[Puncha]

Has anyone here ever heard of an ammunition brand called "Kynoch"? It is a British brand and I was sold a batch of .38 special Kynoch ammunition which was made in the UK by ICI about 50 years ago. The ammo was sold for next to nothing so it was a plinking deal that I found hard to refuse.

Anyway, my concerns are:

1) Are there any risks with shooting old ammo?
2) Are delayed primer detonations or "hang fires" frequent?
3) Any elevated risk of KBs?
4) How many duds can I expect?
5) Will smokeless powder degrade with age even when stored under perfect conditions? If it does degrade, how much muzzle velocity will I lose after 50 years? Will the shot land noticeably lower?

[gggman]

I learned my lesson a few years ago about using ammo of unknown quality.
http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/hk-kb.html
Your mileage may vary.

[Puncha]

Any idea how old this ammo is?

[.41Dave]

Puncha, I'm pretty sure the Remington Kleanbore .22s are 1950s vintage. Ammunition is pretty stable, and will store for decades without ill effect IF it was stored in cool, dry conditions. If it wasn't, you may get misfires, squibs, etc. If you decide to fire the Kynoch stuff, be careful. Do not rapid fire any of it. If you notice a round that seems to recoil oddly or sound different than the others, STOP and check your barrel for obstructions. You might have a bullet from a squib stuck in the barrel. If you fire a second round with the barrel obstructed, you will likely bulge your barrel or worse.

[Jim Watson]

Kynoch was THE British ammunition company in the late years of safari rifles, etc. It was amalgamated into ICI along with Eley and other brands.

New made Kynoch ammunition is under a licensing arrangement and is not otherwise connected with the old brand name.

Ammunition 50 years old is probably fine.
There was a lot of WW II .45 ACP ammunition sold a few years ago and most of it shot quite well. There is all manner of surplus 8mm ammunition of the 1950s being plinked away.

[gezzer]

remington dogbone box 22 is collectable sells for 8-12 dollars a box.

[Chuck Dye]

http://www.kynochammunition.co.uk/

Drill down just a wee bit and the contact link is contact@kynochammunition.co.uk


Why not go straight to the horse's (horses'?) mouth?

[illini52]

I found some U.S. Mil 30-06 rounds from 1928 the other day. Those'll stay in the "do not fire' collection.

[Puncha]

Opened the box and found that the rounds were packed in a cardboard "honeycomb" style matrix. The casings were tarnished and so were the projectiles. When I inserted them into the cylinder, I could almost feel the "rusty" cases scraping up against the individual chambers.

Oh yeah....rented a beat up S&W model 67 to shoot the Kynoch cartridges as i did not want to chance a KB in my own piece.

Anyhow, here's what happenned.

click, click, click, BANG!!, pop!, Bang!

After emptying the spent casings and checking to see that the "pop!" round did not leave a slug stuck in my barrel, I reloaded the unshot rounds and here's what happenned.

Bang!, Bang!, pop!

The other 43 shots in the box did pretty much the same thing as the 1st 6 shots. (1 round failed to fire even after I tried to shoot it single action.)

Accuracy was :cuss: :cuss: :banghead: horribly AWFUL!

If all I had was these rounds for home defense, I'd rely on a louisville slugger instead.

[Peter M. Eick]

Yeah, but just think. Some ammo collector like me might have paid you a buck or two a round just for the ammo and if you had whole boxes, well the skies the limit for the price.

The last vintage ammo I bought was priced at $2.50 per round and I was happy to get the 36 rounds I got. I would have paid many times that for the original box and 50 rounds. Admittedly I am talking about centerfire and not rimfire though.

But to each his own.