Ammunition and Temperature.

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bg226

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A dumb question.

What if someone left a case of defense 9mm ammo in the car trunk for a week in hot 90+ degree temperatures?

Would the quality of the ammo be degraded and not be trustworthy?
 
Provided you let it cool down before you fire it, everything should be ok. Long term storage at 90*F+ temps will ruin the powder, but one week does not qualify as long term.
 
FWIW I've left sporting shotgun loads in my enclosed pickup bed for months on end in 90+ degree Memphis heat with no ill affects. They went bang everytime. I missed a few targets so it may have been the heat. Seriously, that enclosed black bed which is water tight gets pretty hot. So far so good.
 
I think the max storage temp for mil spec ammo is +122F. I wouldn't imagine that most other properly loaded factory ammo would be much different.
 
The Middle East and notably Iraq can regularly get over 120 degrees F. This hasn't stopped anyone from being able to kill each other.

Your modern shootin' ammo should perform fine.

If you are seriously thinking about cacheing ammunition for years or decades at a time, then you should think about keeping everything cool and dry.
 
90+ degree storage doesn't hurt a bit from my experience. 125+ for decades may be a different story. High humidity and case corrosion is a bigger enemy, I feel.
 
By composition, smokeless powder is made of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. Nitrocellulose is basically plant matter and will begin to break down under extreme temperatures on either extreme. As previously stated, do not fire ammunition that has been sitting in the hot sun for extended periods of time.
 
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