[Wolfpackin]

How long should one expect ammo to maintain 100% of its performance qualities if stored in a dry environment?
More importantly, does the discoloration, or oxidation, caused by handling (or time) effect performance or shelf life?
I know, kind of a dumb question but I just wanted to see what you guys think and if you do anything special other then rotating stock.
Thanks as always!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[CountGlockula]

My basic firearms instructor says 3 months in the magazine--for autos. But the best place is to leave in the box it came in for a longer time frame.

[Jeff F]

I shoot some 40 to 60 year old mil surplus all the time and it always goes bang.

[GreenFurniture]

It will last forever as long as it doesn't get wet or chambered.

[Geronimo45]

Is it centerfire?
Is it kept out of the water?
Then it ought to last for decades. Rimfire seems to have a shorter shelf life than centerfire (primers go bad or something of the kind).
You should not leave the same ammunition in a magazine for more than three months - you should shoot more often than that. :neener:

[RNB65]

Most likely you'll be dead from old age long before modern ammo experiences any significant loss in performance. Case corrosion and bullet setback due to repeated chamberings are all you have to worry about.

[aka108]

Recently shot some 6.5 Swedish mfg in 1924. Most accurate stuff that's ever gone down the bore of that rifle. Regularly shoot 8x56R mfg in 1938. Never a misfire. I thnk that if ammo is stored correctly it should last more than a lifetime.

[M2 Carbine]

I'm shooting 9mm that I loaded in 1993.
Yesterday, we couldn't tell a bit of difference between it and the new Win White box we were also shooting.

I have some 1941-2 military FMJ 45. I chronographed it at 775fps. New, it should do 820fps, so it's lost a little.


I was given a 1911 45 magazine that the owner said his Grandfather brought back after WW1. (He didn't know what happened to the pistol.:( )
He said as far as he knew the magazine had been loaded since then.
The rounds were dated 1917-1918. Like a idiot I shot them just to see if they would still fire. All the rounds fired but were very weak.

BTW, the magizine still works fine.:)

[xMetal]

I have a slightly "newbie" question somewhat related to this that I've never seen mentioned anywhere in all my reading about firearms.

How "fragile", for lack of a better term, is ammo? If you had a bullet lying around and threw it at a wall, or stepped on it hard, or had it in your pocket and took a spill onto something hard, what would the chances be that it would it go off? What amount of force is required to trigger a modern centerfire round?

And to relate it to the specific topic, would it get more fragile with age?

We all read about the kid putting a bullet in a vice and hitting it with a hammer (duh), but I'm talking about more mundane things.

[El Tejon]

You mean like leaving ammo in your pockets and throwing your range pants in the washer and then the dryer?:D No problems, you're fine.

Wolf, a very long time, if it is corrosive ammo, then even longer. I went to the range New Year's Eve and shot a bunch of older ammo. I shot up .38s for the 1950s and a load of late '80s/early '90s .45 acp (stuff I had stored at my dad's house). No problems.

The hardcore military surplus guys shoot ammo older than their grandfathers all day. I've had trouble with German WWII 8mm, especially tracer. Apparently in '44 and '45 quality control was lacking.

I would rotate my ammo on my carry gun(s) every few months, but range time should do that for you. Fresh ammo, clean and lubed pistol.:)

[VA27]

xMetal- It would be pretty hard to set off a round of ammo just from bangin' around against pocket debris. I guess if you had yer John Wayne in yer pocket and fell/bumped it just right it could happen, but I personally would worry more about lightning strikes, except for one thing:

Back in the 70's, when true pocket sized, police handheld radios became a reality, there were reports of officers shoving a radio into a pocket with loose 357 Magnum rounds. A round shorted across the charging terminals on the bottom/back of the radio and...BOOM!! Cook-off! :what: I don't know anyone that it happened to, but I'm always real careful about that.:scrutiny:

[gandog56]

I just found a nearly 20 year old box of .357 magnums I had reloaded, and somehow misplaced. Let's just say they all went bang.

[Wolfpackin]

Thank you, answers were as I expected although I didn't know about the 3 months in the magazine rule of thumb. I did know about multiple chambering in semi-autos.
Thanks again!

[Sunray]

"...the magazine rule of thumb..." It's nonsense. Likely some guy who thinks springs and ammo go bad in a magazine.
"...would it go off..." No.

[SoCalShooter]

When my grandfather passed a couple of years ago, the ammo we found was 60 years old and it shot just fine, it was in regular GI ammo cans.

It's nonsense. Likely some guy who thinks springs and ammo go bad in a magazine.


My HK mags have been a disappointment. All factory mags have become depressed and have required me to stretch them again so that it will lock the slide back when the mag is empty.

[StrikeEagle]

I shot reloaded ammo and commecial ammo from the early 70's... no problem.

I've used WW2 ammo... 30-06 and .45 ACP, no problem.

I have some .303 Brit from the 30's that's kind of funky... I suspect that it hasn't been stored properly for every one of it's 75 years. It works, but there's some tarnishy-corrosion stuff on some rounds that makes me uneasy.

As noted, .22 rimfire can get a little goofy after 30 or 40 years.

Basically, I guess ammo just doesn't go bad... given good storage. It's not something I worry about. :)

[Puncha]

Just my $0.02 but if you live in a humid and tropical country, your ammo is going to take a beating. I fired a batch of old .38 cartridges last year.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=207018&highlight=kynoch

They were simply stored in a dark storage cabinet in a forgotten corner of my local range armoury. The box was not packed with dessicants and I guess the 80-98% humidity over the last 45+ years that the ammo has been in the tropics turned them to crud.

In humid environments, I'd say about 7 years for rimfire and 11 years for centrefire before performance degrades.

[highlander 5]

If a round should happen to be set of by whatever means if not in a chamber the case would rupture and you have brass shards in your body but it wouldn't be life threatening
IIRC White Labs did this with a 30'06.They placed the round inside a cardboard box (don't remember the size) and built a flame under the cartridge the round cooked of case ruptured but the brass shrapnel did not penetrate the cardboard box.
Figure that an '06 is 1.5 times the PSI of a 44 mag and you'll get the point

[Stachie]

You shouldn't have a problem if the ammo is stored in a climate controlled closet, etc.

[foghornl]

I have fired some WWII-vintage USGI ammo in both .30-06 and .45ACP...never a hickup with either one.

I do have some boxes of old Federal Brand .22LR ammo....Power-Flite, IIRC. Federal stated that the lot numbers were from 1977. Accoring to Federal Ammo, look very carefully at the case heads...may have some damage from any exposure to ammonia-based products. Thye recommended not shooting those particular rounds.

[ilbob]

I seem to recall that milspec ammo has a sealant applied to the case mouth and primer to keep moisture away from the powder and priming materials.

I have personally fired ammo well in excess of 50 years old and had no misfires (US milsurp).

I have also fired 20+ year old rimfire ammo that had fewer misfires than new promo ammo. And when I say I have fired it, I mean like in case lots.