Old Ammo

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MoscowMike

MoscowMike

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Saw a comment the other day about restricting ammunition purchases because the short shelf life would make it effective gun control. o_O

A while back I found 30 rounds of FA 43 45 ACP ammo tucked away in the basement. Yesterday at the range they all went bang just fine. Seemed to have as much recoil as the PMC and Herters I had been shooting. One round didn't eject properly, not sure why, but at 75 years old I'll accept that.



The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it.
- H. L. Mencken
 
20 years ago I shot some 30-06 ammo in my Garand that was made in 1945. Besides looking old it fired just fine. I sure wish I would have kept some of that ammo.

On the other hand I had some .22 magnum ammo my Mom said spent a couple of winters in a storage facility. That ammo was bad.

Like Englishmn said it depends on a lot of variables.
 
I don't have an old ammo story, but I do have a severely stressed ammo story. I reload all the ammo my firearms ever see (except for rimfire). I have had unfired rounds of .45 ACP run through my wet media stainless steel pin tumbler for 2 hours and more, taken it out and fired it through one of my 1911s without fail. I don't even seal my primers or anything like that. I wouldn't recommend using any wet tumbled live rounds for critical defense situations, but properly manufactured ammo seems to be way more durable than one would expect.
 
I have some 22lr from 1995 that fires fine every time I have used it and seems better than some of the current stuff.

Bad 22mag now that makes me cry.
 
Back in the early 1970's, I came across some .30 Government (.30-40 Krag) ammo that had been made around 1905. The powder was still good, the primers were mostly good, but the biggest problem was cracks in the necks of the cases, which made about half of the bullets loose to the point of almost falling out.

Ammo, if properly stored, can easily last 50 years or more.
 
The hilarious thing about placing quotas on ammunition purchases as "gun control" is that 99% of all criminal acts with a firearm involve less than one box of rounds expended. The vast majority of shootings don't involve reloading of a weapon at all during the event.

But then all "gun control" is a false front for people control anyway.

Get off yer butts and vote people. Vote, and keep yer powder dry.
 
Years ago a buddy of mine worked in a small gun shop. He told me several tales of sketchy guys coming in, wanting to buy a .22 or 32 pistol and asking about buying 5 rounds of ammo. He always declined the sale of the gun and ammo.
 
I have heard of black powder guns that remained loaded and untouched for over a century and went "BANG!" very efficiently.
Shortly after my father died in 1991 I inherited his M1 Carbine. All the ammo he had was WW2 era, dated 1944 or 45. It all lit off quit well....well, save for a box full I decided to keep.
 
Well, I'm heading to the range tomorrow with a Mossberg 195 I bought a few weeks ago.

Found about 40 Winchester Ranger reduced recoil 00 buckshot shells in my shop cabinet that are about 27yrs old. Stored well and all look as good as new. I also found some 40+ yr old Remington #4 buckshot, but I'll keep those shelved for another time.

So, 27yr old ammo through a 50+ year old shotgun.

I'll let you know how it all works out.
 
Black powder doesn't age. It's charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. It's not going anywhere.
Smokeless powder is a different animal. Double base powders contain nitro glycerin which may deteriorate and become unstable(not good) and even single base powders can go bad for a variety of reasons.
However modern powders can last a long time under proper conditions, but wouldn't trust really old stuff nor would I want to store it.
Training ammo I hand load or buy in bulk. Bulk ammo may stick around a decade or longer before I get around to launching it.
You can't have too much training ammo is the lesson learned from the shortages, hence the hand loading but I can easily inspect the condition of what powder I use before I charge the cases.
So ammo restrictions will have little effect on my shooting.
Front line defensive ammo OTOH, maybe three years max before it joins the training ammo.
I like to keep about 300 rounds of fresh defensive ammo especially since the shortages (those small ammo cans will neatly hold 7 boxes of factory .45acp).
I always try to fire a sampling from a new ammo purchase just to make sure it works,
Plastic shotgun and .22lr ammo seems immortal however, but those really old hulls may crack(I'm thinking Federal 12 ga from the late 1960s)
My thoughts anyway.
 
I went to the range last Sunday with some bulk Winchester .22LR that I probably bought around 1985 at a gun show. Each and every round went bang.
 
That's the ironic part. I have federal bulk 22LR that is at least 30 years old that almost never fails, while some of the recently made bulk stuff fails frequently. If stored in my home, I have had no issues from mid 50s vintage centerfire.
 
rust collector said:
That's the ironic part. I have federal bulk 22LR that is at least 30 years old that almost never fails, while some of the recently made bulk stuff fails frequently. If stored in my home, I have had no issues from mid 50s vintage centerfire.
Click to expand...

I have Federal bulk .22lr from the 1970s that still performs reliably.
A while back I had to pull down 250 rds of Remington Parabellum from the 1980s (green & yellow box) for the components, That stuff was flat out unreliable even though stored in a cool dry location.
 
I realize that I'm sounding like I live in a .22lr ammo museum!
My old .22lr ammo is left over from when I had a good .22 rifle.
Now my only .22 is a pistol, which is very picky about what I feed her,
so whats left of my old stock collects dust until I get another rifle.
I was able to give most of it away until the State passed a law banning transfer of ammo without an FFL
 
I've posted this before that an old friend and I shot a handful of .45 LC rounds that were (at the time) 106 years old. All went bang and grouped acceptably well for us. And just within the last year, I got my hands on some .22 ammo that dated back to 1965, when my late uncle bought it. That too worked well and I still have 18 rounds of it with my little rifle.
 
John Joseph said:
Black powder doesn't age. It's charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. It's not going anywhere.
Smokeless powder is a different animal. Double base powders contain nitro glycerin which may deteriorate and become unstable(not good) and even single base powders can go bad for a variety of reasons.
However modern powders can last a long time under proper conditions, but wouldn't trust really old stuff nor would I want to store it.
Training ammo I hand load or buy in bulk. Bulk ammo may stick around a decade or longer before I get around to launching it.
You can't have too much training ammo is the lesson learned from the shortages, hence the hand loading but I can easily inspect the condition of what powder I use before I charge the cases.
So ammo restrictions will have little effect on my shooting.
Front line defensive ammo OTOH, maybe three years max before it joins the training ammo.
I like to keep about 300 rounds of fresh defensive ammo especially since the shortages (those small ammo cans will neatly hold 7 boxes of factory .45acp).
I always try to fire a sampling from a new ammo purchase just to make sure it works,
Plastic shotgun and .22lr ammo seems immortal however, but those really old hulls may crack(I'm thinking Federal 12 ga from the late 1960s)
My thoughts anyway.
Click to expand...
You bring up an interesting point for those interested in long-term ammunition storage in suboptimal conditions, say buried underground in a sealed bin, for example.

Hypothetically, would it be advantageous to handload center fire cartridges with black powder, accepting the loss of ballistic power in exchange for greater lifespan and safer storage? Would such ammunition, properly protected from moisture, survive 75-150 years in usable condition, or would the primers likely be the limiting factor?
 
I've got ammo that's approaching the century mark. I'm not planning to crack open the sealed boxes but I've had no real problem with shooting the loose rounds that are in good external condition.
 
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A few years ago I bought 100 rds of .303 Brit manufactured in 1941 and some 1950's manufactured ammo for my Tokarev.. I know to flush the barrel after shooting vintage ammo and I usually keep a small bottle of water mixed with a small amount of ammonia in my range bag just for that purpose. The last time I shot my Enfield, just 10 rounds, and Tokarev, two magazines, I just plain forgot to flush them. No excuse other than that.
About three months later, when I was gearing up for an outdoor range trip, I picked up the Enfield and a light went on over my head.
What was once a pretty decent bore was now severely pitted making the Enfield worthless. The Tok barrel was just as bad although I was able replace it with a new one that had been sitting in storage for awhile. No more surplus ammo for me....ever.
 
Yes, I cleaned the pistol thoroughly. It's an old AMC Hardballer, but stainless steel is no guarantee.
As for collectibility, they were loose rounds, no box and probably not worth the hassle of converting them to cash. I have enough junk in the gun room as it is.
Black powder might work in bolt action rifles, but fouling in anything self-loading would be a problem. The lifespan of modern cartridges is long enough that you should be able to get the job done. But I'm reminded that I should sort my stock by age and work on the older stuff.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
You bring up an interesting point for those interested in long-term ammunition storage in suboptimal conditions, say buried underground in a sealed bin, for example.

Hypothetically, would it be advantageous to handload center fire cartridges with black powder, accepting the loss of ballistic power in exchange for greater lifespan and safer storage? Would such ammunition, properly protected from moisture, survive 75-150 years in usable condition, or would the primers likely be the limiting factor?
Click to expand...
Well, the black powder will still detonate:
https://www.foxnews.com/story/virginia-man-killed-in-civil-war-cannonball-blast
 
As expected, no issues with the 27yr old shotgun shells. As others have chimed in, plastic hulled shells should last a looong time.

Also had my XT-22 TR with me for some scope adjustments, so fired off a box of Wicnchester Super X 22 Longs that were my father's from about 1970. They all went off without a hitch. So a successful old ammo kinda of day.

If a stockpile of old ammo is the plan to get around proposed purchase restrictions, I'm unintentionally ahead of the game, unless I keep taking it all along on range days. :)
 
Jerseykris said:
As expected, no issues with the 27yr old shotgun shells. As others have chimed in, plastic hulled shells should last a looong time.

Also had my XT-22 TR with me for some scope adjustments, so fired off a box of Wicnchester Super X 22 Longs that were my father's from about 1970. They all went off without a hitch. So a successful old ammo kinda of day.

If a stockpile of old ammo is the plan to get around proposed purchase restrictions, I'm unintentionally ahead of the game, unless I keep taking it all along on range days. :)
Click to expand...
It's a different ball game here in CA. Lead is banned for hunting so all the bird shot and hunting loads of the past are now only good for shooting targets or bad guys.
I'm shooting up my old ammo (the stuff that's still good) and replacing it with fresh ammo and reloading components. Suspect ammo gets pulled down for components.
 
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