Bullets, Primers and Brass: FILO or FIFO?

For supplies with no practical expiration date do you use FILO or FIFO?

  • FILO

    Votes: 5 10.2%

  • FIFO

    Votes: 34 69.4%

  • Something else

    Votes: 9 18.4%

  • Don’t understand the question but want to comment anyway

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Total voters
    49
  • Poll closed .
Thomasss said:
Please explain? Everything ages, including me. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
POINT # 2: I have two cans of powder recently acquired. One is IMR plastic container with a metal top of 4350 with 3 ounces left and the other is DuPont 4064 which is 3/4 of a 1 pound can. Assuming both can be used relatively soon, which should be loaded first to prevent it from going bad? There are no signs of deterioration in either can.
Click to expand...

Copper, and thus, brass, age hardens.
While it won’t deteriorate, it will need an anneal cycle for optimum performance.

A quick, ammunition related blurb. Plumbers know that old copper is hard and old brass is brittle, but this is for us. https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-us/products/dedicated-components/norma-brass


The stabilizers in gunpowder don’t deteriorate with exposure to air, they are decomposing anyway inside the kernel from day one in the factory. The acids produced from this decay are heavier than any air inside the container, so more volume won’t dilute it.
Mass spectrometry could detect which powder is giving off more acids in a time frame, but that might not correlate the same with differing powder chemistries.

I would load which ever one fuels the lightest recoiling rifle first. In loads with lighter bullets, that require using more powder.
Longer strings of fire before recoil fatigue would help me use up the powder faster.

A new rifle is always a perfect way to use up any leftover powder! Just sayin’…;)
 
Demi-human said:
I FIFO everything, within reason.

Bullets don’t go bad, but the ones I don’t like I don’t keep around, I use them up. I tend to curate “good stuff”.
Brass doesn’t go bad, but it does age. I use a lot at a time and then scrap it.

It sucks to pull everything out to stack new in the back, especially bullets, but so far I haven’t found any of the collating racks like the soda and soup cans have.;)

It would be neat to go through so much that I needed a measuring bin like the Co-Op has for bulk stock. Just pour the new bullets in the top of the little silo and dispense 200 grain SWC goodness at the bottom!
A giant powder measure, for bullets!:D


I’ve been reassessing my storage as well. Chipped up the tile floors, framed in a closet, moved all my reloading things from the basement at my father’s. Still not enough room…
View attachment 1127756 View attachment 1127758
My new room, excuse me, closet, is even smaller than my other closet. (But it does have a better adjoining room. No water softeners or condensing lines. A rifle fits!;)) So I’ve been contemplating other areas. Luckily I like water resistant storage bins that stack, four gallon fruit salad buckets, so I don’t have to spend a bunch on steel racks yet. So all my brass sits unceremoniously in the garage against the wall, like so much paint.:(
But brass is easy to clean and inspect, so it’s the only thing not inside. I don’t mind it’s age, just it’s cycles, and try to keep them organized by lot that way.
Everything else is by age. Powder will always have the “New Hotness” I want to try, so I use it up.
Click to expand...
You have a tiger maple bench?
 
Demi-human said:
Copper, and thus, brass, age hardens.
While it won’t deteriorate, it will need an anneal cycle for optimum performance.
Click to expand...
How long does it take for cartridge brass to naturally age harden when stored properly? Months, years, decades?
 
FIFO. I really hate having multiple open containers. I will use up an item till it’s gone before i open something else. If I don’t like something i will get rid of it (sell, donate…). If I try out a new powder and really don’t like it, it goes to the fruit trees, or my brother. Bullets even if I am not a fan I still use them up shooting groups, working on basic fundamentals.
 
Powder first, then primers by age. Brass I use till it wears out, I don't keep a round count but keep new or once fired out of circulation for replacements. I don't load heavy and do not stress brass that much. I just ran out of a bullet stash that I bought from a caster that made them in the 70's. 429421's to be exact, had 10K of them at one time. Never really thought about them as going bad.
 
CQB45ACP said:
You have a tiger maple bench?
Click to expand...
Yes. Really just the 1” edge and a 1-1/4” x 3” leg. The leg doesn’t show very well.
843D4F4B-A6C2-4ED8-944C-A8A81B757383.jpeg

My original bench was recycled from a doctor’s office I built seventeen years ago. I loved the blue top, but not the oak edge band, so I left it in my father’s basement.
Much to my pleasure, hiding in our shop, there was a brand new, never been used, seventeen year old sheet of American made Formica! Undamaged and still wrapped in plastic!
The deepest, pure blue ever. Much like the Field Adorned with Fifty Shining Stars.
Red White and Blue, baby!

I’ll use it to make matching shelves for the die sets I have as well, but I really just want to get my press running.:)

As an aside, all my door stop sticks are walnut and my exterior light fixture plates are Ipé.
Being a carpenter has its perks, well, I think that’s the only one, but it’s something!:D


higgite said:
How long does it take for cartridge brass to naturally age harden when stored properly? Months, years, decades?
Click to expand...
Years I’d say. I don’t know if it’s temperature fluctuations or what, but it seems to me, older brass is harder, worked or not. Some seem to validate this, others don’t.
I always start a batch of rifle brass with an annealing. I am obviously more picky about the rifle brass than handgun, one receiving much more punishment from me than the other.:evil:
 
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