Failure built into US made ammo?

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Someone on another board said that after Waco, supposedly US ammo makers (only US) added a chemical to their ammo to react with the primer, rendering said ammo useless after 2-3 years, in order to stop the stockpiling of ammo.

This individual could not find the source of this claim. Is this complete bunk?? :uhoh:
 
Sounds like pure BS.

The makers have no control over how long stuff sits in the warehouses of a distributor. If somebody were to depend on this ammo and have it fail, the resulting lawsuits would be rather entertaining and very expensive.
 
This is not fact. Ammo makers were asked to look into the possibility of doing this and the conclusion was it couldn't be done safely. I recall the testing was about 10 years ago.
 
It is a BS story that surfaced during the "Primer Famine of 94". Demand for loaded ammo increased so primer makers cut back on the available loose primers that they shipped to reloaders. This BS story came out and panic ensued.

Like rick_reno said, it can't be done.
 
Not entirely B.S.

President Clinton had the BATF of that time investigating a proposal to add trace elements or "markers" to gunpowder so that ammunition could be traced to its source. Then someone within his administration got the bright idea that ammunition might be made to expire after a certain length of time. The ammunition companies to they're credit told Ol' Bill that they couldn't do it, and wouldn't if they could. The in-house anti's had a snit-fit but nothing further happened.
 
I heard the rumor but with the interesting twist that the primers had a RADIOACTIVE chemical that would become inert after it decayed a certain amount. The gulliable idiot was serious.
 
Well it would mean that stockpile of Milsurp ammo in my shop would go up in value, but alas, tis just bovine poo!
 
Uh, B.S. alert. I've got a few boxes of ammo in the 4-5 year old range that still work. Under the theory, they should be duds by now.

For you who wonder how I can save ammo that long, it's Nyclad .38, and my choice for the HD revolvers, for as long as my supply can last, with six rounds twice a year to ensure function, etc.
 
The ComBloc used corrosive primers precisely because they last longer, they expected the shelf life to be 75+ years. Non-corrosive primers supposedly don't last as long, a mere 40 years or so. I've got both commercially loaded ammo from shortly after that era, and reloads that old and older, that go bang with regularity. I also have Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, Turkish, Albanian, Yugoslavian, and Chinese milsurp of varying ages that usually go off, with the occasional dud. My 63 year old Turkish 8mm ammo has not (yet) had a dud.

Time for this:

icon_bsmeter.gif

Yes, I see it's pegged. :p
 
The makers have no control over how long stuff sits in the warehouses of a distributor. If somebody were to depend on this ammo and have it fail, the resulting lawsuits would be rather entertaining and very expensive.
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Not to mention people will just switch over to forein ammo if this was true.

I remember hearing about the tags, but this is the first time I heard about a built in expiring date.

Most people who stockpike ammo will shoot up the oldest stuff and then replace.

-Bill
 
I had heard of this rumor too. Eh, just gives us more and more reasons to stock up since uncle sam (or big brother) is always looking out for us. Never know when something like this would actually happen.
 
this sounds too far off the edge. I remember some discussion about powder makers putting some kind of "taggants" (?) in powder. They refused because they were uncertain how it would affect performance. Besides...how long does the military stockpile ammo? They do expect theirs to go bang...so even if they tried to keep the civilian/military powder seperate...can't have a whole army with nothing but inert ammo :what: . That would be one NASTY day! :eek:
Mark.
 
Now I know why I had a bunch of duds in the last brick of remington 22lr I bought at Wally World :scrutiny: :neener:
 
Mannlicher -- I find it absurd that this would even get mentioned. geez
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This site is about information and opinions.

You find it absurd, I (Having heard the rumor) find it helpful.

Our government doesn't trust us, why should we trust it? :fire:

Some of us have noticed that some manufacturers are somewhat less than accommodating with their customers, so when we hear a rumor we'd like to know the truth. Think of THR as the Snopes for Gun enthusiasts!
 
Yep, during the Clinton regime, there were a lot of people who didn’t know anything about firearms trying to protect us from ourselves and make the perfect society. Powder taggants (sp?), “expiring primersâ€, serial numbered bullets, ballistic fingerprinting and smart guns were all some of the things they tried and unfortunately not all of those “bright†ideas have gone anyway. :banghead:
 
so, how long does commercial ammo (non corrosive) last if kept in ideal conditions?
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Years and years. I have shot ammo from WWII before and it was stored under less "ideal" condictions.

-Bill
 
Thanks, Bill.

I was more specifically asking about modern day, commercial, non-corrosive stuff, such as Wolf, Silver Bear, ect. I heard the shelf life of that stuff isn't as long as corrosive mil-surp stuff.
 
I was more specifically asking about modern day, commercial, non-corrosive stuff, such as Wolf, Silver Bear, ect. I heard the shelf life of that stuff isn't as long as corrosive mil-surp stuff.
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Well, it's my understanding that the corrosive stuff in general will last two to three times as long as the non-corrosive stuff.

illregerdless, HQ ammo when storeed right will outlive you.

-Bill
 
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