day's duty.

We had 13 crews to fam fire. The ASP force issued us about 22,000 rounds of AP ammo. It was made at Twin Cities Ammunition Depot on 18 December 1944. All of the crates were stamped FOR TRAINING USE IN CONUS ONLY. They didn't want any of that ammo back. Expend it all was the order of the day.

Every one of those rounds fired. I have a picture that was taken that day of me sitting behind Ma Duece waist deep in brass and links (yes the range staff got to shoot after all the designated crews).

I've got some .303 ball that was packed on 11-10-45 that I shoot out of my No4 MK1 Enfield.

If it's stored right, it'll last almost forever.

Jeff

[entropy]

Oh, Jeff, the sacrifices we make for our country! :D I miss those days! Never got to do it with M2's though. :( But it was still fun with the 60's and 249's. :evil:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/mosinfan/M60.jpg

Me in '88 at a fougasse demonstration; we set up a mock ambush with fougasse, and had some 60's to fire at what was left of the plastic sillhouettes. :evil:


WWC 1918 .45 ACP. A bit anemic, but they fired, until I looked at the headstamp and told my buddy what he could get per round from collectors! :eek: Otherwise, lots of WWII dated stuff. I just sold the same buddy a tin of 600 rds. of .45ACP packed in Sep. '44 said on the tin. Hasn't shot any yet that I know of, he has so many reloads to pop off anyway, it might be a while before he opens it. I hope to be there. ;)

[Hellion Productions]

I remember some '43 headstamped .50 cal we put through the Ma Dueces in SOI, summer of '95.

I should have kept one of the casings. I was twenty, young, and beautiful. :D

Best,
John Bear Ross

[igor]

9mm Para from the mid-30's, loaded for use with a Suomi SMG. Worked flawlessly albeit felt a little hot in a pistol.

[Hypnogator]

When I visited the Petersburg Siege Museum in the late '80s, I expressed concern about some of the civil war ordinance they had displayed there. The curator advised that all had been checked by EOD, but then went on to tell me that during the construction of the building, a bulldozer hit a 13" mortar shell from the siege of 1864, which detonated. No one injured, but it blew the track off the bulldozer. :what:

[Erik Jensen]

on sunday I went through 100 rounds of 8mmX56R, all dated either 1938 or 1939. so far, that's the oldest I've fired. every round fired flawlessly, even the one 5 round clip that had dark spots on it.

[Lonestar.45]

I knew a guy that was into hardcore traditional archery. He made his own bows, arrows, and knapped his own flint points. He was into arrowhead collecting as well, and actually shot a javelina with a flint point he found. The arrowhead made a clean pass through with no damage. Judging from the books I've read, I'd say that point was between 8,000 and 11,000 years old. Does that count?

I've shot a lot of WWII 30.06, that's probably the oldest for me.

[Hypnogator]

I'd say that point was between 8,000 and 11,000 years old. Does that count?
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner! :what: :eek: :D

[Kamicosmos]

I have a couple boxes of 1945 English made .303 ammo for my Enfield. It functions okay...although sometimes I'll get a split-second delay on the primer going off. You will pull the trigger, hear the firing pin hit, then nothing...then BOOM! Kinda like shooting a flintlock, but not quiet as long of a pause.

The .50BMG ammo we were shooting the other day was headstamped '52, mil surplus.

I have also shot old .22lr ammo from the 50's and 60's. All went bang.

[Gunpacker]

I shot most of a case of Turk 8MM dated 1931. It was great ammo, and was sure fire. Not a dud in the bunch, and no hangfires. Turks made some great ammo IMO.