Are manufactured bullets/primers sealed?

[Yo Mama]

For modern ammo, are bullets sealed with the case, and are primers sealed in also?

I ask as moisure is everywhere! For storing ammo against moisture, do manufacturers help by adding sealant?

 

[bigdaa]

No, all ammo is not sealed.

But....................some is.

You can see it. Especially in some military applications.

 

[Yo Mama]

What would shelf life of commercial rounds be? I was always told 70 some odd years?

 

[Bobson]

Shelf life for ammo stored in a cool, dry place? Several years. Idk what the average is, but should be perfectly safe to store for 3-5 years at a time without reducing functionality. Its likely just fine for twice that length of time, or even longer, but why push it?

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Short of immersing it in water, ammo has a tight press fit and seal between the primer and case and case and bullet, and is little affected by just humidity.

 

[Drail]

Unless you're a Navy Seal I wouldn't worrying about sealing the primers. I have shot matches in heavy rain and never had a primer fail to ignite, although everything in my shooting bag was soaked pretty good. I really hate shooting matches and then driving home in wet panties. I have ammo I loaded in 1990 with unsealed primers and were stored in a garage in very humid midwest summers for many years and they all fire just fine.

 

[WardenWolf]

If you really care, you can put some Loctite over the primer. That's basically what Sellier & Bellot uses.

 

[pendennis]

Ammo can last a long time. In the late '70's, my brother obtained a small lot of WWI-surplus .45ACP ammo (about 5000 rounds), dated ca. 1918.

We shot it up using several 1911's. No FTF's, FTE's. Our only concern was the primer compound. When we finished shooting, we would remove the grips, and soak the guns in kerosene overnight, clean them good the next day, and go about our business.

I've also run some WWII-era M2 ball through my M1 Garand in the last three years. Other than a bit of variance in accuracy, not a single problem.

 

[Reloadron]

Ammunition is designed and built for a specific application. Using military ammunition as an example it can be stored, exposed to and used under the most adverse conditions imaginable. Using a sealant during bullet seating and primer seating is simply a precaution to ensure when it is needed it functions as advertised. Typically you will only find crimped and sealed primers as well as sealed bullets in military calibers and military surplus ammunition.

The below images show two examples of 7.62 X 39 ammunition. There is brass cased Remington and some military style steel cased lacquered ammunition.





Ron

 

[arizona98tj]

Shelf life for ammo stored in a cool, dry place? Several years. Idk what the average is, but should be perfectly safe to store for 3-5 years at a time without reducing functionality. Its likely just fine for twice that length of time, or even longer, but why push it?

While everyone can set their own "schedule" for how long ammo can be stored prior to shuffling it out for use at the range, your comment about 3 to 5 years (or perhaps twice that) is, IMHO, very conservative. A couple of weekends ago, I shot a box of my .45ACP reloads....assembled back in the mid '70s. And while not proud of the fact that I lost track of the box it was sitting in which just happened to sit in my Phoenix garage for over 20 years, it worked every bit as good as the day I put the components together. I even checked it over the chronograph just to be sure. I've also recently shot some commercial ammo from the same time frame....performed like a champ.

Now...if you do store it in a cool dry place, I can't imagine any reason why 50+ years isn't a more realistic number. I wouldn't hesitate to keep it that long. Using it up in 5 or 10 years simply isn't necessary.

 

[Ed Ames]

Back in the day (pre-O) I sometimes bought oddball factory ammo from dealers where I'm quite sure it was on the dealer shelf for more than 5 years.

I've fired commercial (civilian) ammo that was older than I am. It worked fine and actually was better than some new loads simply because it wasn't based on backed-off SAMMI specs adjusted downwards due to aging guns.

I've fired military surplus ammo that was made before at least one of my parents was born. It too worked fine though I inspected each round for cracked necks and the like (it was fine).

The biggest long term ammo storage problem seems to be corrosion of lead bullets. That's my experience anyway.

 

[Yo Mama]

Thanks all for your replies.

 

[jakk280rem]

Take a look at Fiochi too. I have noticed they seal alot of their ammo, even non mil calibers.

 

[45_auto]

I loaded the 44 magnums we were shooting today on 7/10/1997. They shoot like brand new.

I believe that the boxes of Federal bulk 22 we are currently shooting are from the early 90's. They have $6.89 Wal Mart stickers on them.

Can't tell any difference in any of it from brand new stuff.

 

[we are not amused]

My father was shooting military surplus 30-40 Krag ammunition, well into the 1990's.

Kept in a dry, relatively cool place, ammunition should give the proverbial Twinkie a run for longevity.

Lead corrosion should not be a problem, but corroded brass should be avoided.

 

[BruceB]

Time is among the least of the factors affecting storage life of ammunition.

If the sealing issue bothers you, why mot seal the stuff yourself? A drop of model-kit enamel at the neck and primer, distributed with a pin or toothpick, will seal the cartridge perfectly.

On occasion, a few of my handloaded rounds have gotten accidentally left in pockets etc., and run through a complete cycle in the washing machine. In such instances, I ALWAYS try to fire those rounds, both to get rid of them and to satisfy my curiosity. Over the decades, they likely amount to several dozen rounds, at least. EVERY SINGLE ONE has fired normally, and they were NOT sealed with anything.

I now do apply colored enamel to the primers in a fair amount of my ammunition, but it's used as an identifier rather than a sealant. Any sealant effect is purely a nice-to-have bonus.

 

[Snowdog]

I don't know which manufacturers make an attempt to seal their ammunition from moisture, but I will say that I have accidentally washed jeans with bullets still in the pockets and even had a few found on the bottom of the wash basin.

Curiosity is a vice of mine and I have attempted to fire every one of those cartridges. Except for .22LR, all those rounds fired and didn't appear to have a different report than non-laundered ammunition from the same lot.

One was a reload of mine and no sealant was used. A Magnus 200gr SWC over 4.3gr of Win 231 (crimped with Lee factory crimp die) in a once-fired case and Winchester WLP primer. Fired fine the day of the wash.

Hope this helps.

 

[Yo Mama]

but I will say that I have accidentally washed jeans with bullets still in the pockets and even had a few found on the bottom of the wash basin.

And I was upset when I left my wallet in my jeans!

 

[Snowdog]

Upset is something my wife redefined upon one of those washing machine discoveries that I failed to intercept.

 

[Manco]

I use Winchester PDX1/Ranger-T for defensive purposes because it is completely sealed as well as extremely resistant to bullet setback, so that's another example. For all other purposes, I've never worried about it and have never had an issue with unsealed ammo anyway, regardless of age or environmental conditions (exposure to humidity, etc.). Water seems to have a very difficult time penetrating even unsealed cartridges, although I wouldn't make any guarantees about penetrating oils, for example, which is why I use sealed ammo for the most critical purposes, just in case.

 

[Jim Watson]

Most ammo seems like a cheap watch, "waterproof" in the lavatory or puddle.
When my place burned in The Incident, a lot of ammo was exposed to water, steam, and fumes; then to weather in the ruins til salvaged.
S&B with its little red lacquer fared worse than anything but aluminum Blazer. All pulled to recover bullets and brass. A box of Hornady TAC was as bad.
Federal factory and lead bullet hand loads have few enough misfires to keep for practice. Corbon pretty good, too. All but one carton of .22s good enough to plink.

 

[Potatohead]

.if you do store it in a cool dry place, I can't imagine any reason why 50+ years isn't a more realistic number. I wouldn't hesitate to keep it that long. Using it up in 5 or 10 years simply isn't necessary.

thats encouraging because i plan on sitting on mine throughout many more crises'

 

[Potatohead]

Upset is something my wife redefined upon one of those washing machine discoveries that I failed to intercept

Likewise, but mine also went through the dryer!! We have 3 little girls in a small house where evryone is close to the dryer, so i got in a lot of trouble..but nobody can tell me that you cant tumble live ammo again though

 

[Potatohead]

So is it ok to store my ammo out in the garage? Remember im in the heat and humidity of Alabama summers...

 

[Reloadron]

thats encouraging because i plan on sitting on mine throughout many more crises'

Nope, you treat it like beanies and weenies in the pantry. You build a stash (stock) of 20 cans. When you get a good beanie and weenie sale you buy more as you eat some. New stock moved to the back and work from the front of the shelves.

Ron