How can I tell if this ammo is still good?

[krsjuan]

I recently found out my dad had left around 750 rounds of 9mm +p ammo in his car trunk for over a year. The rounds were stored 250 per plastic bag and each bag in a small cardboard box.

He bought 1000 rounds online a few years ago when ammoman.com had those speer gold dots that where not for LE use but he moved and forgot they where in his trunk.

The car as been parked outside in the california sun so how can I tell if this ammo is still good?

If the ammo is bad how do I legally dispose of them?

 

[Orthonym]

Well, you could try to shoot some of it.

 

[.cheese.]

shoot one?

ETA: darn. Orthonym beat me to it.

 

[krsjuan]

Really?

Are you guys messing with me cause I don't want to lose a hand.

Plus I only have glocks now and wouldn't want to be another KB story

 

[Orthonym]

Oh My.

Look, kid, if yer that worried, you can put the piece in a vice, and pull the trigger with a string from behind cover after warning everybody else at the range.

 

[Leitmotif]

It's been stored sealed, and in an environment where movement etc isn't much of a factor. Should be just fine. Shoot a few, find out. They won't take your hand off, just wait a few seconds if they don't go off immediately.

 

[boredelmo]

i dont see how storing it in the trunk would damage it. Lots of people leave loaded guns in the car for a long period of time. Theres also not too much difference between a hot trunk and a hot garage.

Does it look corroded in any way?

 

[krsjuan]

Look, kid, if yer that worried, you can put the piece in a vice, and pull the trigger with a string from behind cover after warning everybody else at the range.
___________

Kid? I'm no kid.

You know what they say about ASSuming things.

 

[krsjuan]

i dont see how storing it in the trunk would damage it. Lots of people leave loaded guns in the car for a long period of time. Theres also not too much difference between a hot trunk and a hot garage.

Does it look corroded in any way?

I didn't really give it a hard look but I don't think it was corroded.

I thought I heard some thing about ammo casing swelling when not stored properly.

I guess I'll just try and shoot some and find out.

If it does end up being corroded or some thing how would I go about disposing of it legally?

 

[Orthonym]

Compared to me, I reckon yer a kid, just by probabilities. I'm closer to 60 than 50.

You?

 

[krsjuan]

Compared to me, I reckon yer a kid, just by probabilities. I'm closer to 60 than 50.

You?

I'm about half that in years but age is no excuse for talking down to anyone.

If I misunderstood your original statement then forgive me.

 

[evan price]

The military stores ammunition in all sorts of climate extremes including in connex containers in the desert for years at a time.
I would have no problem with modern ammo that has been stored in a trunk of a car for a while.
I personally recently shot some 55-year-old Communist produced rifle ammo and it went bang just fine.

 

[Orthonym]

Yup!

"Shoot some, and find out."

Do please take all reasonable precautions, though.

I'm talking about hangfires and misfires.

Oh, and if you see any egregiously obviously "funny-looking" cartridges, set them aside for safe disposal later.

 

[mnrivrat]

Disposal - I am not sure what laws apply in CA for disposal, but I wouldn't worry too much about getting read of it as it can still be used for components if it is bad.

You can always advertise it as such ( for components only ) and I'm sure a hand loader will take it off your hands. Even if they had to pay the shipping, but there are certain to be someone close to you that would pick it up. WIth a bullet puller, the cases and bullets can be salvaged.

But , yes - don't throw it in the garbage . If all else fails turn it in to the local police for disposal.

 

[357-8-times]

A few years ago I shot some WW2 .30 carbine in a WW2 M1, they were perfectly accurate although many needed 2 or 3 ticks to set them off.

 

[gunsmith]

I had

some 9mm that had the plastic melted all around it from my bags hitting the pipes on my bike.
They worked fine outta my glock.

Glocks are the finest gun ever made!

(here comes the flames!)

 

[NavyLCDR]

I would shoot it. 99.5% chance it will be just fine. I was shooting 8mm Lebel at the range. This guy from the next lane looks over and asks what I have. He reached into his range bag and pulls out a round and asks, is this it? Yep, that's 8mm Lebel. Here, you can have this, my dad ended up with this round, I didn't know how to throw it away so here you go.

It was an original 8mm Lebel, probably from WWI, God only knows where it had been. I should have kept the darn thing, but since I had to reload my original rounds from scratch, I really wanted to shoot it to see how it compared. So I loaded it up, it went click.....bang. Other than the slight delay it was just fine and that was with WWI technology, primer and powder.

If you really want to dispose of them, just mail them to me, I'll take care of that for you

 

[RNB65]

As long as it's not corroded and loads properly, it will shoot fine. Don't worry about it.

 

[M2 Carbine]

The car as been parked outside in the california sun so how can I tell if this ammo is still good?

Don't worry about it.
For many years I've kept loaded guns and a box or two of ammo in my vehicles 24/7, in Texas.
Usually the ammo isn't changed out for a year or two. When fired it preforms like new.

 

[cslinger]

As long as there are no physical deformities such as damaged cases or bullets falling out of case or something extreme like that then I say shoot it. Worst case scenario is it simply doesn't go bang or hang fires.

If you do get one that doesn't go bang, keep it pointed down range and count to 20 Mississippi before ejecting. Most hang fires happen much much faster then 20 seconds but I like to give it a wide margin of safety and tend to count to 20-40.

My guess is all will shoot just fine. I have shot 100 year old ammo that was stored God knows how and it all ran just fine.

Chris

 

[gunsmith]

Federal Offense!

If you really want to dispose of them, just mail them to me, I'll take care of that for you

 

[welldoya]

Like someone else said, be sure and look for corrosion.
If it's only a year or two old, you should be fine.
I made the mistake one time of shooting some old .45 ammo that my grandfather had stored in his shed. It was probably from WWll.
I was in my 20s at the time. He gave me a loose box of the stuff and a lot of it was corroded. I figured I could just sand it all down with some fine sandpaper and shoot it in my Colt Commander. (did I mention I was in my 20s at the time ?)
Anyway, I tried a couple and best I can remember, the first went off but the second didn't. I ejected it and looked at it. The brass was split down the side.
Scared the heck out of me.
So, just look at it really carefully but there's a big difference between what you are describing (1 or 2 years old) and what I was shooting (40 years old).

 

[jpk1md]

Like everyone else here has said.....its likely fine.

Take reasonable precautions and enjoy. (Eye and Ear Protection)

I shoot early 50's eastern block 7.62x54R all the time....only once did I come accross some check stuff dates 1953 that had become a bit hot in its old age, blew a hole back through the primer where the pin struck it and I got a small amt of gas blow back through the bolt which was still in battery of course.

I'll decap and refill the remaining with a modern powder and shoot the remainder which are of course still good (primers, brass and projectiles)

 

[HippieCrusher]

They're fine

Shoot them stop worrying.

 

[SDC]

When ammo DOES "go bad", it just stops working, and gives you hangfires, misfires, duds, etc.; it WON'T "blow your hand off" or anything of the sort. The short answer is "try it", and if it fires, it's good. If it doesn't fire, it can still be disassembled for use as components by reloaders.